[bksvol-discuss] Fw: Biography and Memoir September 2008
- From: "Amber Wallenstein" <amber.wallens@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 06:38:35 -0400
New and Recently Released!
Journey of a Thousand Miles: My Story - by Lang Lang with David Ritz
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 7/8/2008
ISBN: 9780385524568
ISBN-10: 0385524560
Recently appearing before the world at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008
Olympic Games in Beijing, 26-year-old Lang Lang is one of classical music's
greatest
young stars. The son of two parents whose own musical ambitions were thwarted
by the Cultural Revolution, Lang was a piano prodigy, winning the Shenyang
Piano Competiton at the age of five. He faced enormous pressure to succeed from
his parents, yet he has managed to meet--and possibly even surpass--their
expectations as he has performed to great acclaim with orchestras around the
world. Discover Lang Lang's rags-to-riches story in this exciting memoir.
First Chapter
Table of Contents
Books: A Memoir - by Larry McMurtry
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 7/8/2008
ISBN: 9781416583349
ISBN-10: 1416583343
When he's not writing Pulitzer Prize-winning novels like Lonesome Dove, Larry
McMurtry can often be found indulging his intense bibliomania. Raised with
little access to books, McMurtry discovered the joys of literature as a young
man, and since then, he has both owned and managed bookstores and become
a prominent collector with a personal library of over 28,000 volumes. In this
memoir, McMurty shares his personal experiences with books against the backdrop
of American book and reading culture. Kirkus Reviews calls Books "a pleasant
amble in Bookland and a treat for the bookishly inclined, as well as for
McMurtry
buffs."
We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam - by
Harold G. Moore
Publisher: HarperCollins
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 8/1/2008
ISBN: 9780061147760
ISBN-10: 0061147761
In the bestselling memoir We Were Soldiers Once.And Young (which was made into
a 2002 movie starring Mel Gibson), former Lieutenant Colonel Harold Moore
and UPI reporter Joseph Galloway provided a gripping, eyewitness account of the
1965 battle at Ia Drang during the Vietnam War, which resulted in a key
U.S. victory despite heavy casualties. Now, in We Are Soldiers Still, called a
"stellar sequel" by Publishers Weekly, Moore and Galloway travel back to
the bloody battlefield and reconnect with ten American veterans of the fighting
as well as with two of the former enemy commanders.
Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters - by Nancy Pelosi with James
Kaplan
Publisher: Doubleday
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 7/29/2008
ISBN: 9780385525862
ISBN-10: 0385525869
Nancy Pelosi has done her share of ground breaking: the first daughter of a
United States congressman to become a congresswoman herself, Pelosi also became
the first female Speaker of the House in January 2007, making her the most
powerful woman in U.S. history. In Know Your Power, Pelosi recounts details
of her personal life, including her Catholic upbringing in Maryland and her
marriage to Paul Pelosi, as well as her political life, from her work for the
California Democratic Party to her current position. Throughout the book, she
shares the wisdom she has gained as she has served her country and fought
to break down long-held barriers.
First Chapter
Born in September
Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King - by Antonia Fraser
Publisher: Random House
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 11/13/2007
ISBN: 9781400033744
ISBN-10: 1400033748
September 5, 1638. Just as the planets orbit the sun, so life in 17th-century
France revolved around Louis XIV, the illustrious Sun King, who reigned with
nearly absolute power for over 72 years. In Love and Louis XIV, renowned royal
biographer Antonia Fraser explores Louis' fascinating relationships with
women, including his mother, Anne of Austria; his wife, the Spanish Infanta
Maria Teresa; and his long string of mistresses. In the process, she also
discusses
the sexual culture of the royal court as well as Louis' conflict between his
amorous lifestyle and his pious allegiance to the Catholic Church, which
condemned
such immoral behavior.
First Chapter
Table of Contents
The Life of Elizabeth I - by Alison Weir
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 11/1/1999
ISBN: 9780345425508
ISBN-10: 0345425502
September 7, 1533. When 25-year-old Elizabeth I ascended to the throne of
England, most of her subjects thought she would soon marry and then leave the
ruling to her husband. But contrary to expectations, Elizabeth remained single
and devoted her time to her duties as queen, presiding over England's Golden
Age. Bestselling biographer Alison Weir, who has chronicled Tudor life in books
such as The Wives of Henry VIII, provides an intimate look into Elizabeth's
personal life, discussing in fascinating detail the reasons why she never
married as well as the mysterious death of Amy Robsart, the wife of her great
love, the Earl of Leicester.
Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu - by Laurence Bergreen
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 10/23/2007
ISBN: 9781400043453
ISBN-10: 140004345X
September 15, 1254. When he was just a teenager, Marco Polo embarked on a
journey that would last 24 years. Together with his father and uncle, Polo left
his Venetian home and traveled the Silk Road all the way to Xanadu (now
Beijing), the home of Genghis Khan's grandson, Kublai Khan. Polo served the
great
Mongol emperor until the latter's death; only then did he return to Venice and
eventually record the details of his extraordinary journey. Laurence Bergreen,
author of the acclaimed Over the Edge of the World, both traces Polo's
legendary adventure and weighs its veracity in this enthralling work that's part
biography, part travelogue.
First Chapter
Table of Contents
T.S. Eliot: An Imperfect Life - by Lyndall Gordon
Publisher: Norton
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 10/1/2000
ISBN: 9780393320930
ISBN-10: 0393320936
September 26, 1888. Poems such as "The Waste Land" and "The Love Song of J.
Alfred Prufrock" have cemented T.S. Eliot's reputation as one of the 20th
century's
greatest English-speaking poets. Born and educated in America, Eliot later
became a British citizen, preferring life abroad but noting that the "emotional
springs" of his work come from his home country. In T.S. Eliot, author Lyndall
Gordon, who has previously written two slimmer biographies of Eliot, examines
the poet's literary output and achievements as a critic in addition to
exploring his less successful personal life, including his relationships with
women
and recent allegations of both anti-Semitism and misogyny.
First Chapter
Table of Contents
Focus on: The Holocaust
The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust - by Edith
Hahn Beer
Publisher: HarperCollins
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 11/1/2000
ISBN: 9780688177768
ISBN-10: 068817776X
Edith Hahn was a Jewish law student in Vienna when Germany annexed Austria in
1938, sending Edith first to a ghetto and then to a labor camp. Eventually,
she obtained a copy of a non-Jewish friend's identification papers and started
an undercover life for herself in Munich. She married a Nazi officer (to
whom she confessed her true identity) and masqueraded as a typical German
hausfrau in order to escape detection. Though she suffered from nearly
paralyzing
fear as she fought to hide her true identity, Edith's efforts kept her and her
baby daughter safe until the war's end.
The Inextinguishable Symphony: A True Story of Music and Love in Nazi Germany -
by Martin Goldsmith
Publisher: Wiley
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 8/1/2001
ISBN: 9780471078647
ISBN-10: 0471078646
Established by the Nazis as a propaganda tool in 1933, the all-Jewish
Kulturbund Orchestra was nonetheless a source of hope and inspiration to German
Jews--though
it may also have given many of them a false sense of security. The orchestra
played for eight years before most of its members were sent to concentration
camps; in The Inextinguishable Symphony, Martin Goldsmith, a National Public
Radio commentator, recounts the tragic history of the orchestra as well as
the more intimate story of his parents, both of whom played in it until they
managed to escape to America in 1941. Kirkus Reviews calls the book "a
remarkable
story."
Table of Contents
First Chapter
The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million - by Daniel Mendelsohn; photographs
by Matt Mendelsohn
Publisher: HarperCollins
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 9/1/2006
ISBN: 9780060542979
ISBN-10: 0060542977
When young Daniel Mendelsohn entered a room, his resemblance to his great-uncle
Shmiel could bring his elderly relatives to tears. But all Daniel knew about
Shmiel was that he and his family were "killed by the Nazis" during World War
II. In 2001, a grown Daniel decided to find out what really happened to his
missing relatives. His journey of discovery, which took him to a dozen
countries on three different continents, led not just to a knowledge of Shmiel's
fate, but also to a greater understanding of himself, his family, and his
religion. In a starred review, Booklist calls The Lost "a finely wrought,
multi-faceted
narrative."
First Chapter
The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw,
1939-1945 - by Wladyslaw Szpilman
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Check Library Catalog
Pub Date: 9/1/2000
ISBN: 9780312263768
ISBN-10: 0312263767
First published in 1945 but initially suppressed by Poland's Communist
government, Wladyslaw Szpilman's memoir of his struggle to survive in Warsaw
during
World War II makes for chilling--yet inspiring--reading. A pianist with Polish
Radio, Szpilman witnessed the deportation of his entire family; he alone
remained in Warsaw, spending years hiding throughout the city and narrowly
escaping capture. Ironically, Szpilman would not have survived without the help
of a sympathetic German officer who secretly provided him with supplies until
his unit was reassigned. In 2002, The Pianist was made into an Academy
Award-winning
movie directed by Roman Polanski and starring Adrien Brody.
First Chapter
Table of Contents
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