In this rich, surprising portrait of the world of lesbian and gay relationships, Christopher Carrington unveils the complex and artful ways that gay people create and maintain both homes and "chosen" families for themselves. "Carefully separating stereotype from reality, Carrington investigates family in the gay and lesbian community. Relying upon interviews and observation, the author analyzes the loves and routings of 52 diverse lesbian, gay, and bisexual couples in the Bay area. . . . [He] closes the work with a discussion of the raging same-sex marriage debate and posits an enlightened solution to this dilemma." —Library Journal

The Memory of Elephants: A Novel (Phoenix Fiction)

Desai, Boman

Parenting & Relationships

University of Chicago Press

Spurned by his first love, Homi Seervai, the Parsi genius from Bombay, creates a machine that lets him scan his brain for memories of the time he spent with her. The machine malfunctions, propelling him instead into his collective unconscious where he encounters ancestors and relatives, both dead and alive. In this wildly inventive book—available for the first time in the United States—Homi, blessed with the memory of elephants, discovers the splendor of his heritage as well as hope for the future.

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

Spurned by his first love, Homi Seervai, the Parsi genius from Bombay, creates a machine that lets him scan his brain for memories of the time he spent with her. The machine malfunctions, propelling him instead into his collective unconscious where he encounters ancestors and relatives, both dead and alive. In this wildly inventive book—available for the first time in the United States—Homi, blessed with the memory of elephants, discovers the splendor of his heritage as well as hope for the future.

The Memory of Elephants

Andre Deutsch Ltd.

The trio in question comprises Robert and Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms. Trio (Book One) relates the story of the Schumanns, following Robert's courtship of Clara despite the savage opposition of a father who had groomed his daughter to marry a count, and threatened to shoot Robert if he persisted in his suit. It's no secret that they marry, and Robert the composer seems ideally matched by Clara the performer, but the happy early years are soon clouded by financial worries and Robert's multiple illnesses, culminating in his suicide attempt and subsequent incarceration in an insane asylum. Brahms, a lad of 20, visits them just six months before the incarceration and falls deeply in love with Clara - but he is also deeply indebted to Robert for proclaiming him the messiah of music before he had published a single work, and the conflict manifests itself in psychological scars borne the rest of his life. Trio opens with Clara's debut in 1828 and Trio 2 concludes with Brahms's death in 1897, encompassing a panoramic vision of the 19th century - not only in music, but culturally and historically, incorporating the growth of Germany from 400+ principalities to one nation under Bismarck. Book One concludes with the death of Robert in 1856. The story unfolds with the dramatic impact of a novel though derived from biographies, diaries, and correspondences. It includes cameos by Chopin, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, and Nietzche among others when their paths cross those of the trio. Though firmly grounded in fact, it unfolds like a novel, not a biography, a great read for the beach, the summer, the winter, a holiday, a holiday in itself, a book in which to live for a while - a narrative of love, insanity, suicide, revolution, politics - and, of course, music.

Trio: A Novel About the Schumanns and Brahms

Contemporary

AuthorHouse

Trio 2 continues the story of Trio, Book One. Johannes Brahms was twenty when he fell deeply in love with Clara Schumann, wife of Robert, mother of eight, and the greatest woman pianist of the age. He was just as deeply indebted to Robert who got his work published within weeks of their meeting. Robert was then within months of committing himself to an insane asylum where he was to die two and a half years later. Clara was forbidden to see him during this time because the doctors imagined she would excite him too much for his own good. Brahms became a go-between for the couple, ferrying messages to and fro. His love blossomed to its fullest and Clara welcomed his affection, but both loved Robert too well to abuse his trust. Brahms compared himself with the protagonist of the hopeless lover of Goethe's Sorrows of Young Werther and learned instead to associate love with renunciation - and, coupling this experience with early experiences of playing dance music for sailors and prostitutes in Hamburg's dockside bars, he fell victim to the Freudian conundrum: Where he loves he feels no passion, and where he feels passion he cannot love. Trio 2 takes the story from 1857 (the year after the death of Robert) to 1897 (the year of Brahms's death). Clara died the year before. Germany grows in the hinterland of the story, from 400+ principalities to one nation under Bismarck. Like Trio, its predecessor, it is firmly grounded in fact, but unfolds like a novel, not a biography, a great read for the beach, the summer, the winter, a holiday - a holiday in itself, a book in which to live for a while, a narrative of love, insanity, suicide, revolution, politics, war - and, of course, music.

Trio 2: A Novel About the Schumanns and Brahms

Arts & Photography

Trio: A Novel Biography of the Schumanns and Brahms

The trio comprises three musical geniuses: Robert and Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms. Clara married Robert, with whom she fell in love when she was just sixteen, though it meant challenging the iron will of her father, who wished her to marry an earl or a count, certainly not an impoverished composer. The Schumanns had eight children, and Robert's greatness as a composer was never in doubt, but he was also mentally ill, attempted suicide, and finally incarcerated himself in an asylum, where he died two and a half years later. Johannes Brahms entered the picture shortly before the incarceration and fell deeply in love with Clara but was just as deeply indebted to Robert for getting his first six opuses published within weeks of their meeting. Clara was forbidden to see Robert in the asylum because the doctors feared she would excite him too much. Brahms became a go-between for the couple, ferrying messages to and fro, but both loved Robert too well to abuse his trust. Brahms learned instead to associate deep love with deep renunciation-and, coupling this love with early experiences of playing dance music for sailors and prostitutes in Hamburg's dockside bars, he became a victim to the Freudian conundrum: where he loves, he feels no passion, and where he feels passion, he cannot love. Germany grows in the hinterland of the story from four hundred-plus principalities to one nation under Bismarck. The great composers of the century (Mendelssohn, Chopin, Liszt, and Wagner among others) have their entrances and exits, and the ghosts of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert are never distant. Though firmly grounded in fact, the book unfolds like a novel, a narrative of love, insanity, suicide, revolution, politics, war, and of course, music.

TRIO: A Novel Biography of the Schumanns and Brahms

Literary

Independently published

Portrait of a Woman Madly in Love

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Books by Desai, Boman

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Desai, Boman. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Memory of Elephants: A Novel (Phoenix Fiction)

The Memory of Elephants: A Novel (Phoenix Fiction)

The Memory of Elephants

Trio: A Novel About the Schumanns and Brahms

Trio 2: A Novel About the Schumanns and Brahms

Trio: A Novel Biography of the Schumanns and Brahms

Trio: A Novel Biography of the Schumanns and Brahms

TRIO: A Novel Biography of the Schumanns and Brahms

Portrait of a Woman Madly in Love