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ODD LOTS

SEASONAL NOTES OF A CITY GARDENER

A devoted gardener offers a meandering collection of brief essays that may hold some charm for others of the same ilk. As the editor of Horticulture magazine, Cooper contributes a regular column whose intent, he says, is ``to capture the world in and around a garden.'' This translates into fragmentary and scattered musings, mainly about his own backyard gardens in Massachusetts, so don't look for practical assistance or even the occasional clever idea here. Although the columns are not dated or presented chronologically (for example, the reader sees Cooper's daughter age eccentrically from three to two to six), they are grouped by month. January finds the author poring over nursery catalogs and drafting resolutions (``Stop accepting plants as gifts, no mater how tempting . . . just imagine they are offering a tray of zucchini seedlings''), while by April he is yearning for a spiffier potting shed and delighting over the arrival of packages from mail-order nurseries. A number of columns are little more than the verbal equivalent of puttering, but then, as Cooper says, gardeners do ``raise puttering to the state of high art.'' Occasionally, pieces that were written to be read one at a time are diminished by being crowded together: Although July's articles on water and wateringmusing on a watering can, noting the desirability of an efficient soaker hose, and admonishing readers to learn from water shortages out Westare separated by forays into other matters, they lose some of their effect when read within the space of half an hour. This one is for people who nod sagely at the line, ``There is only so much Geranium endressii one person can handle,'' and whose hours not spent in the garden are spent talking about being in the garden.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-8050-3741-1

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1995

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THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...

Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").

Pub Date: May 15, 1972

ISBN: 0205632645

Page Count: 105

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972

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NUTCRACKER

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

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