Song In The Silence

Lanen Kaelar has dreamed of dragons all her life. But not just dreaming, for Lanen believes in dragons. Her family mocks her that dragons are just a silly myth. A legend. But Lanen knows better. And she means to prove it. One day she sets out on a dangerous voyage to the remote West to find the land of the True Dragons. What she discovers is a land of real dragons more beautiful—and surprising—than any dream she could have imagined. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

In this “beautiful, evocative” (Booklist, starred review) memoir, Yvette Johnson travels to the Mississippi Delta to uncover the moving, true story of her late grandfather Booker Wright, whose extraordinary act of courage would change his and, later, her life forever. “Have to keep that smile,” Booker Wright said in the 1966 NBC documentary Mississippi: A Self-Portrait. At the time, Wright was a waiter in a “whites only” restaurant and a local business owner who would become an unwitting icon of the Civil Rights Movement. For he did the unthinkable: speaking in front of a national audience, he described what daily life was truly like for black people of Greenwood, Mississippi. Four decades later, Yvette Johnson, Wright’s granddaughter, found footage of the controversial documentary. No one in her family knew of his television appearance. Even more curious for Johnson was that for most of her life she’d barely heard mention of her grandfather’s name. Born a year after Wright’s death and raised in a wealthy San Diego neighborhood, Johnson admits she never had to confront race in the way Southern blacks did in the 1960s. Compelled to learn more about her roots, she travels back to Greenwood, Mississippi, a beautiful Delta town steeped in secrets and a scarred past, to interview family members about the real Booker Wright. As she uncovers her grandfather’s compelling and ultimately tragic story, she also confronts her own conflicted feelings surrounding race, family, and forgiveness. “With profound insight and unwavering compassion, Johnson weaves an unforgettable story” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) about her journey in pursuit of her family’s past—and ultimately finding a hopeful vision of the future for us all.

Musings on joy and suffering, midlife and meaning, by a National Book Award–nominated poet and essayist praised for his “fine ear” (Publishers Weekly). Midway through the journey of his life, Dan Beachy-Quick found himself without a path, unsure how to live well. Of Silence and Song follows him on his resulting classical search for meaning in the world and in his particular, quiet life. In essays, fragments, marginalia, images, travel writing, and poetry, Beachy-Quick traces his relationships and identities. As father and husband. As teacher and student. As citizen and scholar. And as poet and reader, wondering at the potential and limits of literature. Of Silence and Song finds its inferno—and its paradise—in moments both historically vast and nakedly intimate. Hell: disappearing bees, James Eagan Holmes, Columbine, and the persistent, unforgivable crime of slavery. And redemption: in the art of Marcel Duchamp, the pressed flowers in Emily Dickinson’s Bible, and long walks with his youngest daughter. Curious, earnest, and masterful, Of Silence and Song is an unforgettable exploration of the human soul. Praise for the writing of Dan Beachy-Quick: “Intelligent, compassionate, exquisite . . . a unique voice.” —Cole Swensen “Rich, profound, fascinating.” —Los Angeles Times

In the Sipsongpanna region of China, tourists watch festive displays of Tai Lüe folk song and dance. The Tai Lües are viewed by the Chinese government as a 'model minority'. Sara Davis describes how Tai Lües are reviving and reinventing their culture in ways that contest the official state version.

One of the first questions asked in examining the root causes of discontent should be:When did you stop singing?or: Why aren't we in touch with this vital part of our being? In such an inquiry lies a journey toward the essential qualities that give happiness to the way we lead our daily lives. ThroughoutSong and Silence,Susan Hale explores the meaning of song and the cultural estrangement from our own voices. She shows us how singing can restore a relationship with ourselves, the natural world, and the many human worlds around us. What belongs to each of us coming into life is an ability to express inner feelings through sound. Using this most basic part of human existence can connect us with our deepest spiritual joys. This insight is often forgotten, but still functions in tribal cultures around the planet. Reaching into our common global matrix, Susan Hale shares experiential truths and lessons of the healing power of sound, song, and silence learned in her own journey as a singer. This book offers a fresh point of view, which leads to simple, yet profound, personal growth.

Provides insight into the philosophy and spiritual world behind the music of one of the leading present-day composers. This book will find a sympathetic readership among modern music-lovers and anyone who senses the gap between contemporary culture and humanity's deepest spiritual values.

You don't have to be an opera fan to appreciate this beautifully written memoir by world-famous tenor Andrea Bocelli. Born among the vineyards of Tuscany, Bocelli was still an infant when he developed glaucoma. Music filtering into his room soothed the unsettled child. By the age of twelve he was completely blind, but his passion for music brought light back into his life. Here Bocelli reveals the anguish of his blindness and the transcendent experience of singing. He writes about his loving parents, who nurtured his musical interests, the challenges of learning to read music in Braille and of competing in talent shows, his struggles with law school, and his desire to turn an avocation into a way of life. He describes falling in love and singing in piano bars until his big break in 1992, when a stunned Pavarotti heard him sing "Miserere." The international acclaim and success that have followed Bocelli ever since have done nothing to dull his sense of gratitude and wonder about the world. No classical music fan can afford to be without this engaging and humble memoir of a fascinating and triumphant star.

Her heart told her that he was "Mr. Right," the man of her dreams. They met while she was in college, studying to be a nurse. The plan looked obvious-o to school, meet a good man, and raise a beautiful family. But even the best laid plans can go astray. When she was betrayed in a way she never dreamed possible, her life would be changed forever. In this sometimes beautiful, sometimes heartbreaking memoir, author Donna Paul reveals the inner life of a woman forced to make the toughest decision of her life: giving her newborn son up for adoption. As Paul retraces the steps from her childhood to her personal tragedy to her long-sought chance for redemption and reunion, she shows us all that we can find A Song in Every Silence. -Donna Paul's "A Song in Every Silence"is a poignant