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MY IDEAL BOOKSHELF

Name: MY IDEAL BOOKSHELF
Author: Thessaly La Force
ISBN: 978-0-316-20090-5

edited by Thessaly La Force illustrated by Jane Mount ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 13, 2012

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An illustrated compendium of first-person musings by writers, artists and other creative types about the books that inspired them and helped shape their identities.

When writer/editor La Force and illustrator Mount decided to put together this delightful collection of essays, it wasn't simply to express their love of reading and the written word. They sought to make the statement that "in an era when digital technology…threatens irreversibly to change our reading experience, there is nothing that parallels the physical book." They chose friends, acquaintances and people whom they "admired from afar"—Jonathan Lethem, Jennifer Egan, Alice Waters, Mira Nair and Patti Smith, among others—and asked them to pick the books that most influenced them. La Force pairs each of the 100 essays she gathered from personal interviews with images Mount painted of the books (specifically, their spines) each participant chose for his or her "ideal bookshelf." The pieces are as unique as the people they represent and reveal the particular relationships participants have with the texts they mention. Lethem calls his choices "eccentric," a reflection of a "decrepit attraction" to old books and the "literary history that lie[s]…waiting to be discovered" in early editions. Chef and restaurateur Alice Waters identifies her bookshelf as commemorating the texts that started her on her epicurean journey. Nair spotlights choices that not only introduced her to English, Urdu and Hindu poetry, but also to the writer who later became her husband. La Force and Mount's joint efforts do "sentimentaliz[e] the book as object," but what they achieve clearly demonstrates that, despite the encroachments of computers and the Internet, books still matter. Other contributors include Chuck Klosterman, Dave Eggers, David Sedaris, Michael Chabon and Judd Apatow. A bibliophilic feast for the eye, mind, heart and soul.

Pub Date: Nov. 13, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-316-20090-5

Page Count: 240

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: Sept. 5, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2012

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.