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George Mackay Brown: The Life
By Maggie Fergusson. 2007
George Mackay Brown was one of Scotland's greatest twentieth-century writers, but in person a bundle of paradoxes. He had a…
wide international reputation, but hardly left his native Orkney. A prolific poet, admired by such fellow poets as Seamus Heaney, Ted Hughes and Charles Causley, and hailed by the composer Peter Maxwell Davies as 'the most positive and benign influence ever on my own efforts at creation', he was also an accomplished novelist (shortlisted for the 1994 Booker Prize for Beside the Ocean of Time) and a master of the short story. When he died in 1996, he left behind an autobiography as deft as it is ultimately uninformative. 'The lives of artists are as boring and also as uniquely fascinating as any or every other life,' he claimed. Never a recluse, he appeared open to his friends, but probably revealed more of himself in his voluminous correspondence with strangers. He never married - indeed he once wrote, 'I have never been in love in my life.' But some of his most poignant letters and poems were written to Stella Cartwright, 'the Muse of Rose Street', the gifted but tragic figure to whom he was once engaged and with whom he kept in touch until the end of her short life.Maggie Fergusson interviewed George Mackay Brown several times and is the only biographer to whom he, a reluctant subject, gave his blessing. Through his letters and through conversations with his wide acquaintance, she discovers that this particular artist's life was not only fascinating but vivid, courageous and surprising.Acts of Faith: Journeys to Sacred India
By Makarand R. Paranjape. 2012
An adventure into the heart of spiritual India that could change the way you think and live …
Acts of Faith Journeys to Sacred India is a sensitive and enriching exploration of the essential meaning and inner dynamics of sacred India Through a series of deeply textured narratives of well-known masters ashrams and sacred sites it engages with that area of contemporary India where the profane and the sacred intersect each transforming the other This unusual pilgrimage shows how the pathway to the Divine is plural and open rather than closed or restricted While there are many travel books on India few combine an inquiry into the meaning of India with actual visits to sacred sites encounters with contemporary gurus and reflections on perennial themes like faith and love Using both textual sources and actual experiences Acts of Faith tries to define what constitutes the sacred making for a highly interesting cartography of India of the spiritGinsberg: A Biography
By Barry Miles. 1989
Barry Miles has accounted the life of one of the most extraordinary poets. Drawing on his long literary association with…
Ginsberg, as well as on the poet's journals and correspondence, he presents an account of a controversial life.Freddie Mercury: The Biography
By Laura Jackson. 2011
This fascinating biography of Freddie Mercury which received outstanding acclaim from Queen and rock fans worldwide, has now been updated…
for reissue to coincide with the release of the film about his life. Laura Jackson addresses topics including:* The reality behind Queen's flamboyant front man and lead singer* Mercury the star of mystery - amusing, loyal and generous, yet revealing a dark side to his personality* His frequent use of cocaine and how it heightened his tendency to excess - both on and off stage* The women in his life - his bizarrely enduring relationships with his first love, Mary Austin, and his long-time confidante, Barbara Valentin, who speaks for the first time in this bookThe book also includes new and intimate stories by those who knew him well, such as Tim Rice, Richard Branson, Cliff Richard, Bruce Dickinson, Mike Moran, Wayne Eagling, Zandra Rhodes and Susannah York.When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson, The Voice of a Century
By Pam Muñoz Ryan. 2002
An introduction to the life of Marian Anderson, extraordinary singer and the first African American to perform with the Metropolitan…
Opera, whose life and career encouraged social change. Winner of the Sibert HonorMemoirs of My Life and Writings
By Edward Gibbon. 1984
Bit of a Blur: The Autobiography
By Alex James. 2007
I was the Fool-king of Soho and the number-one slag in the Groucho Club, the second drunkest member of the…
world's drunkest band. This was no disaster, though. It was a dream coming true.'For Alex James, music had always been a door to a more eventful life. But as bass player of Blur - one of the most successful British bands of all time - his journey was more exciting and extreme than he could ever have predicted. In Bit of a Blur he chronicles his journey from a slug-infested flat in Camberwell to a world of screaming fans and private jets - and his eventual search to find meaning and happiness (and, perhaps most importantly, the perfect cheese), in an increasingly surreal world.Asha Bhosle: A Musical Biography
By Raju Bharatan. 2016
The definitive saga at once riveting and revelatory studded with rare nuggets of information and…
