Recent Reads {Beethoven: His Life and Music}

Beethoven - His Life & Music by Jeremy Siepmann - Since I thoroughly enjoyed Siepmann's biography of Mozart, I was quick to grab his similar work on Beethoven.  Siepmann tells Beethoven's story in the same engaging, readable style with chapters about his life alternating with chapters describing his music.  Siepmann draws from letters and writings of Beethoven and his family members and associates to give a well-rounded view of this often troubled, but brilliant composer.  The chapters about the music were also very interesting, and accessible even to readers without an education in music.  The book captures the tragedy and the triumph of Beethoven's life well, without passing judgment.  The books comes with two CDs of the music referenced in the book, and sidebars throughout the book direct the reader to the track mentioned.  Unfortunately, the library copy I read had only one of the two CDs with it, so I missed out on some of the music.  I highly recommend these books, and wish there were more in this style about other composers.

By the same author:  Mozart: His Life & Music

Recent Reads - Disappointing JAFF

I'm going to combine three books in one post, because I'm not prepared to endorse any of them.  There is an overabundance of Jane Austen Fan Fiction out there, and the quality varies widely.  Most are what I call "fluffy" novels and while I've read several that are quite entertaining and well done, it seems that a large percentage of this genre are cheap attempts by mediocre authors to capitalize on the popularity of Austen's characters and are a waste of time.  I do read reviews by readers in order to choose which of these novels are what I would consider trash and avoid those.  Of the following three books, I rather wish I'd completely avoided one of them, and I could have lived a full and happy life without having read the other two.

Darcy and Fitzwilliam by Karen V. Wasylowski - This book completely failed to live up to the reviews I saw, and honestly I wonder if the editor that wrote the blurb for the book jacket even read the book.  The premise is supposed to be the friendship between Mr Darcy and his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and the events follow those of Pride and Prejudice. The book cover indicates that Fitzwilliam assists Darcy in his 'botched marriage proposals' but there is only one proposal that is botched and Fitzwilliam didn't help with it.  Furthermore, that happened in P&P and is only referred to briefly in the past tense in this novel.  Fail.  None of the P&P characters in Wasylowski's story act in keeping with the characters given them by Austen, with the possible exceptions of Col Fitzwilliam and Caroline Bingley.  Elizabeth has been turned into an irrational, screaming battle-axe without any of the wit or intelligence for which she is known, and this was most disappointing.  The dialogue is flat and childishly vulgar, often laced with what I call potty-mouth.  Little attention was paid to the customs and manners of the period, which indicates that the author did not bother to research.  For example, throughout the story she has characters referring to each other using only first names.  While this may be acceptable between husband and wife alone, or between the two cousins, proper manners would never have allowed Darcy or Fitzwilliam to refer to Lady Catherine deBourgh as simply "Catherine", or for Elizabeth to call her husband anything but "Mr Darcy" in company.  Wasylowski had a few good ideas for moving her plots, but with such poor characterization, sketchy timelines, and far-fetched nonsense, she would have been much better off, in my opinion, in creating her own characters for the story rather than cheapening those that Austen gave us.  Of course, the book probably wouldn't have found an audience then...

Bottom line: don't bother with this book.  I sincerely wish I hadn't.

Mr Darcy Takes A Wife and Nights and Days at Pemberley by Linda Berdoll - I did know what I was getting into when I decided to read these P&P 'sequels' because the reviews were clear that Berdoll treats Darcy and Elizabeth to an extremely passionate marriage life, but those reviews also extol Berdoll's top-notch storytelling and sweeping plot.  Berdoll does tell a good story, and her plots were complex and covered a lot of ground in the narratives.  My complaint about the plots themselves would be that there were really just too many of them.  Each of the two books run 400+ pages, and have multiple complex subplots with many additional characters.  All the characters are quite well-developed, and for the most part the characters from the original P&P are true to their form.  I was not happy with the way Darcy was portrayed in the first, however, because in about half the story he is reduced to little more than a lecher, and the reader is given the impression that he is a most honorable man by virtue of his abilities in bed and his unusual decision to give his lustful attention only to his wife.  Of course it's honorable to be faithful to marriage, but the author seemed to be saying that Darcy was to be admired because he stopped sowing his wild oats once he fell in love with Elizabeth, and that it was wonderful that he had all that past experience because it made his marriage so much better.  I didn't really buy it.  But, as Berdoll's goal seemed also to combine a tawdry bodice-ripper with a plenty of intrigue and drama, she needed plenty of bedroom scenes in order to show off her ability to be graphic without using modern or medical terms. (Imagine me rolling my eyes for effect here.)  I need to be fair in saying that the plots and characterizations are very good, but I could have done with a little less detail in all those subplots, and a lot less drollery and detail in the scenes meant to convey just how 'satisfying' a relationship Darcy and Elizabeth have.

Bottom line: Pretty good books, but for adults only, and if you're prepared to skim and skip stuff along the way.

