Holiday Music

This is a great time of year for music lovers - every kind of musical taste can be satisfied.   As I get older, I lean more towards the calm, soothing instrumental-type of music with a jazz lilt.  For many years, just about any title in the Windham Hill catalog was a favorite:  nightnoise, George Winston, the Celtic Christmas series, etc.  This year, though, those songs seem tired and stale. 

Last year, I borrowed a CD from the library where I work, Christmas with the George Shearing Quintet.  I didn't listen to it then, but put a copy on my laptop for this year.  Holy cow!  What a joyful and soothing CD.  Always a jazz vocal fan, but never really a jazz instrumental student, this CD opens up a whole new world to me.  The best word I can some up with is hip.  This is the most hip CD I've ever heard.  This makes me feel like I'm at a cool dinner party in NYC or a nightclub, waiting for Billie Holiday to take the stage.  Excellent music.

Along those lines, my long-time jazz favorite, Beegie Adair, has several Christmas compilations and a regular favorite is Christmas Cocktails.  Love it, love it, love it.  I was one of the staff in charge of the Christmas party at work and I played this in the background.  One of my colleagues said the music made her feel like she was in a fancy restaurant. 

Hardbacks ... a brief history

I found this interesting tidbit on my 22 y/r niece's Twitter feed.   Very interesting.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/10/economist-explains-15?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ee/whybookshardback

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry

 

Charming.  This book is a charmer - it pulls you in and gets a hold of you and keeps you hanging on during the (few) slow parts.  A fast-paced narrative that seems far-fetched at times, hums merrily along and never seems beyond reach. 

The storyline is deceptively simple:  a widower/bookstore owner adopts a baby, finds love in more ways than one and, even though the ending isn't happily ever after, the characters are richer for their experiences together. Isn't that what life's about, anyway?

The last third of the book is the best because there are a lot of unexpected twists and turns that explain some of the earlier sub-plots or behaviors.  Great story, great characters and great writing.  

New Year’s Reading Resolutions

When it comes to resolutions for the New Year, most people focus on their physical health – lose weight, exercise more, eat healthy food.  What about your reading health?  Are you an avid reader or an occasional one?  Do you read only newspapers?  Do you read only fiction?  Only biographies?  Only romance?

Now is a good time to shake up your reading habits and expand your horizons.   The Internet offers a wide variety of reading challenges for the New Year and some examples are listed below.  Try one out and see if it works for you.  If it doesn’t, try another one.  Go easy on yourself.  Set realistic reading goals to keep your mind and spirit active in the New Year.

Read the classics.  Did you skip some of the classics in high school in favor of popular titles?  This is a good time to catch up.  You’ll be glad you did.

Try out a new genre.  Branch out.  Read a mystery instead of a romance novel.  Read a non-fiction title about one of your favorite (or least favorite) subjects.  Push yourself to read outside your comfort zone. 

Create fun monthly or yearly challenges.  Read a book about each U. S. President this year or all of Agatha Christie’s novels – even all of Shakespeare’s plays.  Search the Internet for things like “50 Novels Featuring Famous Authors as Characters” or “Around the World in 80 Books” to find fun, yet different types of books to read.

Write brief reviews of what you read.  Share your thoughts with others.  Join www.goodreads.com and write a one or two sentence review about the books you’ve read.  Book reviews can be as long or short as you want them to be.  The important thing is to share.

Join a book club – in person or online.  The Roswell library offers two books clubs, Noonday Nosh (general fiction and non-fiction) and the Mystery Readers’ Book Club.   Most libraries offer book clubs.  Join www.goodreads.com and search for groups that read similar genres (or challenge yourself to find a new genre to read).

Read the best books of 2014.  At year’s end, websites, magazines and newspapers recommend the best books of the year. Type the words “best books of 2014” into a search engine like Google or Yahoo and see what appears.  Take a look, read a few and see if you agree. 

The suggestions above are just a few ways to begin your reading year with a new twist. Whether you make a reading resolution or not (or keep it or not), always remember the most important thing is … to read.  Library staff are always happy to help you find books to read.  Just ask them.

Brief reviews of teen books adults will enjoy

My nieces and nephew, ages 11 - 22, visited this Thanksgiving and reminded me of a couple of books I read last summer that are technically YA books, but will be enjoyed by adults, too.  In fact, adults should read them to 1) see what kids are reading and 2) learn from what kids are reading.  

The best part of their visit was our book discussions (and watching my nephew beat his dad at Scrabble).  I had a lot of books on the coffee table, hoping they would take a few home with them (and free up my shelves).  They are devout booklovers and were reluctant to take anything, but I was able to finally send them home with The Mockingbird Next Door, Wonder and two baseball books.  Mission accomplished.

