Let Me Sing You Gentle Songs

Let Me Sing You Gentle Songs
Author: Linda Olsson
Publisher: Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2005-08-26
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1742539262

A stunning first novel that was to become an international bestseller. Veronika, a writer in her early thirties, rents a house in the Swedish countryside to finish her novel. She is also cocooning herself from her past. She befriends Astrid, a reclusive older woman who has lived in the village all her life. Olsson leads us through the flowering of their unusual and tender friendship, as they slowly and carefully reveal their life histories and sometimes heart-rending pasts. The Swedish landscape is always a powerful presence and measures the progress of the women's relationship; as the icy winter and bare trees give way to spring and then summer, the women's friendship deepens. Also available as an eBook

The Blackbird Sings at Dusk

The Blackbird Sings at Dusk
Author:
Publisher: Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2016-05-02
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1743487118

A compelling novel about friendship, identity and love. One winter evening, Elias, a young artist, watches a woman move into his apartment building. After closing her door, however, she is not seen again. A misdirected letter finally gives Elias the opportunity to make contact. But inside her dark apartment, Elisabeth refuses to respond to his knock. Her only company is the Woman in Green, an unbidden vision from her childhood dreams. Elias, meanwhile, is not to be deterred and draws his friend Otto, an elderly widower, into his attempts to entice Elisabeth into the world. As spring segues into summer, their lives become intertwined and their past stories are revealed.

Astrid and Veronika

Astrid and Veronika
Author: Linda Olsson
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2007-02-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780143038078

"Readers of Anne Tyler and Jodi Picoult will appreciate the lyrical prose and expert rendering of the themes of heartbreakk and loss."—Booklist An unforgettable novel about friendship, love and loss. With extraordinary emotional power, Linda Olsson’s stunningly well-crafted debut novel recounts the unusual and unexpected friendship that develops between two women. Veronika, a young writer from New Zealand, rents a house in a small Swedish village as she tries to come to terms with a recent tragedy while also finishing a novel. Her arrival is silently observed by Astrid, an older, reclusive neighbor who slowly becomes a presence in Veronika’s life, offering comfort in the form of companionship and lovingly prepared home-cooked meals. Set against a haunting Swedish landscape, Astrid & Veronika is a lyrical and meditative novel of love and loss, and a story that will remain with readers long after the characters’ secrets are revealed.

A Sister in My House

A Sister in My House
Author: Linda Olsson
Publisher: Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2018-04-30
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0143770772

Honest and moving, this intense story carefully tracks a relationship stunted in childhood but given a second chance. One sister have I in our house, And one, a hedge away. There’s only one recorded, But both belong to me. Maria has found a sanctuary in a rented house, overlooking a small Spanish village by the sea. She is coming to terms with losing the love of her life. But her solitude and the places that have become special to her are about to be encroached upon by the arrival of her younger sister, Emma. Will the intrusion only serve to evoke the bad memories of childhood or will the impending visit help them restart their lives? This is a moving and heart-warming story of two sisters negotiating personal tragedies, past alienation and their own failings to try to come together in understanding and love. ‘It is beautiful, sad and hopeful.’— Norran, Sweden

Self-Translation

Self-Translation
Author: Anthony Cordingley
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2013-01-17
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 144117575X

Self-Translation: Brokering originality in hybrid culture provides critical, historical and interdisciplinary analyses of self-translators and their works. It investigates the challenges which the bilingual oeuvre and the experience of the self-translator pose to conventional definitions of translation and the problematic dichotomies of "original" and "translation", "author" and "translator". Canonical self-translators, such Samuel Beckett, Vladimir Nabokov and Rabindranath Tagore, are here discussed in the context of previously overlooked self-translators, from Japan to South Africa, from the Basque Country to Scotland. This book seeks therefore to offer a portrait of the diverse artistic and political objectives and priorities of self-translators by investigating different cosmopolitan, post-colonial and indigenous practices. Numerous contributions to this volume extend the scope of self-translation to include the composition of a work out of a multilingual consciousness or society. They demonstrate how production within hybrid contexts requires the negotiation of different languages within the self, generating powerful experiences, from crisis to liberation, and texts that offer key insights into our increasingly globalized culture.

The Book of Old Ladies

The Book of Old Ladies
Author: Ruth O. Saxton
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2020-09-05
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1631527983

This is a book that champions older women’s stories and challenges the limiting outcomes we seem to hold for them. The Book of Old Ladies introduces readers to thirty stories featuring fictional “women of a certain age” who increasingly become their truest selves. Their stories will entertain and provide insight into the stories we tell ourselves about the limits and opportunities of aging. A celebration of women who push back against the limiting stereotypes regarding older women’s possibility, The Book of Old Ladies is a book lover’s guide to approaching old age and dealing with its losses while still embracing beauty, creativity, connection, and wonder.

Sing You Home

Sing You Home
Author: Jodi Picoult
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 477
Release: 2011-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1439102724

Ten years of infertility issues culminate in the destruction of music therapist Zoe Baxter's marriage, after which she falls in love with another woman and wants to start a family, but her ex-husband, Max, stands in the way.

Unintentional Music

Unintentional Music
Author: Lane Arye
Publisher: Hampton Roads Publishing
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2002-01-01
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1612832903

The last time you whistled a tune or hummed a song-why did you choose that one? You may not consider yourself a musical person, but your little act of unintended music may be the key to unlocking within you a wealth of unsuspected creativity-a kind of creativity that goes way beyond music, too. Lane Arye, PhD, a musician himself, focuses on the music that people do not intend to make. Using the highly regarded psychological model called Process Work, developed by Arnold Mindell, PhD, Arye has been teaching students around the world how to awaken their creativity, using music as the starting point, but including all art forms and ways of expression. The unintentional appears at moments when some hidden part of us, something beyond our usual awareness, suddenly tries to express itself. If we start paying attention to what is trying to happen rather than to what we think should happen, we open the door to self-discovery and creativity. Sometimes what we regard as "mistakes" in self-expression are in fact treasures. The book is rich with real-life stories, ideas, and practical techniques for unlocking creativity, which Arye dispenses with humor, insight, and enthusiasm.

Wayward Son

Wayward Son
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2019-09-24
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1250146097

THE HOTLY ANTICIPATED SEQUEL TO THE NO. 1 BESTSELLER CARRY ON Simon Snow is back and he's coming to America! The story is supposed to be over. Simon Snow did everything he was supposed to do. He beat the villain. He won the war. He even fell in love. Now comes the good part, right? Now comes the happily ever after... So why can’t Simon Snow get off the couch? What he needs, according to his best friend, is a change of scenery. He just needs to see himself in a new light. That’s how Simon and Penny and Baz end up in a vintage convertible, tearing across the American West. They find trouble, of course. (Dragons, vampires, skunk-headed things with shotguns.) And they get lost. They get so lost, they start to wonder whether they ever knew where they were headed in the first place. With Wayward Son, Rainbow Rowell has written a book for everyone who ever wondered what happened to the Chosen One after he saved the day. And a book for everyone who was ever more curious about the second kiss than the first. It’s another helping of sour cherry scones with an absolutely decadent amount of butter. Come on, Simon Snow. Your hero’s journey might be over – but your life has just begun.