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ANIMAL HAPPINESS

Name: ANIMAL HAPPINESS
Author: Vicki Hearne
ISBN: 0-06-019016-7

by Vicki Hearne ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 12, 1994

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The cat publishing craze may be going to the dogs: Elizabeth Marshall Thomas's The Hidden Life of Dogs is a bestseller, while a grinning canine recently graced the cover of Newsweek. And now here comes a rewarding, if scattered, potpourri of essays, columns, and miscellany—mostly dog-related—from the writer who may know more than any other about dogs and their desires, resonances, and destinies. As in her earlier books (Bandit, 1991, etc.), Hearne again blends philosophical expertise (she's a fellow at Yale's Institution for Social and Policy Studies) with the vast knowledge she's earned during more than 25 years as an animal trainer. The material ranges widely—beginning with slight but well-turned columns that first appeared in the Los Angeles Times, covering matters from a ``therapy dog'' who works with the sick to the banes and delights of tortoise-owning; moving on to slightly longer, chewier pieces that celebrate Airedales and, in ``Beware of the Dog!'' James Thurber's relish for dogs and dog-writing; skirting silliness with snappish advice columns (``Dear Josephine Trainer'') originally published in a Pit Bull Terrier newsletter; and flowering into profundity in a final section, ``Possibilities,'' comprised of four essays that explore the nature of animal happiness. One of these pieces, ``Wittgenstein's Lion,'' offers a meditation on human-animal communication; the others—through looking at the work of an orangutan trainer, the ethics of pet ownership, and animals' divorce from human values as exemplified in the Book of Job—elaborate Hearne's opposition to the animal-rights movement (``an owner is the only rights granter a dog can know....the owner that belongs to him'') and laud ``the wonders of animal-human work'' (``knowledge of animals...is knowledge of the divine''). ``All happiness is animal happiness,'' says Hearne—including, then, the reader happiness produced by this smart, passionate, and challenging work.

Pub Date: Jan. 12, 1994

ISBN: 0-06-019016-7

Page Count: 256

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1993

Categories:

NATURE | 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.