fascinating anecdotes that sparkingly brings out the life and times of an internationally acclaimed incredibly versatile singer Asha Bhosle a Guinness world record holder plus recipient of the Padma Vibhushan and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award has held one and all spellbound for six decades now Her voice both fluid and flexible has infused neo life into a variety of genres from the melancholy melody to the rollicking rock- n -roll from the soulful creation to the vibrant disco from the romantic rhapsody to the rambunctious folk song from the dainty ghazal to the boisterous qawwali and from the pathos-filled rendition to the naughty-naugthy seductive number The author on the strength of his vast and varied exposure and experience turns the focus on enthralling behind-the-scenes happenings that shaped the advance of this artiste with a remarkable range and a noteworthy body of work The world has no time for losers has remained Asha s performing credo This volume captures Asha Bhosle in her numberless shades It is about how in her silken rivalry with elder sister Lata Mangeshkar she moved with panache from O P Nayyar to S D Burman to R D Burman It is about how she served a galaxy of composers about how in the end she reached the pinnacle all by herself Against odds that would have driven any other woman into quitting No quitter ever Asha Bhosle as the supernova supreme just went on to underline the adage No power like woman power No more can you stay away from this marvel of a musical biography than you can stay away from the matchless musicality of Asha Bhosle If she is one of a kind so is this musical masterpiece capturing all the resonances and nuances going with her piquant persona Here is a long-awaited career study shedding light on the twists and turns marking the starry-eyed world of Hindustani film musicThe Fountain of Age
By Betty Friedan. 1993
Betty Friedan launches a new revolution with this powerful, bestselling book breaking through the American mystique of aging as decline.…
Through hundreds of interviews, Friedan confronts our denial and demolishes society's compassionate contempt -- to offer a vision of what can be embraced.Never Broken: Songs Are Only Half the Story
By Jewel. 2015
New York Times bestselling poet and multi-platinum singer-songwriter Jewel explores her unconventional upbringing and extraordinary life in an inspirational memoir…
that covers her childhood to fame, marriage, and motherhood.When Jewel's first album, Pieces of You, topped the charts in 1995, her emotional voice and vulnerable performance were groundbreaking. Drawing comparisons to Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell, a singer-songwriter of her kind had not emerged in decades. Now, with more than thirty million albums sold worldwide, Jewel tells the story of her life, and the lessons learned from her experience and her music. Living on a homestead in Alaska, Jewel learned to yodel at age five, and joined her parents' entertainment act, working in hotels, honky-tonks, and biker bars. Behind a strong-willed family life with an emphasis on music and artistic talent, however, there was also instability, abuse, and trauma. At age fifteen, she moved out and tasked herself with a mission: to see if she could avoid being the kind of statistic that her past indicated for her future. Soon after, she was accepted to the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, and there she began writing her own songs as a means of expressing herself and documenting her journey to find happiness. Jewel was eighteen and homeless in San Diego when a radio DJ aired a bootleg version of one of her songs and it was requested into the top-ten countdown, something unheard-of for an unsigned artist. By the time she was twenty-one, her debut had gone multiplatinum. There is much more to Jewel's story, though, one complicated by family legacies, by crippling fear and insecurity, and by the extraordinary circumstances in which she managed to flourish and find happiness despite these obstacles. Along her road of self-discovery, learning to redirect her fate, Jewel has become an iconic singer and songwriter. In Never Broken she reflects on how she survived, and how writing songs, poetry, and prose has saved her life many times over. She writes lyrically about the natural wonders of Alaska, about pain and loss, about the healing power of motherhood, and about discovering her own identity years after the entire world had discovered the beauty of her songs.From the Hardcover edition.Tonight I'm Someone Else: Essays
By Chelsea Hodson. 2018
I had a real romance with this book Miranda JulyA highly anticipated collection from…
the writer Maggie Nelson has called bracingly good refreshing and welcome that explores the myriad ways in which desire and commodification intersect From graffiti gangs and Grand Theft Auto to sugar daddies Schopenhauer and a deadly game of Russian roulette in these essays Chelsea Hodson probes her own desires to examine where the physical and the proprietary collide She asks what our privacy our intimacy and our own bodies are worth in the increasingly digital world of liking linking and sharing Starting with Hodson s own work experience which ranges from the mundane to the bizarre including modeling and working on a NASA Mars mission Hodson expands outward looking at the ways in which the human will submits whether in the marketplace or in a relationship Both tender and jarring this collection is relevant to anyone who s ever searched for what the self is worth Hodson s accumulation within each piece is purposeful and her prose vivid clear and sometimes even shocking as she explores the wonderful and strange forms of desire Tonight I m Someone Else is a fresh poetic debut from an exciting emerging voice in which Hodson asks How much can a body endure And the resounding answer Almost everythingLet Not the Waves of the Sea
By Simon Stephenson. 2011
LET NOT THE WAVES OF THE SEA is Simon Stephenson's account of his journey following the loss of his brother…
in the Indian Ocean tsunami. If it is a story of grief, it is also a story of hope and of the unexpected places where healing can be found. Simon's journey takes him from Edinburgh in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, to Downing Street in London, to Thailand and the island where his brother died, to the scene of an ancient tsunami on the north-west coast of the United States, and to the town where he and his brother's favourite childhood film was made. Along the way there is heartbreak, dengue fever, Greek mythology, and hard physical labour in the tropical heat, but there is also memory, redemption and humour as well.Message from Heaven – Is anyone Listening 2?: A battle for your Soul!
