"Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters"
by Matt Ridley
Sale
Ridley untangles the DNA web that weaves us in a clever,
lively guide to the genes associated with cancer, IQ, sex,
memory, and all that makes us human.
"The Operator: David Geffen Builds, Buys, and Sells the New
Hollywood"
by Tom King
Sale
Generous and treacherous, brilliant and mercurial,
DreamWorks cofounder David Geffen brought you "Saving
Private Ryan," Nirvana, Joni Mitchell, Guns N' Roses, and
Tom Cruise. And fame brought him bisexual heartbreak, weird
times in Hugh Hefner's hot tub with John Lennon and Cher,
bitter feuds with the Eagles and top executives, and
unfathomable cash. Wall Street Journal reporter Tom King's
tell-all is the talk of Tinseltown.
"Eating Well for Optimum Health"
by Dr. Andrew Weil
America's personal physician offers sensible salvation from
French fries, New Age quackery, and fad diets with a book on
what he calls "the best diet in the world." He also throws
in 85 recipes, including Oven-Fried Potatoes, which will
make you hold the fries for life. Read an excerpt:
Sale
"Carolina Moon"
by Nora Roberts
In Roberts's crossover blockbuster novel, Tory Bodeen
returns to tiny Progress, South Carolina, for a peaceful
life--and finds herself in the shadow of a murderer from her
haunted childhood. Read an excerpt:
Sale
"Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny"
by Robert Wright
Sale
"The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and
the Quest for the Ultimate Theory"
by Brian Greene
Sale
*********** It's a big month for big books. Pre-order titles by your favorite authors and we'll send them to you the day they go on sale.
"The Indwelling: The Beast Takes Possession"
by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
Sale
The latest in the Left Behind series, which turns the
Bible's apocalyptic prophecies into thriller fiction, is
soon to be a motion picture!
"Hugger Mugger"
by Robert B. Parker
Sale
Detective Spenser tries to save an endangered racehorse in
Georgia, gets the local cops ticked off, and finds something
sinister lurking beneath Southern gentility.
PAPERBACK BESTSELLERS
*********************
Here's a peek at what's piquing interest on Amazon.com's
paperback bestseller list.
"Rich Dad, Poor Dad"
by Robert T. Kiyosaki
Sale
Secrets the wealthy teach their kids.
"Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom"
by Christiane Northrup
Sale
A more holistic and emotionally informed modern-day rival to
"Our Bodies, Ourselves."
BESTSELLER BARGAINS
*******************
"The Talented Mr. Ripley/Ripley Under Ground/Ripley's Game"
by Patricia Highsmith
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375407928/acousticdigestmu"> Sale
The murder classic and two scary sequels in one affordable,
beautifully designed hardcover. A killer deal!
"The Judge"
by Steve Martini
Sale
Save 71% on a page-turner by the master of courtroom
drama. After the policewoman about to testify against him
gets bumped off, Paul Madriani defends a judge accused of
soliciting prostitution in a police sting. Warning: supplies
are limited.
"Plum Island"
by Nelson DeMille
Sale
NYPD detective John Corey investigates a Long Island
research facility rumored to be involved with germ warfare
after two scientists are found shot to death. Buried
treasure, intrigue, a storm of the century--all this for 68%
off. Warning: supplies are limited.
******************
"Tosca's Rome: The Play and the Opera in Historical
Perspective"
by Susan Vandiver Nicassio
On Sale here!
Starting from the premise that we can learn as much (and, in
some ways, more) from bad history as from good history, this
utterly fascinating book toggles between art and reality.
Puccini's "Tosca" has long been established as one of the
most popular operas in the repertory, overshadowing the
original play by Victorien Sardou--itself once wildly
popular--from which it is drawn. Historian Susan Vandiver
Nicassio closely examines how both Sardou and Puccini (with
his librettists) depart from the historical realities of
Rome in 1800, when the story is very precisely set, creating
a heightened dramatic situation emblematic of the
19th-century liberal imagination. Nicassio also includes
deeply insightful scene-by-scene analyses of Puccini's work,
noting significant departures from the Sardou original and
offering musico-dramatic observations that enhance one's
appreciation of the nature of Puccini's occasionally--and
surprisingly--underrated achievement.
"Concerto Conversations"
by Joseph Kerman
On Sale here!
Joseph Kerman numbers among the most perceptive and lucid
commentators on music, and his latest book makes for a
highly personal companion. "Concerto Conversations"--originally
a series of concise lectures conceived for the Norton series at
Harvard--is really more a collection of highly individual
observations about specific concertos. Kerman touches on some
works lightly and deftly while giving others a fuller treatment.
Everywhere we find the author's love of language, while he tosses
off many provocative ideas along the way.
"Companion to Medieval and Renaissance Music"
edited by Tess Knighton and David Fallows
On Sale here!
This isn't an introduction to the medieval and Renaissance
repertoire, but rather a collection of essays, each covering
some aspect of early music and its modern-day performance,
to which a listener (or performer) can refer as topics of
interest arise. Editors Tess Knighton and David Fallows have
foregone the chronological approach that might seem obvious
for a book of this sort in favor of essays grouped around
particular issues such as genre, use of historical evidence,
pre-performance decisions, and performance techniques. There
is quite a range of contributors--academic musicologists,
performers, critics, and combinations thereof--and the level
on which the essays are written varies widely. Almost all of
them are instructive; some will be immediately accessible to
casual listeners, while others go into some detail about
compositional techniques and theory.
"Opera: The Undoing of Women"
by Catherine Clement
On Sale here!
This is a book with an emphatic point of view. Clement, a
French feminist philosopher, has written an intensely
subjective meditation on the unhappy fate of women in
opera. The result is often infuriating, sometimes
enlightening. Clement is an enthusiast whose passion for
opera struggles with revulsion at much of its content. Here
she examines texts with an awareness not "dimmed by beauty
and the sublime," an exercise that has a cumulative
effect. She highlights the social framework of plots
otherwise exalted by music. Her readings entertain without
always persuading--or even involving--the reader.
"Berlioz: Servitude and Greatness"
by David Cairns
On Sale here!
The conclusion to David Cairns's epic biography of Hector
Berlioz has been eagerly awaited ever since the first volume
appeared in 1989. With an achievement as massive as that
highly praised work, part of the tension of waiting for the
follow-up involves wondering whether Cairns can capture
again the sweep, the vividness, and the power of his first
book. But he has managed to do exactly that. Cairns picks up
the story at the time of Berlioz's marriage to Harriet
Smithson in 1833. He convincingly demonstrates just how far
ahead of his time Berlioz was, and his biography follows the
tragedies and the triumphs of this larger-than-life
individual with a narrative force as gripping as a good
novel.
MARIA CALLAS'S PUCCINI
**********************
If you read Susan Vandiver Nicassio's fascinating research
in "Tosca's Rome," you'll probably enjoy becoming
reacquainted with the opera through Maria Callas's landmark
recording under Victor de Sabata. Indeed, something in
Puccini's heroines inspired Callas to her highest artistic
pitch. Check out our list of great recordings of the music
of Puccini made by Callas.
On Sale here!
OPERA & ORCHESTRA SCHEDULES
***************************
What's playing this season in leading U.S. concert halls and
opera houses? Amazon.com's classical music experts have
updated our overview of noteworthy concerts and operas for
the remainder of the season in venues around the
country. The list also includes recommended recordings of
works being performed.
On Sale here!