NEW eBooks About Music

Friday, May 9, 2008

Kyra eBook Edition, This One Will Surprise You...

Have you ever had the experience of reading a book that you aren't even sure you like, but somehow can't but it down?

Kyra by Carol Gillian was like that for me.  Part of my brain kept thinking, "why am I reading this, it is boring and painful".  But I still couldn't put it down.  I actually read the whole thing in one long lazy Saturday afternoon.

On the face of it, there isn't a reason that I should have even picked the book up, much less been unable to put it down.  I know almost nothing about architecture or urban planning and possibly less about opera.  I am not in the habit of analyzing cultures, music or art.  Mainly, I am not big on suffering for love.  Yet with all of those strikes against it, Kyra was a strangely compelling book.

Gilmore is a graceful and fluent writer.  She has a tremendous grasp of her subject matter -- architecture, opera and therapy.  Somehow (against all odds), she seamlessly weaves these complex themes into a kind of love story.  Interestingly enough, a love story with a "happily ever after" end.

The characters, Kyra and Andreas, are complex and have extremely complicated lives.  They are both sophisticated, brilliant and creative.  Their careers serve as the ballast for the emotional life.  As they work together and fall in love, everything they believe begins to morph into something different. 

This story of how they fall in love is strangely academic and cerebral.  It shouldn't work, but somehow it does.

Kyra is more than a love story but less than a romance.  Difficult to explain.  This is a book you need to experience.

I suspect that urban planners and opera fans would find this book a treasure trove of ideas and sensations.  Psychologist and people familiar with psychotherapy would find it challenging.  And yet it also works for the casual reader.  Certainly, it is not everyone's cup of tea.

This is a great book club selection.  The story and themes are great discussion material.  And yet, you don't need to belong to a book club to read and enjoy this book.

Use Coupon Code LIBMR8 at checkout to receive a Discount on this eBook Title.

Here is the publishers synopsis:

An unforgettable novel about love–and the first work of fiction by the author of the groundbreaking nonfiction bestseller In a Different Voice

Kyra is an architect, involved in a project to design a new city. Andreas, a theater director, is staging an innovative production of the opera Tosca. Both have come through political upheaval and personal loss. Neither wants to fall in love. Yet when she asks him, “What is the opposite of losing?” and he says, “Finding,” it galvanizes a powerful attraction, and they risk opening themselves to love once again.

When their love affair leads to a shocking betrayal, Kyra’s fierce determination to see under the surface, to know what was true and real, brings her to Greta, a remarkable therapist. As the therapy itself repeats the themes of love and loss, Kyra challenges its structure, and the struggle that ensues between the two women opens the way to a larger understanding.

Passionate and revolutionary, Kyra is an exquisitely written love story, imbued with gentle humor. This is an extraordinary work of fiction by one of the most brilliant writers of our time.

del.icio.us Tags: ebook,e-book,book review,Kyra,architecture,opera,psychotherapy

Monday, April 7, 2008

Hip Hop Homophobes And It's Off The Chain!

I read Khalil Amani's book Hip-Hop Homophobes and it's off the chain! To read his book, a straight black man who tells it like it is...he's forced me to rethink my own homophobia. The historical reasons for the Bible writing against homosexuality is amazing! The youth of today need this book. Ignorance, take a back seat!

 

A Viewer from Miami....

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Freedom Of Speech

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' Shakespeare's Philosophy' by Colin McGinn. It's doubtful that anyone who has an enduring interest in Shakespeare and his plays would doubt that the Bard was of a philosophical bent. In fact, the eBook is much like one would expect from a serious philosopher. He opens with a chapter on the themes he is going to pursue, outlining his ideas and defining his terms. He follows with chapters on six major plays (Midsummer, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Lear and The Tempest). Then, he offers four chapters on general topics such as gender and ethics. Finally, he wraps things up with an examination of Shakespeare's genius. I liked this eBook very much and hope others will as well.

'AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll' by Murray Engleheart. This eBook is a labor of love. Detractors and enemies need not waste their time. For those who value this gutsy loud great rock and roll band, the eBook is a great read, giving U.S. fans particularly a first hand look at the Australian rock culture and the trials and tribulations of the Young brothers. You will read how they climb to the top, lose their charismatic singer Bon Scott, and then come back even more ferociously with the legendary "Back In Black". Full of factoids! Use the Coupon Code below to receive a Discount on either of these eBook titles.

Shakespeare's Philosophy eBook edition by McGinn, Colin
Shakespeare's plays are usually studied by literary scholars and historians and the books about him from those perspectives are legion. It is most unusual for a trained philosopher to give us his insight, as Colin McGinn does here, into six of Shakespeare's greatest plays––A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, and The Tempest.
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AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll eBook edition by Engleheart, Murray
After more than three decades and 150 million albums, AC/DC has established itself as much more than just a great rock band. For millions of fans spanning several generations across the world, they are an ear-bleedingly loud, sweat-soaked religion.
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Buy either of these titles this week, and recieve an extra 5% off your total purchase - so read all you want - these titles and much more await you at eBooksAboutEverything.com!
Use the following coupon code at checkout:
BKS4ME

Friday, January 18, 2008

All Shapes And Sizes Of ROCK-N-Roll Baby

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'Nerd Girl Rocks Paradise City' by Soffee, Anne, Thomas. I live in Southern California, and people visiting often want to see Hollywood. They want to see Beverly Hills. When they get to Hollywood, it is not at all, what they expect. They expect some Norma Shearer stardust dream of a place---and what they get is right out of NERD GIRL. Anne evokes this place as if channeling Nathaniel West and Charles Bukowski through the perceptual matrix of Wolf- Man Jack. She's all about Rock and Roll--and she wants to apply the razor of criticism to its pimply little throat. This is the prequel to SNAKE HIPS--that is to say it takes place just before. I like it better because....well...You read it.

'Fargo Rock City' by Chuck Klosterman. WoohhoOOOooo! Don't rate this book lower just because it was more than a book about metal music.... It deals a lot with Chuck Klosterman growing up in rural (Wyndmere) North Dakota, and the "culture shock" associated with being different in a small town. This is an enjoyable book for any music fan. Below is a Coupon Code for a Discount on either of these two eBook Titles.

Nerd Girl Rocks Paradise City: A True Story of Faking It in Hair Metal L.A. (Adobe Reader) eBook edition by Soffee, Anne, Thomas
This hilarious peek into the early years of the hair-band era reveals the hierarchy of fishnets, bustiers, and chicks with the Holy Grail-a backstage pass. After college, Anne Thomas Soffee journeyed to Los Angeles to start a career as a rock journalist and small-time heavy-metal flack.
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Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota (Mobipocket) eBook edition by Klosterman, Chuck
It?s 1983 and Chuck Klosterman--a Wyndmere, North Dakota fifth-grader--wants to rock. His parents will not permit the long hair that his particular brand of rocking requires, but thankfully his brother returns from Fort Benning with the right tunes: Motley Cure?s Shout at the Devil. So begins Chuck?s love affair with heavy metal music, a genre that conquered the charts throughout the 1980s before disaffected grunge rockers like Nirvana and Pearl Jam laid it to waste in the early 90s.
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Buy either of these titles this week, and recieve an extra 5% off your total purchase - so read all you want - these titles and much more await you at eBooksAboutEverything.com!
Use the following coupon code at checkout:
BCF4MP