By Les Feast. 2016
Lost in life, not sure of your purpose for living? How did you get here: incarnation or just reproduced? Maybe…
you are an alien from another place/planet? Matters to ponder in life and death and what it all means. Is there a Satan and a God doing battle for your soul? If there was, what would be the outcome for you to avoid the traps of hell and damnation? Questions to ponder and a compelling story to inspire and uplift you in the excitement of this journey through life -- from before you were born until Death. May your journey be truly blessed and may you enjoy this read. Love and light, Les Feast AuthorFinding Our Way Again
By Brian Mclaren. 2008
Shines a practical light on the spiritual disciplines that have been in use since the time of Abraham. In a…
sense, every day of our lives is labor. It is questionable if you can ever be exactly the same person waking up on two consecutive days. How are spiritual sojourners to cope with the constant change? Many are beginning to explore the ancient Christian spiritual practices that have been in use for centuries, everything from fixed-hour prayer to fasting to sincere observance of the Sabbath. What is causing this hunger for deeper spirituality?Brian McLaren guides us on this quest for an explanation of these spiritual practices, many of which go all the way back to Abraham and the establishment of Israel. In the midst of contemporary Christianity, we discover the beauty of these ancient disciplines and the transformation through Christ that each can provide. Why have certain spiritual disciplines been in use for centuries and why is it important? It is questionable if one can ever be exactly the same person waking up on two consecutive days. How are spiritual sojourners to cope with the constant change? Many are beginning to explore the ancient Christian spiritual practices, such as fixed-hour prayer, fasting and sincere observance of the Sabbath. What is causing this hunger for deeper spirituality?Brian McLaren guides us on this quest for an explanation of these spiritual practices, many of which go all the way back to Abraham and the establishment of Israel. In the midst of contemporary Christianity, we discover the beauty of these disciplines and the transformation through Christ that each can provide.George Michael: The biography
By Rob Jovanovic. 2007
George Michael is an enigma. While he is one of the most open and vocal pop superstars on the planet,…
he also fiercely protective of his privacy. From the formation of Wham! In 1981 he immediately found fame and fortune beyond his wildest dreams. His music formed the soundtrack to the 1980s and he achieved all of this despite growing up in a dysfunctional family where his father openly proclaimed that George had no talent.Wham! split in 1986 but Michael went on to greater things as a solo artist. Along the way he has been embroiled in several controversies, but in refreshing contrast to other superstars, he has been happy to address his issues head-on in the media. Rob Jovanovic's biography tackles all the issues that formed George Michael and his place as a cultural icon. It also, for the first time, analyses Michael's musical output and groundbreaking videos.Kate Bush
By Rob Jovanovic. 2005
Kate Bush has written some of the most memorable songs in pop music history. Wuthering Heights, her debut single shot…
to number 1 in 1978 and she remains something of an enigma over a quarter of a century later. A singer, songwriter, musician, dancer, actress and director, Kate has inspired a devoted following around the world. Rob Jovanovic traces the story of Kate Bush's career, from her up-bringing in the Essex countryside through her first forays into music with a series of home recordings, to her number 1 debut album that propelled her to international stardom. Including exclusive interviews with studio musicians and choreographers, Jovanovic's biography emphasises both her voracious talent and her intensely private personality.Robert Louis Stevenson: A Record, an Estimate, and a Memorial
By Alexander H. Japp.
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club…
where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: History / General; BiographyOut Of This World
By Brendan Lloyd. 2015
Have you ever considered spirituality but decided you couldn't make sense of all the jargon? You're not alone. Why settle…
for 'New Age' when you don't understand the Age-Old?In this book, you'll discover real experiences and real insight - nothing fictional, or second-hand (except maybe this book one day). If you don't think (even slightly) differently after reading this book, either you're not thinking enough, or you didn't stop and think 'Why are we here?'To quote the original Matrix film, 'Free your mind'; discover possibilities you thought were impossible, when you already knew the Mission was Impossible. But this one doesn't come with popcorn!I'm not here to tell you to 'look within', or that 'the Kingdom of God is within', I'm here to tell you - look for God, because the delusion is to believe in nothing at all!Molly Keane: A Life
By Sally Phipps. 1993
Molly Keane (1904 - 96) was an Irish novelist and playwright (born in County Kildare) most famous for Good Behaviour…
which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Hailed as the Irish Nancy Mitford in her day; as well as writing books she was the leading playwright of the '30s, her work directed by John Gielgud. Between 1928 and 1956, she wrote eleven novels, and some of her earlier plays, under the pseudonym M.J. Farrell. In 1981, aged seventy, she published Good Behaviour under her own name. The manuscript, which had languished in a drawer for many years, was lent to a visitor, the actress Peggy Ashcroft, who encouraged Keane to publish it.Molly Keane's novels reflect the world she inhabited; she was from a 'rather serious hunting and fishing, church-going family'. She was educated, as was the custom in Anglo-Irish households, by a series of governesses and then at boarding school. Distant and awkward relationships between children and their parents would prove to be a recurring theme for Keane. Maggie O'Farrell wrote that 'she writes better than anyone else about the mother-daughter relationship, in all its thorny, fraught, inescapable complexity.'Here, for the first time, is her biography and, written by one of her two daughters, it provides an honest portrait of a fascinating, complicated woman who was a brilliant writer and a portrait of the Anglo-Irish world of the first half of the twentieth century.The Life That Wins . . . Yes!
By Don H. Polston. 2010