Greetings from Bury Park (Blinded by the Light Movie Tie-In)

Author: Sarfraz Manzoor
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307495779
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Book Description
The inspiration for the smash Sundance hit, soon to be a major motion picture, "Blinded by the Light": The acclaimed memoir about the power of Bruce Springsteen's music on a young Pakistani boy growing up in Britain in the 1970s. Sarfraz Manzoor was two years old when, in 1974, he emigrated from Pakistan to Britain with his mother, brother, and sister. Sarfraz spent his teenage years in a constant battle, trying to reconcile being both British and Muslim, trying to fit in at school and at home. But it was when his best friend introduced him to the music of Bruce Springsteen that his life changed completely. From the age of sixteen on, after the moment he heard the harmonica and opening lines to “The River,” Springsteen became his personal muse, a lens through which he was able to view the rest of his life. Both a tribute to Springsteen and a story of personal discovery, Greetings from Bury Park is a warm, irreverent, and exceptionally perceptive memoir about how music transcends religion and race.

Elton John FAQ

Author: Donald Gibson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1617137022
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 348

Book Description
This month, as Sir Elton John celebrates his seventieth birthday, Backbeat Books is thrilled to announce the release of Donald Gibson's Elton John FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the Rocket Man. An exploration of Sir Elton's accolades alone could span several volumes: in a career spanning nearly five decades, he has sold over 250 million records worldwide, appeared in nearly 4 000 live performances, been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and received multiple awards and nominations from the Academy, GRAMMYs, Oscars, and Tonys. How can one possibly hope to examine the life and times of this peerless singer-songwriter, the most successful solo artist Great Britain has ever produced and the third-most successful artist overall in American music history? Why, with Backbeat's acclaimed FAQ format, of course! Like every other volume in the FAQ series, Elton John FAQ is overflowing with enlightening data, compact histories, rare photographs and period ephemera, all organized into chapters equally suitable for a straight-through read or random perusal. Gibson touches on every major episode from Sir Elton's life, from his humble, and at times disheartening, childhood in the North London suburb of Pinner to his serendipitous meeting with lyricist Bernie Taupin, with whom he'd form a songwriting partnership that would ultimately rank alongside Lennon and McCartney in its success, and beyond. Scrutinizing the highs and lows of a life crammed with musical phases and sartorial changes, the book underscores not only the renowned musician's talents, but the truth behind tales that are familiar only to diehard fans.

Greetings from Asbury Park

Author: Daniel H. Turtel
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
ISBN: 1799956741
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 198

Book Description
Winner of the Faulkner Society Award for Best Novel In a small seaside city on the Jersey Shore, three half-siblings confront the death of a distant and bullying patriarch. They now have the chance to imagine new relationships and new futures, ones that would have been near-unthinkable while their father was alive. Caught in their crossfire are the conservative religious communities that border Asbury Park, the longtime locals who have been pushed to the fringe by the shore’s revitalization, and the legendary town upon which the whole world seems to converge. Slowly, however, they come to understand that everything—their future, their happiness—depends on whether they can face themselves. Wise, perceptive, and provocative, Greetings from Asbury Park is a remarkable literary debut in the tradition of great American novels such as Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio. It is a deep interrogation of place that depicts flawed characters as they break through to adulthood, truth, and to a moral relationship with the world.

They

Author: Sarfraz Manzoor
Publisher: Wildfire
ISBN: 9781472266842
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK and a powerful and deeply personal exploration of a divided country - and a hopeful vision for change. 'This is not another book about the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims. It is THE book. . . . Absolutely not to be missed.' - Matthew d'Ancona Sarfraz Manzoor grew up in a working-class Pakistani Muslim family in Luton - where he was raised to believe that they were different, they had an alien culture and they would never accept him. They were white people. In today's deeply divided Britain we are often told they are different, they have a different culture and values and they will never accept this country. This time they are Muslims. Weaving together history, reportage and memoir, Sarfraz Manzoor journeys around Britain in search of the roots of this division - from the fear that Islam promotes violence, to the suspicion that Muslims wish to live segregated lives, to the belief that Islam is fundamentally misogynistic. THEY is also Manzoor's search for a more positive future. We hear stories from Islamic history of a faith more tolerant and progressive than commonly assumed, and stories of hope from across the country which show how we might bridge the chasm of mutual mistrust. THEY is at once fiercely urgent, resolutely hopeful and profoundly personal. It is the story of modern, Muslim Britain as it has never been told.

Sigh, Gone

Author: Phuc Tran
Publisher: Flatiron Books
ISBN: 1250194725
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
For anyone who has ever felt like they don't belong, Sigh, Gone shares an irreverent, funny, and moving tale of displacement and assimilation woven together with poignant themes from beloved works of classic literature. In 1975, during the fall of Saigon, Phuc Tran immigrates to America along with his family. By sheer chance they land in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, a small town where the Trans struggle to assimilate into their new life. In this coming-of-age memoir told through the themes of great books such as The Metamorphosis, The Scarlet Letter, The Iliad, and more, Tran navigates the push and pull of finding and accepting himself despite the challenges of immigration, feelings of isolation, and teenage rebellion, all while attempting to meet the rigid expectations set by his immigrant parents. Appealing to fans of coming-of-age memoirs such as Fresh Off the Boat, Running with Scissors, or tales of assimilation like Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Displaced and The Refugees, Sigh, Gone explores one man’s bewildering experiences of abuse, racism, and tragedy and reveals redemption and connection in books and punk rock. Against the hairspray-and-synthesizer backdrop of the ‘80s, he finds solace and kinship in the wisdom of classic literature, and in the subculture of punk rock, he finds affirmation and echoes of his disaffection. In his journey for self-discovery Tran ultimately finds refuge and inspiration in the art that shapes—and ultimately saves—him.

