"Ocean racing is like standing under an ice cold shower, tearing up thousand dollar bills," WFB muses. On May 30, 1975, he set out at last on the Big One, crossing the Stygian frontier from Miami, Florida, to Marbella, Spain, in his schooner Cyrano—a 30-day cruise accompanied by his son and a few friends. The color-coordinated Cyrano is, well, luxurious: wall-to-wall carpeting, original oils in the lushly illuminated saloon, an almost silent ("most expensive") generator, air conditioning, picture windows, extra portholes, a bar, a piano and other first-class navigational needs. The lackadaisical crossing is breezily told from a pastiche of journal and logbook entries by several hands, all of them touched with WFB's own panache for arch euphemism, a kind of spreading verbal disease that overcomes all in his company. Says he: ". . . on board a boat I have found that I do not like to change my seat at mealtimes. I care not where it is, but care that I should be at the same place during a cruise. . . . It was widely suspected that my querencia at the center of the table was selected with considerable forethought to my derivative unavailability for errand-running." Such light-catching gives a soft undramatic glow to an otherwise wistful burble.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1976
ISBN: 0025180401
Page Count: 284
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1976
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
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