No Walls and the Recurring Dream
A Memoir
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4.4 • 25 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
"A memoir as fierce, freewheeling, and passionate as her music."
--O, the Oprah magazine
A memoir by the celebrated singer-songwriter and social activist Ani DiFranco
In her new memoir, No Walls and the Recurring Dream, Ani DiFranco recounts her early life from a place of hard-won wisdom, combining personal expression, the power of music, feminism, political activism, storytelling, philanthropy, entrepreneurship, and much more into an inspiring whole. In these frank, honest, passionate, and often funny pages is the tale of one woman's eventful and radical journey to the age of thirty. Ani's coming of age story is defined by her ethos of fierce independence--from being an emancipated minor sleeping in a Buffalo bus station, to unwaveringly building a career through appearances at small clubs and festivals, to releasing her first album at the age of 18, to consciously rejecting the mainstream recording industry and creating her own label, Righteous Babe Records. In these pages, as in life, she never hesitates to question established rules and expectations, maintaining a level of artistic integrity that has inspired and challenged more than a few. Ani continues to be a major touring and recording artist as well as a celebrated activist and feminist, standing as living proof that you can overcome all personal and societal obstacles to be who you are and to follow your dreams.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
DiFranco, a Grammy Award winning musician and political activist, makes her literary debut in this powerful reflection on her life and career. Born in 1970, DiFranco grew up in Buffalo, N.Y., the daughter of an aeronautical engineer father and an architect mother, who designed their wall-less, "donut-shaped" house. DiFranco credits her father with forming her "musical subconscious" by introducing her to the music of composer Aaron Copland, guitarist John Fahey, and folk musician Pete Seeger; her mother, meanwhile, instilled in her a sense of social activism. DiFranco began her musical career as a preteen, learning the piano and the guitar while writing her own songs. After her parents separated, she moved out of her mother's house at age 15, finding spare rooms with friends and even sleeping in the bus station. DiFranco immersed herself in music ("I began my musical journey at the intersection of Suzanne Vega and John Martyn"), and moved to New York City in 1989, where she studied poetry and feminism at the New School. In 1990, she cofounded Righteous Babe Records and released her self-titled debut record. Throughout, DiFranco writes of her self-doubts and romantic hardships, including her 2003 divorce from husband Andrew Gilchrist; she also discusses her advocacy for women's reproductive rights (she herself had two abortions; she now has two children). Honest and passionate, DiFranco's memoir will resonate with her many fans.
Customer Reviews
Interesting insight into her early years
A raw and emotional personal history of her childhood and earliest years in the music industry.
Ani’s Memoir is Poetic
Just like her music, Ani’s story of her life is poetic and profound, but nothing is better than hearing her tell it in her own voice. I already read her book and am now listening to the audio version. This is a heck of a memoir for anyone in the music industry.