Richard Michael Kelly (4)

Isn't a book about Lewis Carroll supposed to be about Lewis Carroll?

I picked this up (used, naturally) because I thought a series of essays about Charles Dodgson would be illuminating. It might have been -- except that they might as well have called the thing "John Tenniel: A Celebration." Or maybe "Irrelevance: A Celebration." Roughly half the essays are about Tenniel, or his art, or his relationship with Dodgson. Yes, they're about the art in the Alice books, but the art in the Alice books isn't about Carroll.

And even when the essays are about Dodgson, they're often silly. Dodgson and surrealism. Dodgson as reflected in James Joyce. Dodgson and "Textuality."

How about something about Dodgson and Alice? Or Dodgson and Alice Liddell? Or about Dodgson?

I managed to make my way through every essay in here except the one about Joyce, but it was a thoroughly unrewarding effort. I will admit to certain prejudices, but I ended up liking only two essays, Morton Cohen's on Dodgson and Ellen Terry and Francine Abelles's on Dodgson and voting theory. And even the latter is awfully technical. The rest... well, if I wanted to buy a book about non-Dodgson, there are plenty of choices out there.

Truly sad.… (altro)

(posted on my blog: davenichols.net)

I had picked up this book at a thrift store not too long ago, and when my wife and I chose to spend a couple of days in Oak Island, NC, I brought this book along. The Carolina Watermen is a local history of folks in and around Holden Beach involved in the shrimping and boatbuilding industries. The authors, the husband and wife team of Richard and Barbara Kelly, travelled to the area many times and conducted numerous interviews to learn the history they present in this book. A short, myopic and interesting recitation of the opinions and lives of the shrimpers and boatbuilders in southwestern NC.

The book is a very quick read, peppers with nice black and white photos of some of the people featured, as well as pics of boats and equipments. The authors describe the early 20th century buildup of Holden Beach and the changes that came as various land owners developed the land.

Several shrimpers and boatbuilders are interviewed, describing their hardships and pleasures, and offering a local view of the ways things change in small towns. Often, to my displeasure, the authors choose to include large sections of verbatim quotes made by the interviewees in which unfamiliar fishing terms are presented without explanation. I had to lookup many of these terms in order to understand the thoughts. Other times, the authors repeat themselves (as in describing Norman Bellamy as 'another boatbuilder'). There are occasions when the story itself drifts distantly as the reader waits for the authors to reengage the narrative.

While this book is a decent glimpse into a small corner of North Carolina life, it felt quite hollow in many places. There was great deal of information that could have been researched and offered to the reader to fill in the gaps in narrative and understanding. Some of the stories read more like individual essays which were pinched together, leading to the repetition and distance described above. I recommend this book only to those interested in myopic local histories, those who enjoy fishing, shrimping, or crafts, and to those who want to know more about coastal North Carolina life in the mid-to-late 20th Century. Three Stars.… (altro)

Entertaining and well-balanced, The Andy Griffith Show will appeal to all fans of the classic television comedy. The particular strength of the book is the variety of information that it presents: the history of TAGS; details about its cast members, producers, and writers; an analysis of the show’s comedy; two complete scripts, one never filmed; and summaries of all 249 televised episodes. Particularly interesting are the extensive comments and recollections from people involved with the show in the sixties, including Andy Griffith himself.

On the other hand, the book was copyrighted in 1981, and given that over twenty-five years have passed since it was written, it is understandably outdated. Kelly devotes part of a chapter to speculation about whether an Andy Griffith Show reunion will ever be filmed (as it was with the 1986 television movie Return to Mayberry), and the chapter about the show’s fan clubs of course predates the Internet and the wealth of information available online. More annoying are the book’s flaws that are unrelated to its age; as a devoted fan, Kelly’s prose sometimes borders on fawning, and the episode summaries that close the book are not always completely accurate in their descriptions of the plots of the shows.

Despite these drawbacks, though, The Andy Griffith Show is a thorough and respectful treatment of one of the most popular television comedies of all time. It will not be the only source of TAGS information that a twenty-first century fan will want, but the breadth of information it offers and the quotations from the people who created the series make it a worthwhile read. Supplemented by more up-to-date information available online and the kind of juicy behind-the-scenes gossip that Kelly tastefully omits, The Andy Griffith Show still provides engrossing reading for would-be citizens of Mayberry.… (altro)