The ISBN of 9780907266460 was not found in the database.
by
Published by

, . ISBN:

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

Society's Child
by Janis Ian
Published 2008 by Jeremy P. Tarcher

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9781585426751

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Ian chronicles her more than 40 years in the music business. In this fascinating memoir, she shares what it felt like to move in and out of the public eye and what inspired her return to music after a self-imposed hiatus.

REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 04/28/2008

"I was born into the crack that split America," Ian writes, and her early immersion in the folk music scene of the 1960s helped shape her prodigious songwriting talents while she was still in her teens. The autobiography shares a title with her first hit, a song about a doomed interracial romance that was considered too controversial for many record labels and radio stations. The pressures of the music industry and her troubled family life drove Ian to a nervous breakdown at the age of 19. It was in the following long period of recovery that she wrote her most famous song, "At Seventeen." ("I'd never sing it in public," she says of her initial feelings about the song. "It was just too humiliating.") Soon after reaching that recording peak, her life was derailed by a series of troubles ranging from an abusive marriage (to a man she first met because she was in love with his girlfriend) to massive tax liabilities to bouts with septicemia and chronic fatigue syndrome. The roller-coaster ride may be typical stuff for celebrity autobiography, but fans will appreciate the candor with which Ian discusses these hardships and her gradual path to happiness as an independent singer-songwriter in Nashville. (July)

The Known World
by Edward P. Jones
Published 2006 by Amistad Press

Paperback, English. ISBN: 9780061159176

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

One of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory, "The Known World" is a daring and ambitious work by Pulitzer Prize winner Edward P. Jones. "The Known World" tells the story of Henry Townsend, a black farmer and former slave who falls under the tutelage of William Robbins, the most powerful man in Manchester County, Virginia. Making certain he never circumvents the law, Townsend runs his affairs with unusual discipline. But when death takes him unexpectedly, his widow, Caldonia, can't uphold the estate's order, and chaos ensues. Jones has woven a footnote of history into an epic that takes an unflinching look at slavery in all its moral complexities.

Mountains of the Mind: Adventures in Reaching the Summit
by Robert MacFarlane
Published 2004 by Vintage Books USA

Paperback, English. ISBN: 9780375714061

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

Combining accounts of legendary mountain ascents with vivid descriptions of his own forays into wild, high landscapes, Robert McFarlane reveals how the mystery of the world's highest places has came to grip the Western imagination--and perennially draws legions of adventurers up the most perilous slopes.

His story begins three centuries ago, when mountains were feared as the forbidding abodes of dragons and other mysterious beasts. In the mid-1700s the attentions of both science and poetry sparked a passion for mountains; Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Lord Byron extolled the sublime experiences to be had on high; and by 1924 the death on Mt Everest of an Englishman named George Mallory came to symbolize the heroic ideals of his day. Macfarlane also reflects on fear, risk, and the shattering beauty of ice and snow, the competition and contemplation of the climb, and the strange alternate reality of high altitude, magically enveloping us in the allure of mountains at every level.

The Speed of Light
by Elizabeth Rosner
Published 2003 by Ballantine Books

Paperback, English. ISBN: 9780345442253

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

Every family has a story. Every story, eventually, must be told.

For most of their lives, Julian Perel and his sister, Paula, lived in a house cast in silence, witnesses to a father struggling with a devastating secret too painful to share. Though their father took his demons to the grave, his past refuses to rest.

As adults, brother and sister struggle to find their voices. A scientist governed by numbers and logic, Julian now lives an ordered life of routine and seclusion. "My father gave up his language and his homeland. But he carried his sadness with him, under his skin. It was mine now. In contrast, Paula has entered the world as eagerly as Julian retracts from it. An aspiring opera singer, she is always moving, buoyant with sound. "Singing was the only gift I could offer to my father. I filled the house with music. I tried to give him joy. . . .

Yet both their lives begin to change on a "Wednesday, miercoles, the day that sounds like miracles. Before embarking on a European opera tour, Paula asks her housekeeper, Sola, to stay at her place--and to look after Julian in the apartment above. Yet Sola, too, has a story. "I want to clean myself like the window of a house, make myself clear for things to pass through. Flat and quiet.

As Paula uncovers pieces of her father's early life in Budapest and the horrifying truth of his past, Julian bears witness to Sola's story--revelations that help all three learn how to both surrender and revere the shadows that have followed them for so long.

"The Speed of Light is a powerful debut about three unforgettable souls who overcome the tragedies of the past to reconnect with one another and the world around them. In anextraordinary accomplishment, Elizabeth Rosner has created a novel of love and redemption that proves the pain of the untold story is far greater than even the most difficult truth. "From the Hardcover edition.

When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
by Pema Chodron
Published 2005 by Shambhala Publications

Mass Market Paperbound, English. ISBN: 9781590302262

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

There is a fundamental opportunity for happiness right within our reach, yet we usually miss it--ironically, while we are caught up in attempts to escape pain and suffering. Drawn from traditional Buddhist wisdom, Pema Chodron's radical and compassionate advice for what to do when things fall apart in our lives goes against the grain of our usual habits and expectations. There is only one approach to suffering that is of lasting benefit, Pema teaches, and that approach involves moving "toward" painful situations with friendliness and curiosity, relaxing into the essential groundlessness of our entire situation. It is there, in the midst of chaos, that we can discover the truth and love that are indestructible. Included in the book are: Ways to use painful emotions to cultivate wisdom, compassion, and courage Methods of communicating that lead to openness and true intimacy with others Practices for reversing negative habitual patterns Techniques for working with chaotic situations Tools for cultivating compassionate, energetic social action

Bel Canto
by Ann Patchett
Published 2005 by Harper Perennial

Paperback, English. ISBN: 9780060838720

Find this book in our catalog.

Jacket Notes:

"A strange, terrific, spellcasting story" ("San Francisco Chronicle"), "Bel Canto" engenders in the reader the very passion for art and the language of music that its characters discover.