Other books that might interest you

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  Steppenwolf

  Hermann Hesse

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  Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse is a profound exploration of the human psyche, delving into themes of identity, duality, and existential crisis. The novel follows Harry Haller, a solitary and introspective man who sees himself as divided between his human side and his wild, wolf-like instincts. As he navigates a surreal and mystical journey, Haller confronts the contradictions within himself and the societal norms that alienate him. Blending philosophy, spirituality, and psychological depth, Steppenwolf is a timeless masterpiece that challenges readers to reflect on their own inner struggles and the search for meaning in an ever-changing world.

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  Blind Faith

  Salomea Genin

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  Salomea Genin was born in 1932 in Berlin to Polish-Jewish parents and fled the Nazis with her family to Australia in 1939. In 1944 she joined the Eureka Youth (Young Communist) League and in 1949 – the beginning of the Cold War – the Australian Communist Party just as the government was planning to ban it.In 1951, as a delegate to the "3rd World Youth Festival" in East Berlin, she wanted to help build an anti-fascist state in the newly-founded German Democratic Republic (East Germany). In 1963, after a nine-year struggle, they finally allowed her in. Twenty years later, she realized that she was living in a police state, one in which she had willingly participated – and became suicidal. By 1985, psychotherapy and writing a book about her family enabled her to find the strength to go into political opposition and build a new life, even before the Berlin Wall and East Germany itself were dismantled in 1989.

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  Billie Holiday and Etta James:...

  Editors Charles River

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  If Billie Holiday wanted to become a jazz singer, she chose the best of all eras in which to attempt it. A wave of great jazz and jazz/pop crossover artists swept over the United States from the 1920s through the 1950s, generating a golden age for the genre. This wondrous jazz era was well represented by both black and white master artists, men, women, vocalists, and instrumentalists, and Billie Holiday has stood the test of time as well as any, despite struggling with an environment that easily could have doomed such aspirations. Holiday “rewrote the rules” of jazz singing by using her voice not to imitate other singers, but by taking on the style of movement and sound common to jazz instruments. On top of that, she took the moderately employed practice of singing off the beat and brought it to the rhythmic forefront of virtually everything she sang. 
  Etta James, the legendary jazz, gospel, rhythm & blues, and soul singer, was perfectly positioned to reign as the supreme artist in the emerging soul genre of the ‘40s and ‘50s in America. No one ever doubted her talent, the highly distinctive and versatile nature of her voice, or her drive to succeed, and yet, she has been “woefully overlooked” in the history of indigenous rock and blues music in the United States. She is famous and recognized for several iconic hits with which she is eternally associated, such as “I’d Rather Go Blind” and “At Last,” but her place in the pantheon of great soul artists is unsteady and not always instantly recognizable by those outside of a knowledgeable group of devotees. For the rest of soul music’s listeners, mention of her name will result in a hasty inclusion into the inner circle of leading artists, as though James had been momentarily forgotten. Once the object of focus, however, she is revered as one of the titans of the genre, and those who had allowed her to slip from their minds are immediately reawakened to her powerful vocal and interpretive gifts.

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  A Medical Crime - From their...

  J Storer Clouston

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  The bookshelves of British literature are incredible collections that have gathered together centuries of very talented authors.  From these Isles their fame spread and whilst among their number many are now forgotten or neglected their talents endure.  Among them is J Storer Clouston.

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  Radical - A Life of My Own

  Xiaolu Guo

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  Xiaolu Guo has been lauded as a "voice . . . speaking with full freedom" (Wall Street Journal), which has made her one of the most acclaimed Chinese-born writers of her generation. Her new memoir, Radical, is an exploration of a city, an electrically honest rendering of what it means to be an outsider, and the sojourn that upended her sense of self as a woman, partner, mother, and artist. 
   
   
   
  The world can seem strange and lonely when you step away from your family and everything you have built for yourself. Yet beauty may also appear. In the autumn of 2019, Guo traveled to New York to take up her position as a visiting professor for a year, leaving her child and partner behind in London. What she experienced, however, amidst excursions throughout the city and time spent on her own, was solitude and a destabilizing of self. Her encounter with American culture and people threatened her sense of identity and threw her into a crisis—of meaning, desire, obligation, and selfhood. 
   
   
   
  Radicals, or bushous, are the building blocks of Chinese characters; they are the “root” from which all words get their meaning. In this feminist lexicon, as she threads together her search for creative and personal freedom, Guo illuminates the integral role language plays in forming our sense of self.

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  At the Corner of Destiny and...

  Paul Owhadi

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  An entrepreneur’s journey—from his boyhood home far away to the intersection of destiny and innovation.Paul Owhadi set off from his childhood home in Iran to an austere French Jesuit boarding school thousands of miles away—at age four. It was just one stop on a lifelong journey of experiential learning, overcoming obstacles, and determination. With a confidence and curiosity distilled from his powers of observation and developing self-belief, he eventually made his way, after college in England, to New York City with less than $400 in his pocket and not knowing a soul. From there—as a first-generation American—adventure, misadventures, and a life of entrepreneurship awaited.After an education and a career in urban planning and city management, he took the extraordinary opportunity granted to him to explore the world of property development. Despite agonizing personal setbacks, including the tragic death of his business partner, Paul faced adversity with the lessons learned as both an ambitious, innovative immigrant and as a person whose mettle was formed as a child and later young man, far from home, a world away from his birthplace.Eventually, risking all on a new business proposition, Paul created a property and corporate empire that encompassed all he had learned in his entrepreneurship career—lessons of innovation learned from an improbable journey from a childhood a world away to the hard-won pinnacles of success.

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