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books
Christmas book list has something for all
By Joan Hanauer
United Press International
From the temples of ancient
Rome to the world of bowling,
from the history of medicine to the
history of weeds, there’s a gift
book for everybody this Christ
mas. All you need is the money to
pay for them and the muscles to
lug home these bigger and more
beautiful than ever books.
Maybe supernatural help will
solve your problems, as in
Faeries, by Brian Froud and Alan
Lee (Abrams, $14.95). The book
is every bit as elvishly delightful
as last year’s Gnomes, by Wil
Huygen (Abrams, $17.50), which
remains a best seller a year after
publication.
Faeries, like many other newly
published coffee table books, can
be bought at bargain rates — the
price goes up after Christmas.
Abrams, which has long been
one of the world’s most suc
cessful publishers of gorgeous art
books, appears to be taking over
the fey field as well. It also has
added The Muppet Show Book
to its list, which for $14.95 offers
Kermit, Miss Piggy and the rest of
the Jim Henson creatures that
appeal to young of all ages. In the
same category is the beautifully
illustrated Walt Disney’s Treas
ury of Children’s Classics (Ab
rams, $19.95).
From the ridiculous to the sub
lime, but still with a supernatural
flavor, is David Bindman’s The
Complete Graphic Works of
William Blake (Putnam’s, $45),
one of a number of literary-
inspired art books for Christmas
giving. It is for serious Blake
scholars, offering manuscripts
and art, but no color.
Even more expensive, but a
bargain at the price, is A.L.
Rowse’s three volume The Anno
tated Shakespeare (Potter, $55),
which answers fascinating ques
tions about the Bard of Avon you
never even asked.
Other literary works that re
ceived artistic attention this holi
day season include Sir James
George Frazer’s The Golden
Bough, edited by Mary Douglas
(Doubleday, $14.95), and The
Annotated Jules Verne: From
the Earth to the Moon, by Walter
James Miller (Crowell, $16.95).
Hemingway is having a
minirevival, with Peter Buckley’s
Ernest (Dial, $17.50) presenting
a photo biography of the author
from handsome youth to the last
sad years, while Hemingway’s
Paris is brought to life by Robert
E. Gajdusek (Scribner’s, $14.95).
Literary lions aside, there’s
The Literary Dog (Putnam s,
$14.95) in which William E.
Maloney and J.C. Suares collect
canine illusions from Ecclesiastes
Thurber.
All sorts of animals are availa
ble in Great Sculpture of An
cient Greece, by Pierre Devam-
bez and Great Baroque and
Rococo Sculpture, by Maurizio
Fagiolo dell’Arco (Morrow, $25
each) part of this year’s cor
nucopia of art books. Switching
from the baroque to the primitive
mood is R.C. Gorman: The
Lithographs, by Doris Born Man-
than (Northland, $35), the reser
vation born American-lndian ar
tist’s depiction of the life of Indian
women.
Other individual artists whose
work can delight for the holidays
include Sisley, by Raymond
Cogniat (Crown, $5.95), a bar
gain in lovely impressionist col
ors; Mark Rothko, a Retrospec
tive, by Diane Waldman (Ab
rams, $30) for those who dig re
ctangles of disembodied color; Ti
tian, by David Rosand (Abrams,
$25) for those who prefer Re
naissance light and color; The
Arts of David Levine (Knopf,
$25) ranging from watercolors at
Coney Island to wicked carica
tures of Richard Nixon and other
politicians, and James McNeill
Whistler, by Hilary Taylor (Put
nam, $22.50) to prove once and
for all that Whistler’s art was not
limited to his mother.
The Art of Glen Loates,
Albums inspired by
By William D. Laffler
United Press International
The Wiz
When L. Frank Baum wrote a
story about a little girl named
Dorothy and a mountebank who
called himself the Wizard of Oz,
he may have fashioned one of the
greatest fairy tales of all time.
Time is on his side. The Oz
books captured the imagination
of children through several gen
erations. And the movie version
starring Judy Garland has been a
perennial favorite on television.
