In a cluttered room in an abandoned coat factory in lower Manhattan; a group of musicians comes together each week to make music. Some are old; some are young; all have come late to music or come back to it after a long absence. This is the Late Starters Orchestra--the bona fide amateur string orchestra where Ari Goldman pursues his lifelong dream of playing the cello. Goldman hadnrsquo;t seriously picked up his cello in twenty-five years; but the Late Starters (its motto; If you think you can play; you can) seemed just the right orchestra for this music lover whose busy life had always gotten in the way of its pursuit.In The Late Starters Orchestra; Goldman takes us along to LSO rehearsals and lets us sit in on his sonrsquo;s Suzuki lessons; where we find out that children do indeed learn differently from adults. He explores historyrsquo;s greatest cellists and also attempts to understand what motivates his fellow late starters; amateurs all; whose quest is for joy; not greatness. And when Goldman commits to playing at his upcoming birthday party we wonder with him whether hersquo;ll be good enough to perform in public. To the rescue comes the ghost of Goldmanrsquo;s first cello teacher; the wise and eccentric Mr. J; who continues to inspire and guide him--about music and more--through this well-tuned journey. With enchanting illustrations by Eric Hanson; The Late Starters Orchestra is about teachers and students; fathers and sons; courage and creativity; individual perseverance and the power of community. And Ari Goldman has a message for anyone who has ever had a dream deferred: itrsquo;s never too late to find happiness on onersquo;s own terms.
2013-10-16 2013-10-16File Name: B00FYAFGN2
Review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Exquisite; but warning: it is smallBy Katy ButlerIm reiterating previous reviewers: be prepared for a small book. You cannot (or at least my aging eyes cannot)read the poems as printed in Blakes engravings; though I can read them in the text on the facing page.If only this book were about two inches bigger in both dimensions! I have a similar book;issued by the Tate; containing The Proverbs of Heaven Hell; and I was hoping this was acompanion edition; but no such luck. Nevertheless; Im keeping mine and ordering anotherfor a poet-friends birthday.Blake is extraordinary -- a genius of his own kind; his visions sprung apparently from nowhere; his hearthuge; his awe religious and delicate; his compassion naked. He is the finest inveigher against the repressive; life-and-sex-denyingaspects of some religion (aspects he considers the work of the devil; not god) -- and the finest prophet againstthe "man forged manacles" of heartless industrialism -- that I have ever read.But theres much more to the "Songs" than this -- religious awe is embedded in the smallest detail of the human and natural world.Odd; strange; speaking to us from some other world.The poems alone are doorways to the infinite; and in tandem with his delicate; powerful illuminated engravings; a delight.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Magnificent! Great gift!By Timothy R. OHanlonMystic; visionary; artist; genius; craftsman; poet; social reformer; humanitarian -- all of these words and more have been used but do not adequately describe William Blake."Songs of Innocence and Experience: Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul" is widely acknowledged as Blakes masterpiece and; for those who have ears to hear and eyes to see; the insights expressed in it are as moving and valuable now as they were when Blake first expressed them in 1789-94.Blake was as accomplished a craftsman as he was an artist and a poet. He was perhaps the first artist to express himself in the form of "multimedia". The media; in this case; being "Illuminated books". Blake invented a process where he could etch both poetry (text) and design on copper-plates and also formulated his own colors. What makes this particular edition special is that it contains Blakes original color etchings.Since I own the basic Kindle and wanted to view the colored illustrations; I downloaded this book to my PC; all 952 pages of it! I suggest that you do the same. The poetry is magnificent! The illustrations are amazing! Great gift; especially to accompany a Kindle Fire. (No; I do not work for !) You cant go wrong at $2.99!2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Purchased as a gift (She loved it)By FeloniusBought this as a present. The recipient loved it. I was really hoping for one which had all of the original illustrations (well; reproductions of); and this one lived up to that hope. In addition to the illustrations; which had the poems; the poems were also transcribed in a highly readable font. There was also a small bit of discussion with each poem (I think all of them; but I didnt look that closely) giving some background and interpretation (again; I think).The book itself was in very good condition; and the slipcase was very nice; even having a section on the top and bottom to follow the curve of the spine of the book.All told; this was a good copy of this collection; and both I and the recipient were quite satisfied.