The Cloud Messenger

Author: Aamer Hussein
Publisher: Saqi
ISBN: 1846591031
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 112

Book Description
"A thing of beauty. . . . You must read it."—Nadeem Aslam "A shower of pleasures."—Julia O'Faolain "Sophisticated, cosmopolitan and seductive, the novel engages mind and senses alike."—André Naffis-Sahely, The Times Literary Supplement Like his parents, he too spent many hours sending cloud messages to other places, messages of longing for something that he knew existed otherwhere. London, that distant rainy place his father lived in once, is where Mehran finds himself after leaving Karachi in his teens. And it is there that his adult life unfolds: he discovers the joys of poetry, faces the trials of love and work, and spends his dreaming hours "sending cloud messages to other places," hoping, one day, to tell his own story. A feeling of not quite belonging anywhere pursues Mehran as he travels to Italy, India, and Pakistan. But the relationships he forms—with wounded, passionate Marvi, volatile Marco, and the enigmatic Riccarda—and his power of recollection finally bring him some sense, however fleeting, of home. Aamer Hussein was born in Karachi in 1955 and moved to London in his teens. He lectures at the University of Southampton and the Institute of English Studies and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His novella Another Gulmohar Tree was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize Europe and South Asia 2010.

Fuse

Author: Julianna Baggott
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 1455503096
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 483

Book Description
Bestselling author Julianna Baggott presents the second volume in her new post-apocalyptic, dystopian thriller trilogy. We want our son returned. This girl is proof that we can save you all. If you ignore our plea, we will kill our hostages one at a time. To be a Pure is to be perfect, untouched by Detonations that scarred the earth, and sheltered inside the paradise that is the Dome. But Partridge escaped to the outside world, where Wretches struggle to survive amid smoke and ash. Now, at the command of Partridge's father, the Dome is unleashing nightmare after nightmare upon the Wretches in an effort to get him back. At Partridge's side is a small band of those united against the Dome: Lyda, the warrior; Bradwell, the revolutionary; El Capitan, the guard; and Pressia, the young woman whose mysterious past ties her to Partridge in ways she never could have imagined. Long ago a plan was hatched that could mean the earth's ultimate doom. Now only Partridge and Pressia can set things right. To save millions of innocent lives, Partridge must risk his own by returning to the Dome and facing his most terrifying challenge. And Pressia, armed only with a mysterious Black Box containing a set of cryptic clues, must travel to the very ends of the earth, to a place where no map can guide her. If they succeed, the world will be saved. But should they fail, humankind will pay a terrible price . . .

Typical American

Author: Gish Jen
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0547524099
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 307

Book Description
This “irresistible novel” of Chinese immigrants navigating the American dream is “startling [and] heartrending, without ever losing its comic touch” (Entertainment Weekly). Gish Jen reinvents the American immigrant story through the Chang family, who first come to the United States with no intention of staying. But when the Communists assume control of China in 1949, Ralph Chang, his sister Theresa, and his wife Helen find themselves in a crisis, struggling to cling to their old-world ideas of themselves. But soon they begin to dream the American dream of self-invention. They transform, poignantly and ironically, from people who disparage all that is “typical American” to people who aspire to the American ideal. With droll humor and a deep empathy for her characters, Gish Jen creates a superbly engrossing story that sparkles with wit while challenging the reader to reconsider what it means to be a typical American. “No paraphrase could capture the intelligence of Gish Jen’s prose, its epigrammatic sweep and swiftness . . . . The author just keeps coming at you line after stunning line.” —The New York Times Book Review

Antigona and Me

Author: Kate Clanchy
Publisher: Swift Press
ISBN: 1800751850
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 253

Book Description
' An absolutely wonderful book' - Deborah Moggach In a London street at the turn of the twenty-first century, two neighbours start to chat over the heads of their children. Kate Clanchy is a writer, privileged and sheltered. Antigona is a refugee from Kosovo. On instinct, Kate offers Antigona a job as a nanny, and Antigona accepts. Over the next five years and a thousand cups of coffee Antigona's extraordinary story slowly emerges. She has escaped from a war, she has divorced a violent husband, but can she escape the harsh code she was brought up with? At the kitchen table where anything can be said, the women discover they have everything, as well as nothing, in common.

Reading and Writing About Literature

Author: Janet E. Gardner
Publisher: Macmillan Higher Education
ISBN: 1457638495
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 227

Book Description
Far less expensive than comparable guides, Reading and Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide is an ideal supplement for writing courses where literature anthologies and individual literary works that lack writing instruction are assigned. This brief guide introduces strategies for reading literature, explains the writing process and common writing assignments for literature courses, provides instruction in writing about fiction, poetry, and drama, and includes coverage of writing a research paper and of literary criticism and theory. This volume in the popular Bedford/St. Martin's series of Portable Anthologies and Guides offers a trademark combination of high quality and great value.