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Product Description
Product Description
Walking his two young children to school every morning, Thad Carhart passes an unassuming little storefront in his Paris neighborhood. Intrigued by its simple sign—Desforges Pianos—he enters, only to have his way barred by the shop’s imperious owner. Unable to stifle his curiosity, he finally lands the proper introduction, and a world previously hidden is brought into view. Luc, the atelier’s master, proves an indispensable guide to the history and art of the piano. Intertwined with the story of a musical friendship are reflections on how pianos work, their glorious history, and stories of the people who care for them, from amateur pianists to the craftsmen who make the mechanism sing. The Piano Shop on the Left Bank is at once a beguiling portrait of a Paris not found on any map and a tender account of the awakening of a lost childhood passion.
Praise for The Piano Shop on the Left Bank:
“[Carhart’s] writing is fluid and lovely enough to lure the rustiest plunker back to the piano bench and the most jaded traveler back to Paris.”
–San Francisco Chronicle
“Captivating . . . [Carhart] joins the tiny company of foreigners who have written of the French as verbs. . . . What he tries to capture is not the sight of them, but what they see.”
–The New York Times
“Thoroughly engaging . . . In part it is a book about that most unpredictable and pleasurable of human experiences, serendipity. . . . The book is also about something more difficult to pin down, friendship and community.”
–The Washington Post
“Carhart writes with a sensuousness enhanced by patience and grounded by the humble acquisition of new insight into music, his childhood, and his relationship to the city of Paris.”
–The New Yorker
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD
Praise for The Piano Shop on the Left Bank:
“[Carhart’s] writing is fluid and lovely enough to lure the rustiest plunker back to the piano bench and the most jaded traveler back to Paris.”
–San Francisco Chronicle
“Captivating . . . [Carhart] joins the tiny company of foreigners who have written of the French as verbs. . . . What he tries to capture is not the sight of them, but what they see.”
–The New York Times
“Thoroughly engaging . . . In part it is a book about that most unpredictable and pleasurable of human experiences, serendipity. . . . The book is also about something more difficult to pin down, friendship and community.”
–The Washington Post
“Carhart writes with a sensuousness enhanced by patience and grounded by the humble acquisition of new insight into music, his childhood, and his relationship to the city of Paris.”
–The New Yorker
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
ALONG A NARROW STREET IN THE PARIS NEIGHBORHOOD WHERE I live sits a little store front with a simple sign stenciled on the window: "Desforges Pianos: outillage, fournitures." Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
ALONG A NARROW STREET IN THE PARIS NEIGHBORHOOD WHERE I live sits a little store front with a simple sign stenciled on the window: "Desforges Pianos: outillage, fournitures." Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a wonderful book, a leisurely amble through the streets of Paris - you can almost smell the coffee. It gives a fascinating glimpse into the world of pianos with lots of factual information on how pianos are made and tuned. It is a gentle book and at the end you just lean back and sigh. I wish he would write some more.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I read this book in March, 2005. This was the book I enjoyed most over the past year. The author is an American who really knows France (where I live). And he loves music and pianos. He makes friends with a piano restorer and, with this as his point of departure, he takes us gently and with wit through the history of the piano - its invention, its makers, improvements, and great music written for the instrument. This is all against the background of the beautiful city of Paris and the character of the French. At a time when there have been 'misunderstandings' between his country and mine, how wonderful it is to read about an American's adventures in this wonderful, civilised country in 'old Europe'!
Format:Paperback
I sent this book to mybrother. He has read it three
times already and just loves it. Says definitly a
keeper for his library
times already and just loves it. Says definitly a
keeper for his library
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