I heard a bit of this read on the Backlisted podcast last year, even before the book was available. I pre-ordered it, and so when it arrived it was a bit of a surprise (I’d forgotten the order). The novel interleaves the stories of Lydia and of Joyce. Lydia is a former pop-star whose life... Continue Reading →
Every Valley, by Charles King. Pub 2024.
In our last year at university, my friend and I joined the University Singers, an amateur choral group supporting the more advanced singers within the School of Music. I think we saw a poster advertising the group’s plan to perform Handel’s Messiah that fall, and so we signed up. Thus began a lifelong love of... Continue Reading →
Dickens and Prince, by Nick Hornby. Pub 2022
Short version: Dickens may not be your cup of tea. Ditto for Prince. So the short version is: I really enjoyed this book, learned a lot, and found the comparison to be a fascinating look back at two artists of different mediums and times. If you are interested, but not so much you want to... Continue Reading →
Pop’s Banjo
Annual #tellastory day and Pop’s birthday, and so another pop tale. I wrote a few years ago about the emergence of the banjo for Pop, and more recently I had a chance to look back at old photo albums so I was able to narrow down its arrival in my life. This photo is from Christmas 1970,... Continue Reading →
Triumph and Disaster & Genius and Discovery, by Stefan Zweig. Book report #22 (2022)
Triumph and Disaster, and Genius and Discovery, by Stefan Zweig. Pub 1927-1940. Translation by Anthea Bell. These editions published 2016, from translations published in 2013. Reading these was inspired by two previous reads: Stefan Zweig last year, and Benjamin Labatut earlier this year. I really enjoyed Zweig last year, and so wanted to read more,... Continue Reading →
My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
Annual #tellastory day and Pop’s birthday, and so another pop tale. I don’t recall exactly when it arrived in our home, but at some point when I was young, Pop acquired a banjo. He would spend hours in the evenings and weekends plinking and plunking away, often playing along with something on the stereo or... Continue Reading →
Coming Through Slaughter, by Michael Ondaatje. Book report unnumbered (2021)
Coming Through Slaughter, by Michael Ondaatje. Pub 1976 I sought out this book earlier in the year after finishing But Beautiful, the lovely book of stories about storied jazz musicians. In several reviews of that book, people had gushed about the wonderfulness of Ondaatje's short novel/novella about jazz musician Charles "Buddy" Bolden, a short-lived and... Continue Reading →
But Beautiful, by Geoff Dyer. Book report #9 (2021)
But Beautiful, by Geoff Dyer. Pub 1991 (although my copy is an American updated version from 1996). I wish I could recall exactly when I got this book, likely more than 10 years ago. I attempted to start it a few time, but never got hooked. This time, I was all in, and what a... Continue Reading →
Remembering Pop
It is a week of remembrances, in a month of loss, in a year of change and fear. Pop left us 10 years ago today, and like most of the recent past, it seems like both a lifetime ago and just yesterday. In a book I read recently, the main character and his friends have... Continue Reading →
The Goldberg Variations, by Nancy Huston. Book report #16 (2020)
The Goldberg Variations, by Nancy Huston. Pub 1981 in French, translated to English by the author, pub 1996. This is yet another leftover, found in the same pile as Nocturnes and so likely purchased about the same time. I don't know why I didn't finish it when I first started, but since I remembered little... Continue Reading →
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