For those literati who want a window into a strange little world, read on. All others should take a pass.
As the subtitle suggests, a book for a narrow and often eccentric audience, with few more eccentric than the author himself.
In A Gentle Madness (1995) and Patience and Fortitude (2001), critic Basbanes chronicled the history of book-collecting and profiled a number of his peers: collectors like Umberto Eco, who owns around 30,000 volumes. Here, he delivers a how-to guide for the aspiring bibliophile. A writer whose prose would make the most exacting schoolmaster proud, Basbanes thoroughly explores all aspects of his obscure hobby: how you might peruse bins at book shows, which works of reference to purchase, how books should be cared for, how and why you should seek out a mentor bibliophile. Along the way he offers a sort of autobiography of his bibliomania, which takes him across New England and the rest of the country searching for old books. When the author describes his trips around Cape Cod, buying books and eating fried clams, it’s easy to wonder who is being converted here, or at the very least who is the intended audience. But there is something contagious about this harmless, erudite lifestyle. Of paramount important to Basbanes, it seems, is taste. In his opinion, for instance, you shouldn’t seek books just because they are old or expensive. You should grow interested in books of one sort, those that deal with certain writers or the history of science, say, and move on from there, discovering one day that you are, by design or not, among the “gently mad,” as the writer dubs book collectors.
For those literati who want a window into a strange little world, read on. All others should take a pass.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2002
ISBN: 0-8050-5159-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2002
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
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.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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