Facing challenges related to his lifelong stutter, eighth grader Jayson Linden strives to create a more inclusive environment at school after witnessing injustices, particularly affecting his best friend, Gloria. As he takes a stand by running against the popular Mack for student-body president, Jayson confronts his fears of public speaking. The story intertwines themes of friendship, resilience, and the quest for equality, showcasing Jayson's journey to empower himself and others in the face of adversity.
A lighthearted comedy about the way a spiritual teacher tries to empower his followers, but they invest him with all the power. “… brilliant, wise, moving, and funny. Like, really funny. … Spiritual writing like this is rare. “ Shozen Jack Haubner, author of Zen Confidential Henry “Hank” Wilder, a divorced loner, is unsuccessfully trying to establish a new Zen center when he accidentally cures an ex-girlfriend’s recurring cancer with his touch and discovers—at least this is what people keep telling him—that he has healing powers. Suddenly the empty zendo is overcrowded with Zen students who also want to be touched and healed by Hank. At first he resists, but when he cures a local Mexican boy of a bad limp, his reputation takes off. A TV story on Hank’s healings goes viral. The Latino community shows up, bearing food and icons of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Hank befriends a Catholic priest and falls in love again. When his life gets totally out of hand, he escapes to Mexico on a spiritual odyssey and finds out who he really is.
Szczere wspomnienia mistrza NBA i członka koszykarskiej Galerii Sław. Był
jednym z najbardziej dominujących graczy, jakich widział świat koszykówki. I
jednym z najbardziej wygadanych. W ciągu 21-letniej kariery podniósł trash-
talk do rangi sztuki i nigdy nie stronił od dzielenia się przemyśleniami na
kontrowersyjne tematy. W tej książce Kevin Garnett z taką samą szczerością
spogląda na swoje życie i karierę. Przeciwności, jakie napotkał, dorastając w
Karolinie Południowej. Pominięcie college'u i wejście do draftu bezpośrednio
ze szkoły średniej. Mecze przeciwko Michaelowi Jordanowi, Kobemu Bryantowi,
LeBronowi Jamesowi i innym legendom NBA, wzloty i upadki, mistrzostwo z Boston
Celtics. A pomiędzy tym wszystkim sława, rodzina, muzyka, wiara czy rasizm.
Jeśli uważasz, że Kevin Garnett zachwycał na parkiecie, poczekaj, aż
przeczytasz, co ma do powiedzenia na kartkach tej książki.
Let Love Rule is a work of deep reflection. Lenny Kravitz looks back at his life with candor, self-scrutiny, and humour. 'My life is all about opposites,' he writes. 'Black and white. Jewish and Christian. The Jackson 5 and Led Zeppelin. I accepted my Gemini soul. I owned it. I adored it. Yins and yangs mingled in various parts of my heart and mind, giving me balance and fueling my curiosity and comfort.' Let Love Rule covers a vast canvas stretching from Manhattan's Upper East Side, Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant, Los Angeles's Baldwin Hills, Beverly Hills, and finally to France, England and Germany. It's the story of a wildly creative kid who, despite tough struggles at school and extreme tension at home, finds salvation in music. We see him grow as a musician and ultimately a master songwriter, producer, and performer. We also see Lenny's spiritual growth-and the powerful way in which spirit informs his music. The cast of characters surrounding Lenny is extraordinary: his father, Sy, a high-powered news executive; his mother, Roxie Roker, a television star; and Lisa Bonet, the young actress who becomes his muse. The central character, of course, is Lenny, who, despite his great aspirational energy, turns down record deal after record deal until he finds his true voice.The creation of that voice, the same voice that is able to declare 'Let Love Rule' to an international audience, is the very heart of this story.
A powerful chronicle of the sixteen weeks leading up to King of Pop Michael Jackson's death Michael Jackson's final months were like the rest of his short and legendary life: filled with deep lows and soaring highs, a constant hunt for privacy, and the pressure and fame that made him socially fragile and almost--ultimately--unable to live. With the insight and compassion that he brought to his bestselling telling of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s final year, Tavis Smiley provides a glimpse into the superstar's life in this emotional, honest, yet celebratory book. Readers will witness Jackson's campaign to recharge his career--hiring and firing managers and advisors, turning to and away from family members, fighting depression and drug dependency--while his one goal remained: to mount the most spectacular series of shows the world had ever seen. BEFORE YOU JUDGE ME is a humanizing look at Jackson's last days.
