Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  The Nightingale and the Rose

  Oscar Wilde

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  This story is from the book the Happy Prince and other Stories. In these tales, most of them being sad and even very sad, Oscar Wilde looks for a way to save one's soul in front of the misery of the world. In these tales the character will manage to obtain their salvation from their upper class blindness, by opening their eyes to misery and suffering and by doing what they can to repair these pains and evils.

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  Skylark - The Life and Times of...

  Philip Furia

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  Skylark is the story of the tormented but glorious life and career of Johnny Mercer, and the first biography of this enormously popular and influential lyricist.  Raised in Savannah, Mercer brought a quintessentially southern style to both his life in New York and to his lyrics, which often evoked the landscapes and mood of his youth ("Moon River", "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening").  Mercer also absorbed the music of southern blacks--the lullabies his nurse sang to him as a baby and the spirituals that poured out of Savannah's churches-and that cool smooth lyrical style informed some of his greatest songs, such as "That Old Black Magic".Part of a golden guild whose members included Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, Mercer took Hollywood by storm in the midst of the Great Depression.  Putting words to some of the most famous tunes of the time, he wrote one hit after another, from "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby" to "Jeepers Creepers" and "Hooray for Hollywood."  But it was also in Hollywood that Mercer's dark underside emerged.  Sober, he was a kind, generous and at times even noble southern gentleman; when he drank, Mercer tore into friends and strangers alike with vicious abuse.  Mercer's wife Ginger, whom he'd bested Bing Crosby to win, suffered the cruelest attacks; Mercer would even improvise cutting lyrics about her at parties.During World War II, Mercer served as Americas's troubadour, turning out such uplifting songs as "My Shining Hour" and "Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive."  He also helped create Capitol Records, the first major West Coast recording company, where he discovered many talented singers, including Peggy Lee and Nat King Cole.  During this period, he also began an intense affair with Judy Garland, which rekindled time and again for the rest of their lives.  Although they never found happiness together, Garland became Mercer's muse and inspired some of his most sensuous and heartbreaking lyrics: "Blues in the Night," "One for My Baby," and "Come Rain or Come Shine."Mercer amassed a catalog of over a thousand songs and during some years had a song in the Top Ten every week of the year--the songwriting equivalent of Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak--but was plagued by a sense of failure and bitterness over the big Broadway hit that seemed forever out of reach.Based on scores of interviews with friends, family and colleagues, and drawing extensively on Johnny Mercer's letters, papers and his unpublished autobiography, Skylark is an important book about one of the great and dramatic characters in 20th century popular music.

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  Chasing Down the Dawn - Stories...

  Jewel

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  AIready a legendary performer in the music industry, Jewel has been writing poetry, short stories, and prose since she was young. She's also a bestselling author, poet, and actress. Now this uniquely talented artist opens the pages of her most intimate journals to give readers, fans, and friends a glimpse of her magical, turbulent life.Drawn from life on the road during her Spirit World Tour, Jewel captures unforgettable moments from her childhood in Alaska, her beginnings as a struggling artist, and her challenges as a daughter, sister, and woman. With acutely observed, eloquent depictions of the musicians, lovers, bikers, strangers, celebrities, and characters that inhabit her world -- and illustrated throughout with candid, never-before-seen photos of Jewel and her own photojournalism and drawings -- Chasing Down the Dawn is more than a collection of vignettes, observations, and stories. It is a finely wrought mosaic in prose and poetry, set to the rhythms of life.

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  The Gran Tour - Travels with my...

  Ben Aitken

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  'Both moving and hilarious' Spectator, Books of the Year
  
  'A tale of gloriously eccentric British pensioners. Aitken rivals Alan Bennett in the ear he has for an eavesdropped remark ... boy, can he write.' Daily Mail, Book of the Week
  
  FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE ACCLAIMED A CHIP SHOP IN POZNAN.
  
  One millennial, six coach trips, one big generation gap.
  
  When Ben Aitken learnt that his gran had enjoyed a four-night holiday including four three-course dinners, four cooked breakfasts, four games of bingo, a pair of excursions, sixteen pints of lager and luxury return coach travel, all for a hundred pounds, he thought, that's the life, and signed himself up. Six times over.
  
  Good value aside, what Ben was really after was the company of his elders - those with more chapters under their belt, with the wisdom granted by experience, the candour gifted by time, and the hard-earned ability to live each day like it's nearly their last.
  
  A series of coach holidays ensued - from Scarborough to St Ives, Killarney to Lake Como - during which Ben attempts to shake off his thirty-something blues by getting old as soon as possible.

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  All I Ever Wanted - A Rock 'n'...

  Kathy Valentine

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  “Recounts in vivid detail the gloriously debauched path of the Go-Gos through early rock success . . . and the darkness that such freedom can breed.” —Los Angeles Times  Runner-up, Carr P. Collins Award for Best Book of Non-Fiction   At twenty-one, Kathy Valentine was at the Whisky in Los Angeles when she met a guitarist from a fledgling band called the Go-Go’s and the band needed a bassist. The Go-Go’s became the first multi-platinum-selling, all-female band to play instruments themselves, write their own songs, and have a number one album. Their debut, Beauty and the Beat, spent six weeks at the top of the Billboard 200 and featured the hit songs “We Got the Beat” and “Our Lips Are Sealed.” The record’s success brought the pressures of a relentless workload and schedule culminating in a wild, hazy, substance-fueled tour that took the band from the club circuit to arenas, where fans, promoters, and crew were more than ready to keep the party going.  All I Ever Wanted traces the path that took Valentine from her childhood in Texas—where she all but raised herself—to the height of rock n’ roll stardom, devastation after the collapse of the band that had come to define her, and the quest to regain her sense of self after its end. Valentine also speaks candidly about the lasting effects of parental betrayal, abortion, rape, and her struggles with drugs and alcohol—and the music that saved her every step of the way.  “An epic tour of honest storytelling. All I Ever Wanted is a raw look at the highs and lows of being high and low. Long live the Go-Gos!” —Amy Poehler

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  Ever Yours Oscar - Selected...

  Peter Wylde

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  The story of Oscar Wilde’s life through his letters, revealing little-known aspects of the man whose timeless works range from The Picture of Dorian Gray to The Importance of Being Earnest. Brian Bedford, the late Tony-winning actor, brings Wilde’s words to life in this unique, engaging performance.
  
  Recorded at studio 306 in Toronto in October 2000. Recording Engineer, Jeff Wright. Executive Producer, Eleanor Koldofsky. Post-Production for L.A. Theatre Works, Ronn Lipkin.

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