Recent Reads {A Christmas Guest}

A Christmas Guest by Anne Perry - Perry is one of my favorite mystery authors, and this is another in her series of cozy Christmas-themed mysteries.  In this one, Mariah Ellison (Charlotte's sharp-tongued Grandmama from the Thomas & Charlotte Pitt mysteries) spends Christmas with relatives and she is not happy about it.  To further her dismay, another house guest arrives and Grandmama is determined not to like her.  Maud Barrington does make an impression on her, however, but unfortunately she also dies a few days into her stay.  Grandmama is suspicious of foul play and decides to get to the bottom of things herself.  Like all of Perry's Christmas mysteries that I have read, the novel itself can stand alone, so readers don't need to be familiar with her other novels in order to follow these.  And because they are essentially novellas, the plots are generally simple in order to wrap up the mystery within a quick read.  This one was a simple, but well-constructed mystery plot, just clever enough that I wasn't sure I had solved it much ahead of Grandmama.  Grandmama does make some pretty rapid character changes, which seem a little hard to believe, but perhaps no more than the "turn over a new leaf" New Years Resolutions that are so common.  A quick and satisfying read, which reminded me that I have yet to read through the entire Thomas & Charlotte Pitt series.  Maybe I should make that one of my New Years Resolutions!

 

By the same author:  A Christmas Odyssey

Recent Reads {The True Saint Nicholas}

The True Saint Nicholas - Why He Matters to Christmas by William J. Bennett - This little book was a great read for the Christmas season, and would be a good  choice for a family read-aloud too, in my opinion.  Bennett retells what little is known about the historical Nicholas of Myra along with many of the legends and stories that have been told about him over the years, and also explains how the stories of this good bishop traveled the world and were embraced by so many cultures.  And how in more recent history, he became Santa Claus and part of Christmas traditions even though his feast day is at the beginning of December.  I thought Bennett did a nice job of putting the fantasy and magic associated with Santa into perspective in its place in the celebration of Christmas.  If I remember, I may get this book next December to read aloud with my kids.

Recent Reads {Taliesin}

Taliesin by Stephen R. Lawhead - This wasn't the first time I've read this book, and I'm sure it won't be the last.  I'm a confirmed Lawhead fan.  This book is the first in the Pendragon Cycle, a series of five novels based on the King Arthur legends.  The tale starts with parallel stories of a princess of the island kingdom of Atlantis, and the mysterious child Taliesin in Britain.  The Atlantean princess Charis foresees the destruction of Atlantis and coordinates the escape of many of their people on ships, which eventually wind up on the western shores of the Island of the Mighty.  Taliesin himself grows up as a greatly respected bard and prophet, and the histories of his people and the transplanted survivors from Atlantis intertwine.  Christian priests have also come to Britain and Taliesin is one who accepts their message.  As I've come to expect from Lawhead, the combination of history, legend, and fantasy makes for a page-turner, even the second time around.

By the same author:  Patrick, The Skin Map,  and the other books in the Pendragon Cycle: Merlin, Arthur, Pendragon.  My first comments on Taliesin can be found here.

Recent Reads {Beloved Castaway}

Beloved Castaway by Kathleen Y'Barbo - I bought this book ages ago, basically because it looked kind of pirate-y and the price was right.  For whatever reason, it took me until my vacation a couple weeks ago to read it.  I was surprised at how good it was!  Honestly, I was sort of expecting a cheap, formula "Christian romance" which just happens to involve a ship's captain.  The story is actually more complex than that, with some intriguing twists and turns, despite the fact that it's obvious from the very first that the two main characters will fall in love.  That part, at least, sticks with the formula.  Isabelle Gayarre is desperate to escape from New Orleans and slavery, hoping to reach abolitionists in England.  She must trust Josiah Carter, a ship's captain, to help her get away, even though what she's heard about him doesn't inspire trust at all.  Some improbable coincidences, extenuating circumstances, and tragedies along the way conspire to thrown them together, and to learn to trust God as well.  It's hardly a spoiler to say that it is a happy ending, although how it all works out makes for a pretty good read.

Recent Reads {The Romance of Tristan}

The Romance of Tristan by Beroul, and The Tale of Tristan's Madness, translated together by Alan S. Fedrick - It seems to me that the Tristan and Isolde stories vary so widely that it's hard to believe any of them come from a common source.  I was looking for a version of the story that was suitable for kids and never did find it, but I did pick up this translation of a very old written source.  Beroul's epic poem - or, the portions that remain of it - is thought to be the oldest extant version of the Tristan and Isolde narrative, and it is translated into English prose by Alan S. Fedrick.  There are amusing and odd details throughout, and the story is quite a bit different from the Avalon novels I read recently, and different from almost any popular version I've ever heard.  The story-telling style is also a departure from what modern readers are used to, but Fedrick's introduction does a fair job of explaining how troubadour or jongleur stories were commonly told and how the tales may have developed before and after the time of Beroul.  Of Beroul himself, nothing is known, except that his poem dates from about the middle of the twelfth century.

The introduction is more detailed reading than the stories themselves, but I do recommend it for background.  The opening and closing sections of Beroul are lost, so this book offers a summary based on a reconstructed narrative from another scholar.  The translation of Beroul's work begins with The Tryst Under the Tree, and from that point it reads like a simple chapter book, although not all of it is suitable for children.  I found it a quick and interesting read - almost like a cheap romance from medieval times.