I'm just Janet. I have strengths, weaknesses, fears, happiness, sadness. I experience joy and I experience pain. I'm highly emotional. I'm very vulnerable. And, as anyone who knows me will testify, I'm extremely sensitive. I have lifelong patterns of behaviour that have caused me difficulty - patterns tough to break. Like everyone, I have talents, but with those talents have come challenges. This book is about meeting the challenges that face all of us. For more than three decades, I've struggled with yo-yo dieting. Some of my battles with weight have been very public. But most of it has been internal. Even at my thinnest, when my body was being praised, I wasn't happy with what I saw or how I felt about myself. Infused with stories from fans and friends, Janet offers a candid look into the causes and circumstances behind some of her well-documented weight issues. Far more than a celebrity fitness manifesto, this book is a searingly honest account of the most tumultuous times of her life - from being taunted as a young girl to her internal battles with her beauty and femininity and her desire to fit in. It has taken Janet most of her adult life to come to terms with who she is. True You illuminates the path Janet took in learning how to love herself and finally break free of the attitudes that brought her down.
B. B. King has the blues running through his blood. Growing up in the rural poverty of the Mississippi Delta, King first experienced the blues at nine years old, when his mother passed away. The man of the house before the end of his first decade, he used this strife as a source of inspiration and launched one of the most celebrated musical careers in American history. King has led a remarkable life, and this riveting autobiography dramatizes his whirlwind adventures from the Memphis of the forties to the Moscow of the nineties with unflinching candor and sincerity. But most of all, B.B.'s story is the story of the blues—the evolution from country acoustic to urban electric, the birth and explosion of rock 'n' roll—and B.B.'s own long, but ultimately triumphant, struggle for crossover success, during which he remained unwaveringly true to the music of his heart.
Sein Elternhaus ist arm, seine Kindheit freudlos, und sein Vater ein Despot. Doch Lang Lang hat ein außergewöhnliches Talent: Er spielt unvergleichlich gut Klavier. Dieses Talent führt ihn auf die Bühnen der Welt und ist das Ergebnis seiner innigen Liebe zur Musik. Mit zwei Jahren erhält er ein Piano und beginnt sofort zu spielen. Ein prägendes Erlebnis ist der Fernsehmoment, als er Tom und Jerry bei einem rasanten Klavierkonzert sieht, was seine Leidenschaft entfacht. Sein größter Wunsch ist es, ein großer Pianist zu werden. Stundenlang übt er am Klavier und während er die Werke der Klassiker spielt, entfalten sich die bunten Geschichten, die ihm in seiner Kindheit fehlen. Sein Vater setzt alles daran, ihn zum Weltstar zu machen, was Lang Langs Kindheit von Disziplin und harter Arbeit prägt. Die ständige Angst, die Familie durch eigenes Scheitern ins Unglück zu stürzen, begleitet ihn. Doch dank seines Talents und Fleißes perfektioniert er sein Spiel und wird mit neun Jahren am Pekinger Konservatorium aufgenommen, gewinnt nationale und internationale Wettbewerbe. Schließlich zieht er mit seinem Vater in die USA, wo ihm 1999 mit 17 Jahren der internationale Durchbruch gelingt. Eine einzigartige Karriere und eine Hommage an die Faszination der Musik.
Born in China to parents whose musical careers were interrupted by the Cultural Revolution, Lang Lang has emerged as one of the greatest pianists of our time. Yet despite his fame, few in the West know of the heart-wrenching journey from his early childhood as a prodigy in an industrial city in northern China to his difficult years in Beijing to his success today. This autobiography documents the remarkable, dramatic story of a family who sacrificed almost everything--his parents' marriage, financial security, Lang Lang's childhood, and their reputation in China's insular classical music world--for the belief in a young boy's talent. And it reveals the devastating and intense relationship between a boy and his father, who was willing to go to any length to make his son a star. An engaging, informative cultural commentator who bridges East and West, Lang Lang's book opens a door to China.--From publisher description.
