bookshelf

DOMESTICITY

Name: DOMESTICITY
Author: Bob Shacochis
ISBN: 0-684-19642-5

A GASTRONOMIC INTERPRETATION OF LOVE

by Bob Shacochis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 1994

bookshelf

Food, sex, and other thoughts. When GQ magazine asked fiction writer Shacochis (The Next New World, 1989, etc.) to write a food column, the editor said, ``Write about anything you want, in any style you fancy, only tag a recipe onto the end of it.'' What he chose to write were autobiographical anecdotes-cum-commentary drawing on life with the ``common-law wife'' of 17 years that he refers to coyly as ``Miss F.'' Food, that is—his cooking for and feeding her—is at the center of most episodes; as for domesticity, he cites his ``guardian angel'' MFK Fisher's assertion that ``our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so...intertwined that we cannot...think of one without the other.'' In truth, Shacochis plays up the sensuous ties and parallels more heavily than Fisher ever did; he's also more facetious. The piece most laden with terms like ``gastro- sexual,'' ``culinary smut,'' and ``orgasm'' is devoted to the ``amorous properties'' of potatoes. The couple's gardening relationship is described in terms of ``pimping'' and involves some ``horny'' contemplation of ``the libidinal swell and fold of the bell peppers''—but for the experience of pasta in Italy he turns to religious imagery. In other pieces, he speaks of everything from ``crackpot fruitarians'' (``you would not be incorrect to associate such a regimen with toothless monkeys'') and football fans' consumption of foods resembling ``petrified squirrel turds'' to marital tiffs (he's ``grateful to the First Couple'' for ``being domestically challenged'') and, above a meatloaf recipe, marital commitment. The recipes, ranging from grilled stuffed turkey for dysfunctional family holidays to lobster-asparagus sushi rolls, are generally enticing though sometimes casually set forth. (A novice might well cry out for more guidance on the intricacies of preparing gumbo or, for that matter, sushi.) The writing—polished, clever, and aptly targeted to GQ—is stylish nibble more than sustaining substance.

Pub Date: Feb. 14, 1994

ISBN: 0-684-19642-5

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Scribner

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1993

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
KINGDOMS IN THE AIR
by Bob Shacochis

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WOMAN WHO LOST HER SOUL
by Bob Shacochis

- BOOK REVIEW
THE IMMACULATE INVASION
by Bob Shacochis

bookshelf

NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

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.