Word: kirkus
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...Kirkus flips over "The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits: Stories" by Emma Donoghue (Harcourt; May), giving it a starred review. "Seventeen stories by the Irish-born Canadian author ransack what Donoghue calls 'the flotsam and jetsam of the last seven hundred years of British and Irish life' for razor-sharp vignettes of the fates of women in judgmental male-dominated societies...These jewel-like stories vibrate with thickly textured detail and vigorous period language. Donoghue's colorful, confrontational historically based fiction is making something entirely new and captivating out of gender issues. One of the best books...
...ELECTRIC CONDUCTOR: PW and Kirkus both give starred reviews to "The Letters of Arturo Toscanini," edited by Harvey Sachs (Knopf; April 28). Says Kirkus, "A rich and vivid collection of the great conductor?s correspondence. Music historian Sachs (no relation) learned of these letters after publishing his definitive biography (?Toscanini,? 1978), and while they contain no startling revelations, they give us a much better understanding of a man who famously refused all interviews and wrote no memoirs. In his introduction, Sachs predicts that Toscanini?s numerous affairs will garner the most attention, and there are indeed many, many pages...
...BELTWAY BOOKS: On May 13, Simon & Schuster will publish "Citizen McCain" by Elizabeth Drew. Kirkus gives the book a thumbs up. "Washington insider and accomplished journalist Drew provides a fly-on-the-wall portrait of the congressional maverick and his struggle to reform campaign-finance laws...Drew clearly approves of McCain, though never so much as to allow partisanship to get in the way of her usual careful reporting. A useful expos? of how things get done - and buried - in Washington...
...PETER?S PRIMER: Who will succeed John Paul II as Pope? "Conclave: The Politics, Personalities, and Process of the Next Papal Election" (Image/Doubleday; paperback; June 18) by John Allen Jr. explores that question. Says Kirkus, "An oddity, an instant book dedicated to an event that has yet to happen...Allen?s roster of candidates and their qualifications will be the strong selling point of ?Conclave.? Breathless though the prose is, it conveys much that is of use including, for instance, a thorough discussion of just what the job of pope entails (settling squabbles and travelling a lot) and how popes...
...CAMELOT CORNER: Caroline Kennedy, editor of the best-selling "The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis," is at it again. "Profiles in Courage For Our Time," edited by Caroline Kennedy, will be published by Hyperion on May 1. Kirkus approves. "Character sketches of 14 men and women who have won the Profiles in Courage Award, which recognizes elected officials who ?stood fast for the ideals of America...By and large, a refreshing sampling of political legacies cleaving to the notion of equality and justice on behalf of the weak and exploited." In October, Hyperion will publish "Patriotic Poems," Kennedy...