Wonder by R. J. Palacio tells the story of Auggie Pullman, a 5^th grade boy living in Manhattan.  Auggie is bright, funny, loves Star Wars and has a facial deformity that makes people cringe.   After being home-schooled, he enters a private school and learns the intricacies and dynamics of changing classes, friendship, betrayal, and rivalry.  A quick read, this novel dwells not on Auggie’s face, but on his resilience.  He learns – and his family and friends also learn – that appearance isn’t everything.  It’s a life lesson one is never too old to learn.  

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green tackles a subject that frightens most everyone:  cancer.   This novel centers on Hazel, a 16 year-old with terminal cancer.  Hazel’s struggles with her illness, her family and friendships are warmly portrayed.  Teens will appreciate the dialogue and rebellious behavior and cheer for Hazel and her friends to survive. The author keeps the reader in suspense regarding who might make it and who, sadly, will not.   But Green doesn’t dwell on sadness or loss.  He treats these issues matter-of-factly and this gives the reader the best gift of all:  hope.

Nora Webster by Colm Tóibín

This is one of the most poignant books I've ever read.  There are so many layers - grief, families, self-discovery and music.  As the story unfolds, we learn more about Nora - what's in her heart, her mind and especially, her spirit.  Her transformation from grieving widow to independent woman mirrors the struggles other people endure after a profound loss.  Each character is drawn out as carefully as Nora, the subtleties merging as the novel progresses.  Tóibín's narrative is so rich it's almost as if he is painting the Irish landscape on Nora's soul. 

Irish literature has always seemed out of reach because of the depth of the narratives, but this story invites the reader in and welcome them to stay and have some tea.  This is a beautiful book.

Here's a link to NPR's review:  http://www.npr.org/2014/10/11/354592020/a-slow-simmer-of-grief-and-strength-in-nora-webster.

A thought for everyday

“This a wonderful day. I've never seen this one before.” 

Maya Angelou

The Mandolin Lesson by Frances Taylor

This delightful memoir had me hooked from the first page.  Who would have ever thought the mandolin could be so enchanting?  Well, it is.  And so is author Frances Taylor.  A natural writer as well as musician, Taylor describes in rich and vivid detail the years she traveled from the UK to Italy to study under the tutelage of Maestro Ugo Orlandi.  Her innocence and then maturity as both a traveler and a musician is honest and heart-warming.  The strength and determination at which she accomplishes her musical goals serve as a model to others.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book and took my time near the end because I didn't want it to end!

Music Books x Three

Wish I could think of a clever way to describe the three music books I am reading for NetGalley.com and Edelweiss.  Each approaches music from a different point of view, but all three are intriguing;  two are scholarly, and one is deeply passionate about the mandolin.   I'm about halfway through The Mandolin Lesson by Frances Taylor.  The classical mandolin calls Taylor's name, pulls her soul into the sound of the eight strings.  I feel that way about the guitar, so I understand that kind of pull.  That said, I'm not sure I would travel the continent of Europe to study with a maestro once a month!  My guitar teachers, exceptional musicians that I remember fondly, were more of the hippie type, not tuxedoes and polished shoes.

The other books, You Are the Music:  How Music Reveals What it Means to Be Human by Victoria Williamson and Capturing Music:  The Story of Notation by Thomas Forest Kelly are more in depth about music, the science of it or the art of notation.  They require more concentration than I can muster right now at the end of a stressful and busy day!

"Hope Runs" by Claire Diaz Ortiz

Do you ever stumble on a book that charms you and challenges you at the same time?  Hope Runs by Claire Diaz Ortiz, Sammy Ikua Gachagua and Donald Miller is one such book.  At moments incredibly heartbreaking, then overwhelmingly triumphant, this memoir of Diaz Ortiz's friendship with Ikua Gachagua shows how an instant can change a person's life.

Written in two voices, these unlikely friends share their hopes, struggles and goals.  Claire Diaz Ortiz is on a soul-searching travel quest, looking for definition in her life.  Sammy is a resident at an orphanage in Kenya. Claire and her friend, Lara, travel around the world and land in East Africa, looking for a deeper sense of purpose.  As fate would have it, they stay at a residence connected to an orphanage. After returning home, they go back to Kenya and set up a foundation which teaches the kids the joys of running.  This provides the children with a greater sense of purpose and it provides the orphanage with much needed financial assistance.

Traveling back and forth between the United States and Kenya, Claire and Lara become the family some of the kids have never known.  They are more than financially invested in Sammy and the orphanage, they are invested emotionally and spiritually. Sometimes the "teacher" is the one who ends up learning the most. Heart-warming, poignant and hopeful, Hope Runs is a home run in my book.  I've pre-ordered two copies - one for myself and another for my 22 year old niece.

(This title was previewed through NetGalley.com.  It will be published April 15, 2014.)