Radio performer, sportswriter, and columnist for the Washington Post, Kornheiser (The Baby Chase, 1983) offers his off- the-cuff takes on events (more or less recent, but mostly less) on the boulevards of modern society and in the purlieus of the District of Columbia. His natural targets: the hype attendant on the famous, the habits of the wealthy, and domestic life in general. Along with a couple of nice pieces about his relatives, the collection of columns presents the standard boomer stuff of current syndicated humorists. With some wit he does riffs on cigars and cars, clothes and kids. He doesn't neglect his gender studies or forget the nostalgia typical of guys who fondly remember their lost hair and view their burgeoning wattles with alarm. It's frequently done with hoary gags that end with punch lines like ``We need the eggs!'' and one-liners in a rhythm perfected long ago by Prof. Henny Youngman. (Rim shots—bada-bing, bada-boom—are articulated to maintain the proper pace). The material, to be candid, isn't timeless. There is snappy comment about Hugh Grant and Tonya Harding and allusions to the likes of Joe Isuzu and John Sununu. The author professes comic carnal admiration for a variety of bodacious babes who may once have been semifamous but are now nowhere to be found. A recurrent thematic element is the big-shot airline passenger ``who did caca doody on the plane's food cart because they wouldn't give him another drink.'' Who can lose interest in material like that? It's all good, clean fun, though nothing remarkable. The jests are likable enough and ephemeral as a Post-it note. Pleasant fooling around by a conventional iconoclast.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-375-50037-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Villard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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