Entertaining beach reading for fans of humorous, breezy essays.
From comedic essayist and novelist Notaro (It Looked Different on the Model: Epic Tales of Impending Shame and Infamy, 2011, etc.), another compendium of humorous, heated, autobiographical tales about the minutiae of modern American life.
Having consistently hit the best-seller charts with her previous collections of true, often hilarious and bawdy stories, the author sticks with the same formula here. These essays include “I Hate Foodies,” “Creepy Facebook Moments” and “Six Things I Never Want to Hear (Again) While Standing in Line at the Pharmacy.” Notaro is nothing if not direct as she riffs on topics such as why it’s never acceptable for nettles to appear on restaurant menus and hunting down the relative whom she suspects of borrowing her shower puff. Without a plot, these pieces follow no order, but they share her signature, casually blistering tone. In one, entirely made up of food-related expressions that she loathes (including “gastrique,” “coulis,” “mouthfeel” and “savory”), she offers this explanation for her hatred of the word “delish”: “If it’s not something you would name your dog or if you’re embarrassed to yell it out in front of strangers, we need to banish it from the human language.” The book's title was conceived when Notaro appeared on a comedy-writing panel where a fellow presenter condescendingly referred to her as “the potty mouth at the table.” She claims to have been humiliated, but that didn't stop her from getting revenge, and it clearly hasn’t stalled her from continuing to produce biting, sometimes crude pieces that read more like off-the-cuff rants than revised works of writing. In spite of the essays that miss their mark, when Notaro’s funny, she’s very, very funny.
Entertaining beach reading for fans of humorous, breezy essays.Pub Date: May 7, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4516-5939-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2013
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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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