Ray Bolger, the Scarecrow in
the Garland movie, said on a talk
show some time ago he thought
this motion picture would be
popular for at least 200 years.
Broadway had to wait almost
four decades for the arrival of the
Oz tale as a live stage show. It
was produced as an all-black
musical as “The Wiz,” becoming
an overnight sensation and be
ginning a run that was to last for
years.
And now “The Wiz” is the sub
ject of a lively movie starring
Diana Ross as Dorothy. And what
a cast! Richard Pryor is the crafty
Wizard, Lena Horne is Glinda,
Nipsy Russell is the Tinman,
Michael Jackson is the Scarec
row, and Ted Ross is the Cow
ardly Lion. Mabel King re-creates
her Broadway role of Evilene, the
wicked witch.
The original motion picture
soundtrack of “The Wiz,” (MCA
Records MCA2-1400), a two-LP
Album, is a major event. In addi
tion to the outstanding cast, the
recording involves a roomful of
musicians and children’s and
adult choirs. The fine songs of the
Broadway show, especially
“Ease on Down the Road,” re
main in the movie version.
Additionally, producer Quincy
Jones has created some new ma
terial.
As a Broadway show, “The
Wiz” won seven Tony Awards,
among them “best musical
score.” The movie may try to pick
up as many Oscars.
Sesame Street Fever
Those people on Sesame
Canada’s foremost wildlife artist,
is being republished this year
(Prentice-Hall, $35) because
snafus in distribution last year lim
ited supplies.
The art of Salvador Dali toasts
wine in an alternately outrageous,
informative and beautiful book
called The Wines of Dali, with
text by Max Gerard and Louis
Crizet, illustrated by Dali (Ab
rams, $50). This volume won the
. Prix Montesquieu de la Sommel-
lerie Francaise as the best wine
book of 1977 but it won’t win
applause from the California
winemakers. Leave that to the
Wines of California, by Robert
Lawrence Balzer (Abrams, $25).
Art doesn’t stop with painting
and sculpture, as Walter Terry il
lustrates in Great Male Dancers
of the Ballet (Anchor, $10 paper)
from Louis IV to Baryshnikov and
Dupond, while music is repre
sented by a reissue of Arthur
Hutching’s stunning Mozart, The
Man, The Musicians (Schirmer,
$45) and The Book of Music, A
Visual Appreciation, edited by
Gill Rowley (Prentice Hall,
$19.95).
Art and history combine in the
magnificent Rome and Her Em
pire, text by Barry Cunliffe
(McGraw-Hill, $50), which makes
the reader realize the grandeur
that was Rome.
One of the handsomest gift
books for armchair historians is
The Times Atlas of World His
tory, edited by Geoffrey Barrac-
lough (Hammond, $50), with
maps that span the millenia from
the origin of man to the 1970s.
Some of the map colors are star
tling, but the book achieves great
clarity in its chronology.
Another super history is the
Bettmann Archive Picture His
tory of the World, by Otto L.
Bettmann (Random House,
$19.95) with almost 5,000 pic
tures of history from caveman to
spaceman.
In the special history category,
the best-known author is Robert
Redford, whose The Outlaw Trail
movies, T\
Street have come forth with a
humorous takeoff on “Saturday
Night Fever.”
It is a concept album called
“Sesame Street Fever” (Sesame
Street Records CTW 79005). Joe
Raposo and Arthur Shimkin
dreamed up the show from an
idea by Norman Stiles.
While Raposo is very much in
evidence as an arranger, editor
and music director, the man re
sponsible for the Muppets, Jim
Henson, is in the cast as “Ernie.”
The album consists of six
numbers, with Robin Gibb, Ernie,
The Count and Cookie gettings
things started with the title tune.
Robin Gibb encores later with
“Trash.” Bert and the Girls have a
good time “Doin’ the Pigeon,” be
fore Ernie and his Rubber Duckie
return for another laugh. Cookie
Monster and The Girls and Marty
and Grover wind the proceedings
up with “C is for Cookie” and
“Has Anybody Seen My Dog.”
