Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, December 20, 1993 TAG: 9312180125
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MIKE MAYO BOOK PAGE EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Calendars are always popular. Thousands of them are out there, and this year there's something new - the compact desk calendar. The te Neues company publishes some of the best art calendars on the market. They've taken 16 of their most popular wall calendars - including Matisse, Edward Hopper and celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz - and printed the monthly pictures on 3 1/2 x 3 3/4-inch cards. The loose cards are packaged in a clear plastic box similar to the CD "jewel box." The box flips open to form a display base for the cards.
These are a neat idea, just the thing for a cluttered desk, and at $5.95, they're good stocking stuffers.
Of the conventional calendars, the subtle shapes and colors of the "Grand Canyon" (te Neues, $10.95) are captured by the late nature photographer Eliot Porter. But my favorite is "African American Masters" (te Neues, $11.95). Painted in several media and styles, these pictures are all taken from the Barnett-Aden Collection of the Museum of African American Art in Tampa, Fla. Though the artists aren't as famous as many, the works chosen here should be popular with a large audience. Both of these calendars provide the spot of eye-catching color and unusual subject or treatment that you want on a wall or desk.
Turning to books, The Macmillan Desk Reference (Macmillan, $29.95) is an ambitious attempt to present a lot of basic information in diagrams, illustrations and text. From the five positions of ballet to the sects of Jainism (an Indian religion) to a chart of world time zones, the book tries to touch on almost everything.
Overall, it's an excellent starting point that should be useful for students at the middle-school level and older, and for anyone who doesn't have ready access to a full encyclopedia. Be warned though. The information is far from complete. The section on film, for example, cites David Cronenberg and Warren Beatty in the short list of "directors and stars" but omits Billy Wilder, William Wyler and Katherine Hepburn. There are also some mistakes. Under computers, an illustration labeled as a hard disk is clearly a cassette tape, and an ill-defined box is called "a cassette disk," whatever that is.
On a lighter nonfiction note, there is John Margolies' "Pump and Circumstance" (Bulfinch/Little Brown. $29.95), subtitled "Glory Days of the Gas Station." The story begins in 1885 when Sylvanus Bowser invented a pump for gasoline. Then in 1905, his partner, Jake Gumper, created the first "filling station." Margolies tells the rest with a terse, witty text and more than 200 illustrations. Those pictures range from idealized nostalgia to rusty, realistic shots of the impersonal self- service emporiums we know today. Ornate Japanese teahouses and Greek temples provided architectural inspiration for some early stations. Of course, the bizarre eccentricities of commercial roadside America are given ample space, too. The trip down memory lane past Esso and Sinclair stations is fun, but the book is also a fascinating popular history of a significant part of American business. Strongly recommended.
"Barney Fife's Guide to Life, Love and Self Defense" by Len and John Oszustowicz (The Summit Group. $9.95) is certainly the self-help book of the year. The humor comes straight from Mayberry, so some readers will love it and others will not be amused. The authors know their subject and do a fine job of re-creating the fictional deputy's self-important personality and essential good nature. The result is a parody that's never mean-spirited.
In recent years, books of cross-section illustrations have become extremely popular with kids and with a lot of adults. Bruce Barker's "Living in a Dream: Great Residences of the World" (Simon & Schuster. $60) is a welcome addition to the list. The focus is on architecture and the cross-section illustrations are complemented by photographs and floor plans of 12 grand houses from California to Tibet.
Judging strictly from the one place I've visited - William Randolph Hearst's San Simeon - the book can capture the spirit of a place. Different authors write about each structure, and the text generally avoids architectural jargon. The illustrations are just as important, though, and they're first rate. It's impossible to page through the book without wondering just how far you can stretch the travel budget. This is the stuff that dream trips are made of. Katsura in Japan really does look like "a completely isolated miracle in the civilized world," well worth a voyage all by itself.
Finally, no list of Christmas books would be complete without a mention of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." It's available in many editions, but this year, to celebrate the 150th anniversaries of both the book and their distillery, the folks who make Glenmorangie Scotch whisky have published a handsome facsimile limited edition.
Various film and stage versions of the story are so popular that the original is often overlooked, and that's a shame. A century and a half later, Dickens' unashamed sentimentality and vivid descriptions are still fresh and enjoyable. Note this short passage:
And now two smaller Cratchits, boy and girl, came tearing in, screaming that outside the baker's they had smelt the goose, and known it for their own; and basking in luxurious thoughts of sage and onion, these young Cratchits danced about the table, and exalted Master Peter Cratchit to the skies, while he . . . blew the fire, until the slow potatoes bubbling up, knocked loudly on the saucepan-lid to be let out and peeled.
It may be too late to get this edition in time for Christmas, but you can order a copy for $14.95 from 1-800-972-6824, and there's always next year.
by CNB