Monday, October 30, 2023

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THOUGHTS

I seem to have taken on the role of family historian. I'm the one who has worked with my father on the family tree. I'm the one who, over the years, organized the family to contribute to birthday and anniversary albums for my parents. I'm the one who has made sure that these things did not get thrown out in the move and now I am the one who is choosing what to scan and keep for the next generations. So far, I have managed to scan just one of the many 'projects' that we did over the years and have turned it to a Shutterfly album so that my sibs and our children can each have a copy -- especially since we all contributed something to the effort. It's the only one I am doing this way. Everything else they get is going to be on a flash drive (a very BIG flash drive).

 

TICKETS

A triple header this weekend! All music.
• Friday night, "The Knights with Chris Thile." The Knights are a New York based chamber orchestra that likes to explore the boundaries of orchestral music through collaboration. Currently, they are touring with mandolin player Chris Thile, a musician as much at home with Bach as he is with Bluegrass. While usually my reaction to contemporary orchestral/chamber composition is more along the lines of ugh, these guys have caught my attention with the music they perform. (I especially get a kick out the fact that the orchestra's two very talented founders, artistic directors and brothers are the same ages as my two eldest children.)
• Saturday night is a concert that we look forward to every year. The official name is Duo-Piano Concert. It features two pianos and six or more very talented local pianists. I call it "Dueling Pianos." Running the gamut from Bach to Bossa Nova, they play music that is familiar to the audience. The finale is always a 12 handed, musical chairs rendition of "Stars and Stripes Forever" (fireworks omitted).
• We saved the best for last: Sunday afternoon, Handel and Haydn Society's "Luks Leads Beethoven" performing Mendelssohn-Hensel: Overture in C Major, Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 and Symphony No. 8. This was by far the best concert of the week-end. The other two were fun and upbeat but H+H was sublime, music composition and performance beyond compare.

THE BOOKS

Winds of Evil by Arthur W. Upfield

Mid-20th C mystery series set in Australian out-back featuring a half aboriginal, half white MC and all the racial stereotyping that was common to a lot of the writing of that period. I guessed whodunit early on but not the motivation; I think I am into this series more for the atmosphere and the setting.  Enjoying the series so far. Just a question of how many I actually want to read. Kudos to the publisher for not bowdlerizing the books.
3.25 stars

Under the Jaguar Sun by Italo Calvino

First, the s-l-o-w, dr-ohhh-ning narrator killed any joy there might have been in this read. Second, it turns out that what I was reading were actually fragments of three works in progress at the time of his sudden death, which is not revealed until after I had slogged through three very strange stories. En fin, this one bad experience has completely turned me off to the idea of delving further in the works of Calvino. The only upside is that the book was less than three hours.
No rating

Death Comes to Marlow by Robert Thorogood

A lovely palate cleanser after the Calvino. This is the second book in the badly mis-named Marlow Murder Club series (sounds like a name chosen by a publisher to ride the coattails of the Thursday Murder Club, doesn't it?). At least the author hasn't let the publisher's hype get in the way of his making the series his own. Enjoyable read.
3.25 Stars

Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino

The is the second book in the series begun in The Devotion of Suspect X. I will not binge read the series. I will not binge read the series. I will take my time and savor each book. I will take my time and savor each book. The perfect crime. How did she do it? Did she do it? Keeps you hanging right to the very end.
4 stars.

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

Book # 200 for the year. Another author I am not rushing through. I enjoy her tales. The themes are universal; the details are specific. Short stories of the immigrant experience that weave into a larger whole. Most fun of all is when she sets the action of one section or another in the Boston area, and particularly when it is set in the town where we lived for over 30 years.
4 stars

Ellie and the Harpmaker by Hazel Prior

This one was a mixed bag for me and I wonder if I had read this one first whether I would have bothered to pick up Veronica and the Penguins (not the correct title but then again it was published under different names in the UK and US). The book is driven by the premise that the titular Ellie is stupid enough to marry a man whose reaction to a break up with a lover is to take a hammer to her collection of Beatrix Potter china. Danger, Will Robinson! I am not into abusive-husband driven stories. Fortunately Clive stuck to destroying property not people. Nonetheless, this story has some redeeming qualities that kept me reading. The Harpmaker, the other voice in the narrative, was a gem and I stuck around to see how his story turned out. All in all,  as annoying as Clive was, it was an enjoyable story about people trying to figure out what love, marriage, happiness and family are all about.
3.5 stars