This album is a lot of fun —
especially the “Doin’ the Pigeon”
number — and it should win
friends both young and old.
(Grosset & Dunlap, $19.95) tells
the tale of badmen from Montana
to the Mexican border with
gorgeous photography by
Jonathan Blair.
Fireman turned author Dennis
Smith has put together the His
tory of Firefighting in America
(Dial, $17.50). The Slaves, by
Susanne Everett (Putnam, $20)
presents an “illustrated history of
the monstrous evil” that is cruel,
slashing and sometimes hard to
take.
Vicarious tourists will enjoy
American Rivers, by Bill Thomas
(Norton, $30), and the New York
Graphic Society’s At Home in
the Wild, New England’s White
Mountains, text by Brooks Atkin
son and W. Kent Olson.
For those who prefer man
made wonders, there’s the Na
tional Trust Book of Great
Houses of Britain, by Nigel
Nicolson (Godine, $30), which
will make your home seem like a
hut. Forget it and enjoy The Joy
of Paris, by Bernard Herman
(Vendome, $17.95), a splendid
look at people as well as places.
Gardening tomes will be grow
ing like weeds on America’s cof
fee tables this year. These in
clude An Illustrated History of
Gardening, by F.R. Crowell
(Houghton Mifflin, $20), The Au
dubon Society Book of
Wildflowers, by Les Line and
Walter Henricks Hodge (Abrams,
$37.50) and two from Mayflower,
Flowering Plants of the World,
edited by C.V. Hey wood, and The
Wild Garden, an Illustrated His
tory of Weeds, by Lys de Bray
($17.95 and $19.95 respectively).
Domesticated nature appears
among the dog, cat and horse
books. For dog-lovers, Macmillan
presents The Dog Catalogue, by
Don Myrus ($16.95), while
McGraw-Hill offers Standard
Guide to Pure-Bred Dogs
($24.95). Cat types get Cham
pion Cats of the World, by
Catherine Ing and Grace Pond
(St. Martin’s, $17.50). What horse
lover could say neigh to Great
Stud-Farms of the World, by
Monique and Hans Dossenbach
and Hans Joachim Kohler
(Morrow, $35).
From sport of kings to Sports!
by George Plimpton (Abrams,
$29.95), which includes every
thing from the hulks of football to
man made tiny, overwhelmed by
the Hawaiian surf. Individual
sports in the spotlight include
Jack Nicklaus On & Off the
Fairway, an autobiographhy with
Ken Bowden (Simon & Schuster,
$12.95), and The Perfect Game,
the World of Bowling, by Her
man Weiskopf (Prentice-Hall,
$15.95).
Car buffs will adore the classic
beauty of 20 Silver Ghosts, the
Incomparable Pre World War I
Rolls-Royce, paintings by Mel
bourne Brindle, text by Phil May
(Doubleday, $17.95) and be
amused by Auto Ads, by Jane
and Michael Stern (Random
House, $12.95).
Bestsellers
FICTION
1. War and Remembrance
— Herman Wouk
2. Chesapeake — James
A. Michener
3. Fools Die — Mario Puzo
4. The Far Pavilions — M.
M. Kaye
5. Evergreen — Bella Plain
6. The Empty Copper Sea
— John D. MacDonald
7. Prelude to Terror —
Helen Maclnnes
8. The Silmarillion — J. R.
R. Tolkien
9. Bright Flows the River
— Taylor Caldwell
10. Wifey — Judy Blume
14
NONFICTION
1. Mommy Dearest —
Christina Crawford
2. A Distant Mirror — Bar
bara Tuchman
3. American Caesar —
William Manchester
4. If Life Is a Bowl of Cher
ries, What Am I Doing in
the Pits — Erma Bombeck
5. Gnomes — Wil Huygen
6. In Search of History —
Theodore White
7. The Complete Book of
Running — James Fixx
8. Jackie Oh! — Kitty Kelly
9. The Country Diary of an
Edwardian Lady — Edith
Holden
10. Robert Kennedy and
His Times — Arthur
Schlesinger Jr.
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