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  Mozart in Italy - Coming of Age...

  Jane Glover

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  'You don’t have to be able to hum Mozart to find this book utterly engrossing . . . I couldn’t put it down' - Joanna LumleyAn expertly researched and vividly written account of Mozart’s formative trips to Italy. At thirteen years old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a child prodigy who had captured the hearts of northern Europe, but his father Leopold was now determined to conquer Italy. Together, they made three visits there the last when Mozart was seventeen, all vividly recounted here by acclaimed conductor Jane Glover.Father and son travelled from the theatres and concert salons of Milan to the church-filled streets of Rome to Naples, poorer and more dangerous than the prosperous north, and to Venice, the carnivalesque birthplace of public opera. All the while Mozart was absorbing Italian culture, language, style and art, and honed his craft. He met the challenge of writing Italian opera for Italian singers and audiences and provoked a variety of responses, from triumph and admiration to intrigue and hostility: in a way, these Italian years can be seen as a microcosm of his whole life.Evocative, beautifully written and with a profound understanding of eighteenth-century classical music, Mozart in Italy reveals how what he experienced during these Italian journeys changed Mozart – and his music – for ever.

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  The Dame with No Name

  Kristol Pistol

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  This book is not for the faint of heart.
   
  Drugs, gangs, and violence form the backdrop of this gripping tale that follows a young girl caught at crossroads of her life. On the cusp of her twenties, with adulthood looming just ahead, she discovers just how much a detour can derail someone’s path. As our heroine faces multiple 
  challenges and navigates through unexpected events at every turn, life unfolds before her eyes in mysterious and unpredictable ways.
   
  Set in the 1990s, when grunge was at its dirtiest and hard rock blackened the ears and clothes of youth, this story follows suit with its own dark and grime soundtrack. Before the age of the internet and fast revolutions, this narrative takes on a much slower pace, sauntering through simpler days. Told as truthfully as possible with much grit and humility, this book is written for the underdogs, for the broken, and for those who get knocked down but never give up; for those who crawled their way out of the belly of Hell and for those we loved so dearly who died trying.

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  KNOW ABOUT "ARISTOTLE" - An...

  Saurabh Singh Chauhan

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  This is small part of introduction of the book: Welcome, dear reader, to the captivating journey through the life and wisdom of one of history's most remarkable minds—Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher. As we step back in time, we'll uncover the profound insights and contributions that have left an indelible mark on philosophy, science, and our understanding of the world. 
  Aristotle's tale begins in the ancient city of Stagira, nestled in Macedonia. Born in 384 BCE, this curious young soul would grow to be a beacon of knowledge, illuminating the path for generations to come. From his early days, it was clear that he possessed a thirst for understanding the very essence of existence. 
  Venturing to Athens, Aristotle found his intellectual haven at Plato's Academy. There, his agile mind soaked in the teachings of the great Plato, forging a solid foundation for his own ideas. And so, our journey takes flight—a journey that sees Aristotle evolve from a keen learner to a brilliant thinker who challenged convention and explored the secrets of nature.

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  Sister Teresa - The Woman Who...

  Bárbara Mujica

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  “This brilliant fictional biography of Saint Teresa of Ávila breathes new life into a sacred subject” (Booklist).   She is Saint Teresa—known as a mystic, reformer, and founder of convents, and the author of numerous texts that introduced her radical religious ideas and practices to a society suffering through the repressive throes of the Spanish Inquisition. In Bárbara Mujica’s masterful tale, her story—her days of youthful romance, her sensual fits of spiritual rapture, secret heritage as a Jewish convert to Catholicism, cloak-and-dagger political dealings, struggles against sexual blackmail, and mysterious illness—unfolds with a tumultuous urgency. Blending fact with fiction in vivid detail, painstakingly researched and beautifully rendered, Mujica’s tale conjures a brilliant picture of sisterhood, faith, the terror of religious persecution, the miracle of salvation, and of one woman’s challenge to the power of strict orthodoxy, a challenge that consisted of a crime of passion—her own personal relationship with God.   “This engaging novel depicts Teresa of Ávila as an extraordinary woman whose visions, church reform ideas and writing may well have been inspired by God . . . Surprisingly light and entertaining.” —Publishers Weekly   “A lifelong friend remembers Teresa of Ávila, ‘Spain’s most beloved saint,’ in this richly entertaining historical novel from Mujica . . . An earthy, humanizing portrait.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)   “Mujica brings this tumultuous time in history to vivid life. A very interesting and compelling novel which focuses more on Teresa’s entire life rather than simply her religion.” —Historical Novel Society

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  The Hummingbird Kiss - My Life...

  Trish MacEnulty

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  Trish spends her time hustling and cheating to score. Heroin, Dilaudids, whatever she can get. 
  Precisely plotting the slippery slope of a heroin addict's existence, The Hummingbird Kiss paints a bleak picture but still manages to offer a ray of hope. The '70s are young, and 18-year-old Trish is a newlywed. When a Florida judge sentences her junkie husband to ten years for stealing stereos, she immediately seeks out a fix, and before she knows it she's hooked. There follows a long sojourn as she and her friends work small scams to score, head to California in search of better highs, move back to Florida, shoot up and nod off every chance they get — until death gets some of them. 
  MacEnulty has constructed a gritty and sorrowful book about a young girl with an appetite for the damage done. Trish comes from a broken but still functional family. She's witty, articulate and street-smart enough to know better than to get caught up in this life of self destruction, but childhood abandonment and the ensuing self-loathing are too much for her to manage without medication. Her life unravels as her cross-country wanderings take her from drug dens to rehabs to prison, with a few bleary-eyed months spent scoring drugs in the Tijuana barrios. 
  The author spares us no detail of her sordid descent, but Trish remains an engaging voice whose innate grain of goodness and interest in humanity keeps the reader on her side. Trish declines to blame anyone for her calamitous state. All she wants is the "hummingbird kiss of the needle" — the most wonderful experience she knows — until she inevitably winds up in prison and rediscovers the girl she once was. 
  "Searingly honest, often funny, always sordid story of a junkie’s life in the 1970s."—Chauncey Mabe, Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

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  Where There's a Hill - One woman...

  Sabrina Verjee

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  'The greater the challenge, the sweeter the reward, but also the greater the risk of failure. And fear of failure is the greatest barrier to success.'
  Sabrina Verjee is an ultrarunning phenomenon. In June 2021, on her fourth attempt, she became the first person to climb the Lake District's 214 Wainwright hills in under six days, running 325 miles with a colossal 36,000 metres of ascent.
  Where There's a Hill tells the story of an outsider who was never picked for a school sports team yet went on to become an accomplished modern pentathlete and adventure racer. After switching her focus to ultrarunning in her thirties, Sabrina moved to the Lake District, where she could hone her mountain-running skills on the local fells. High-profile success in endurance events followed, as she completed the Dragon's Back Race three times and was the outright winner of the 2019 Summer Spine Race, beating her nearest competitor by more than eight hours.
  However, it was the Wainwrights Round which really captured Sabrina's imagination. Having learnt about the challenge from fell-running legend Steve Birkinshaw, Sabrina began to plan an attempt of her own. Despite multiple obstacles – including lockdown regulations, bad weather, injury and controversy – Sabrina's grit and determination shone through. Where There's a Hill is a frank and inspirational account of how one woman ran her way into the record books.

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