Her cunning as a culinary essayist, memoirist, and fiction writer won't fully prepare Fisher's many fans for her gusto as an informal correspondent. The long-lived Californian (1908—92), whose more than two dozen books (To Begin Again, 1992, etc.) also chronicled her extended stays in Provence and other parts of Europe, wrote letters with the sort of committed lax that some authors reserve solely for their published books and articles. Thankfully, though, Fisher seemed to find herself with special joy as a writer when writing to someone. The more than 60 years covered by these letters offer a changeable, canoeing, and unself-conscious portrait of the writer by her own highly skilled hand. They also vividly suggest the shifts in opportunities for American women as the decades passed in this century. Unlike her previously published writing, the letters are less often travelogues or sensuous surveys of adventures in appetite than they are a gathering chorus of Fisher's monologues about her family, her marriages (three), her friends, the work of writing, the business of publishing and other good reasons to live for as long as possible. Her correspondents here include Julia Child, James Beard, longtime Esquireeditor Arnold Gingfich, and Knopf editor Judith Jones. Yet mainly she wrote to people who weren't famous, and her arena mostly wasn't all that worldly. Nor was her life especially privileged, despite the suggested enchantments of her sentences. Fisher seemed to take charge of any catastrophe falling on those near to her; a large part of the record shows her fighting valiantly and generously on their behalf, perhaps with a touch of inherited masochism. At the same time, however, she could insist on freedoms for herself that were not then fashionable, and with exhilarating gumption. So much to inspire; too much to summarize.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1998
ISBN: 1-887178-46-5
Page Count: 560
Publisher: Counterpoint
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1997
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
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
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