Pianos and Flowers

Pianos and Flowers
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 151
Release: 2021-01-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0593315766

From the beloved and best-selling author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, a charming collection of stories about life and romance In these fourteen delightful tales, Alexander McCall Smith imagines the lives and loves behind some of the everyday people featured in pictures from the London Sunday Times photographic archive. A young woman finds unexpected love while perusing Egyptian antiquities. A family is forever fractured when war comes to Penang, in colonial Malaysia. Iron Jelloid tablets help to reveal a young man's inner strength. And twin sisters discover that romance can blossom anywhere—even at the altar. Throughout Pianos and Flowers, McCall Smith employs his indomitable charm to explore the possibilities of love, friendship, and happiness.

The Piano Tuner

The Piano Tuner
Author: Daniel Mason
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2003-12-16
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1400077710

A New York Times Notable Book A San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, and Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year “A gripping and resonant novel. . . . It immerses the reader in a distant world with startling immediacy and ardor. . . . Riveting.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times In 1886 a shy, middle-aged piano tuner named Edgar Drake receives an unusual commission from the British War Office: to travel to the remote jungles of northeast Burma and there repair a rare piano belonging to an eccentric army surgeon who has proven mysteriously indispensable to the imperial design. From this irresistible beginning, The Piano Tuner launches readers into a world of seductive, vibrantly rendered characters, and enmeshes them in an unbreakable spell of storytelling.

Stubborn Archivist

Stubborn Archivist
Author: Yara Rodrigues Fowler
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Total Pages: 399
Release: 2019
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 0358006082

A young British -Brazilian woman from South London navigates growing up between two cultures and into a fuller understanding of her body, relying on signposts such as history, family conversation, and the eyes of the women who have shaped her: mother, grandmother, and aunt. During her trips to Brazil, sometimes alone, often with family, our narrator accesses a different side of herself that is as much of who she is as anything else. -- adapted from back cover

No Pianos, Pets Or Foreigners!

No Pianos, Pets Or Foreigners!
Author: Joe Palermo
Publisher:
Total Pages: 135
Release: 2020-03-17
Genre:
ISBN:

A young Japanese woman was running through Tokyo station screaming "Save me! Save me!" There was a Japanese man chasing her and closing in. He grabbed her wrist and caught her about 10 feet in front of me. The woman was still yelling "Save me! Save Me!" but the Japanese people in the crowded station ignored her, not wanting to get involved. This is the beginning of just one of the stories from my experience living in Japan in the 1980's, where I had moved right after graduating university. It was still rare to see an American who could speak Japanese fluently. This book guides the reader though my many adventures navigating through Japanese culture while living in the outskirts of Tokyo, as well as Tokyo proper.

Three Pianos

Three Pianos
Author: Andrew McMahon
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2021-10-26
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1648960758

From beloved indie musician Andrew McMahon comes a searingly honest and beautifully written memoir about the challenges and triumphs of his life and career, as seen through the lens of his personal connection to three pianos. Andrew McMahon grew up in sunny Southern California as a child prodigy, learning to play piano and write songs at a very early age, stunning schoolmates and teachers alike with his gift for performing and his unique ability to emotionally connect with audiences. McMahon would go on to become the lead singer and songwriter for Something Corporate and Jack's Mannequin, and to release his debut solo album, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, in 2014. But behind this seemingly optimistic and quintessentially American story of big dreams come true lies a backdrop of overwhelming challenges that McMahon has faced—from a childhood defined by his father's struggle with addiction to his very public battle with leukemia in 2005 at the age of twenty-three, as chronicled in the intensely personal documentary Dear Jack. Overcoming those odds, McMahon has found solace and hope in the things that matter most, including family, the healing power of music and the one instrument he's always turned to: his piano. Three Pianos takes readers on a beautifully rendered and bitter-sweet American journey, one filled with inspiration, heartbreak, and an unwavering commitment to shedding our past in order to create a better future.

The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a

The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a
Author: Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky
Publisher: Legare Street Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2022-10-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781017200263

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Flowers for Elephants

Flowers for Elephants
Author: Peter Martell
Publisher:
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2022-03-10
Genre:
ISBN: 9781787386938

When northern Kenyans find elephant bones, they lay down blossoms and branches as a mark of respect, honouring their crucial connection with the wildlife they live alongside. In our changing world, these values are vitally important. For decades, northern Kenya was one step away from a warzone, on the frontlines of climate change and habitat loss. People slept with their shoes on, fearing attack. Wildlife was decimated. Yet, facing the most extreme challenges, people united. What began as a last-ditch effort to save rhinos from extinction sparked a remarkable return of wildlife, with the once-struggling cattle ranch Lewa named a UN World Heritage Site for its outstanding value to humanity. This served as a catalyst for much broader action. Communities created a network of protected lands across an area larger than Switzerland. Through conservation, they built peace, driving social, environmental and political change. From tracking elephants through the bush to gun battles with bandits and treks through Al-Qaeda territory, Peter Martell tells the exciting story of a conservation movement that gives hope. At a time when humanity is reassessing its broken relationship with nature, these communities offer an inspirational blueprint, proving that environmental change does not have to divide, but can bring us together.

Chance Developments

Chance Developments
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher: Knopf Canada
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2016-07-12
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0345811682

WITH A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR TO HIS CANADIAN READERS It is said that a picture may be worth a thousand words but an old photograph can inspire many more. In this beguiling book, McCall Smith casts his eye over five “orphaned” photographs from the era of black-and-white photography and imagines the stories behind them. Who were those people, what were their stories, why are they smiling, what made them sad? What emerges are surprising and poignant tales of love and friendship in a variety of settings an estate in the Highlands of Scotland, a travelling circus in Canada, an Australian gold-mining town, a village in Ireland, and the Scottish capital, Edinburgh. A dapper, roguish-looking man perching on a lady’s knee sparks the story of a ventriloquist and an animal handler who work in a circus, and who, under the most delightfully unexpected circumstances, fall in love. The image of a woman haloed by light in a train station becomes the lighthearted tale of a nun’s decision to leave the sisterhood and discover what and whom the big city has to offer. Some will find joy and fulfillment; others would prefer happier endings. Each of them, though, will find love, and that is ultimately what matters. Romantic, wistful and poignant, Chance Developments brims with flourishes of grace and humor that could only come from the pen of Alexander McCall Smith.

John W. Schaum Piano Course, D: The Orange Book

John W. Schaum Piano Course, D: The Orange Book
Author: John W. Schaum
Publisher: Alfred Music
Total Pages: 52
Release: 1999-12-13
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9781457451102

A time-honored tradition just got better! The John W. Schaum Piano Course has been newly revised with 100 percent new engravings and typesetting, highlighting for concept emphasis, updated song titles and lyrics, and illustrations.

Harlem of the West

Harlem of the West
Author: Elizabeth Pepin
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2006
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780811845489

Harlem of the West reveals a forgotten slice of San Francisco history and the African-American experience on the West Coast: the thriving jazz scene of the Fillmore in the 1940s and 1950s. With archival photographs and oral accounts from the residents and musicians who experienced it, this vividly illustrated tour will delight jazz fans and history aficionados.