Other books that might interest you

• 

  The Dad Rock That Made Me A Woman

  Niko Stratis

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  A memoir-in-essays on transness, dad rock, and the music that saves us. 
   
   
   
  When Wilco's 2007 album Sky Blue Sky was infamously criticized as "dad rock," Niko Stratis was a twenty-five-year-old closeted trans woman working in her dad's glass shop in the Yukon Territory. As she sought escape from her hypermasculine environment, Stratis found an unlikely lifeline amid dad rock's emotionally open and honest music. Listening to dad rock, Stratis could access worlds beyond her own and imagine a path forward. 
   
   
   
  In taut, searing essays rendered in propulsive and unguarded prose, Stratis delves into the emotional core of bands like Wilco and The National, telling her story through the dad rock that accompanied her along the way. She found footing in Michael Stipe's allusions to queer longing, Radiohead's embrace of unknowability, and Bruce Springsteen's very trans desire to "change my clothes my hair my face"—and she found in artists like Neko Case and Sharon Van Etten that the label transcends gender. A love letter to the music that saves us and a tribute to dads like Stratis's own who embody the tenderness at the genre's heart, The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman rejoices in music unafraid to bare its soul.

  Show book

• 

  Emeralds of Oz - Life Lessons...

  Anonymous

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  In the bestselling tradition of Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, a wise and inspiring collection of life lessons drawn from one of the most beloved movies of all time: The Wizard of Oz. 
  After a lifetime in book publishing, Peter Guzzardi had edited a remarkable group of diverse authors, from Stephen Hawking to Deepak Chopra, from Carol Burnett to Douglas Adams, from Byron Katie to Geneen Roth. Yet everything he’d learned from working with them felt oddly familiar. One day it suddenly became clear: all that wisdom had its roots in a film he’d watched as a child, “The Wizard of Oz.”  
  That revelation led to this book. It’s a jewel box of insights drawn from Dorothy’s heroic journey from helpless in Kansas to powerful in Oz, then back to Kansas, transformed by what she found along the way. In Emeralds of Oz: Life Lessons From Over the Rainbow, we discover what the most-watched film in history has to teach us. With that knowledge we become free to embark on our own journey, having activated the power to direct our lives that we possessed all along.

  Show book

• 

  Descending Thirds

  Nicole Conn

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Descending Thirds is an epic tale of love, ambition, and betrayal set against the lush world of classical music in 1965 New York—a searing triangular love affair that unfolds like a symphony of passion and suspense, culminating in two intriguing twists. 
  At the world’s most prestigious piano competition, three lives collide: Alexandra von Triessen, a gifted but emotionally guarded pianist, is torn between two extraordinary brothers: Sebastian D’Antonio, the devastatingly handsome showman who lights up every room he enters, and Conrad D’Antonio, the mysterious other-worldly genius whose music seems to rise from another realm. 
  What begins as artistic rivalry transforms into a spellbinding triangle of desire, ambition, and betrayal. Each encounter, each performance, builds like a crescendo toward heartbreak, redemption, and the haunting question: How much would you sacrifice for love… and for greatness? 
  Musical score snippets and original compositions woven throughout the narration give this story an elevated, cinematic dimension—allowing listeners to hear the emotions thrumming beneath every glance and confession. The result is a sensual, transcendent experience that merges romance and art into one unforgettable performance. 
  Inspired by Conn’s own mother—a pianist battling End Stage Parkinson’s who continues to play despite her failing hands—Descending Thirds resonates on a profoundly human level. It’s a story of love tested by ambition, of devotion to both people and art, and of beauty’s inevitable cost. 
  For listeners who crave intense, character-driven romance, sweeping emotion, and a touch of musical magic—Descending Thirds is a page-turner that delivers a concerto of heartache and passion you’ll feel long after the final note fades.

  Show book

• 

  Counterfeit Worlds - The...

  Brian J. Robb

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Dive into the worlds of Philip K. Dick who inspired some of the most famous sci-fi movies of all time!
  
  Philip K. Dick struggled to make a living during his lifetime, but his work has since served as a deep seam of ideas to be mined by filmmakers such as Ridley Scott, Paul Verhoeven, Steven Spielberg, John Woo and Richard Linklater, resulting in some of the most successful and influential SF movies of all time.
  
  For the still-unequalled future world of Blade Runner to the mind-bending A Scanner Darkly, via the blockbusting action/adventure of Total Recall, Paycheck and Minority Report – not to mention the debt of gratitude films like The Matrix and The Truman Show owe to his work – the legacy of Philip K. Dick has revolutionised Hollywood.

  Show book

• 

  Music and Technology - A Very...

  Mark Katz

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  This Very Short Introduction takes an expansive and inclusive approach meant to broaden and challenge traditional views of music and technology. In its most common use, "music technology" tends to evoke images of twentieth and twenty-first century electronic devices: synthesizers, recording equipment, music notation software, and the like. This volume, however, treats all tools used to create, store, reproduce, and transmit music—new or old, electronic or not—as technologies worthy of investigation. 
   
   
   
  In this broad view, technology in music encompasses instruments, whether acoustic, electric or electronic; engraving and printing; sound recording and playback; broadcasting; software; and much more. Mark Katz challenges the view that technology is unnatural, something external to music. It was sometimes said in the early twentieth century that so-called mechanical music (especially player pianos and phonographs) was a menace to "real" music; alternatively, technology can be freighted with utopian hopes and desires, as happens today with music streaming platforms like Spotify. Positive or negative, these views assume that technology is something that acts upon music; by contrast, this volume characterizes technology as an integral part of all musical activity and portrays traditional instruments and electronic machines as equally technological.

  Show book

• 

  The Meaning of Metallica - Ride...

  William Irwin

  • 0
  • 1
  • 0

  A serious look at the lyrics of metal’s biggest band, disentangling double meanings, explaining stories, uncovering sources, and illuminating themes such as hope, despair, rage, resilience, power, liberty, justice, love, death, and insanity.
  		 
  More than 40 years since their formation, and 125 million album sales later, Metallica is as relevant as ever. Much has been written about the band, but The Meaning of Metallica is the first book to focus exclusively on their lyrics.
  		 
  Their mighty guitar riffs and pounding drums are legendary, but Metallica’s words match the intensity of their tunes. Lead singer James Hetfield writes rock poetry dealing with death, war, addiction, alienation, corruption, freedom, religion, and other weighty topics. Painting a rainbow of emotions with a deft palette, subtle but not obscure, Hetfield’s lyrics deserve careful attention. A master of narrative, Metallica makes listeners care about a vast array of characters, from a vengeful God, to a suicidal teenager, to a man in mid-life crisis.
  		 
  The Meaning of Metallica is like a riveting conversation with a close friend. A thematic tour de force that traces Hetfield’s lyrical development across the decades, this companion examines everything from deep cuts like “Confusion” to megahits like “Enter Sandman.” Sure to spark debate and discussion, The Meaning of Metallica provides a close reading of lyrics dense with details and rich with allusions.

  Show book