My Christmas Reading - Part 2

 

Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva

This was a re-read that I found rather dull this time around. I've read it three times now and had a different reaction each time: first time wasn't impressed, second time liked it quite well, and this time was bored. I think it's headed to my give-away shelf. 

But is that not a great cover?

A Magical New York Christmas by Anita Hughes

I've read this several times and still enjoy it. It's a romance and some of it is not quite believable, but it's not overly sweet and has an interesting story. Original review here.

One Magic Christmas by Martin Noble

This is one from years ago that I decided to re-read because I couldn't remember much of it. I liked it, but in this case have to say that I liked the movie better, though I haven't seen that for years either. The book is based on a screenplay by Thomas Meehan, so maybe it makes sense to prefer the movie...?

In the story a married couple and their two children are struggling financially as Christmas approaches. The mother is not feeling any Christmas spirit at all and so a guardian angel - Gideon - must help her see the value in what she already has. She will experience what life would be like if she were to lose her family, which brings her back in the end to a place of gratitude and joy.

Christmas with the Queen by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb

Another romance, but what interested me was the historical aspect. It takes place in the 1950's and is set in and around Buckingham Palace. A young female reporter is sent to write about palace preparations for Christmas, where she meets a chef who is just getting his start in the palace kitchens. I enjoyed the history, the setting, and the occasional appearances of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip as characters. We get a glimpse of them as people rather than monarchs and though I realize it's fiction, I've read enough about them that much of what is written here rings true. Not sure I'd read it again, but it was interesting. 

And that's it for another Christmas. Right now I'm reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for book club and I'm still working through The Silmarillion. For fun I'm reading The Joy of X by Steven Strogatz. The blurb on the back says "A delightful exploration of the beauty and fun of mathematics...The Joy of X will entertain you, amaze you, and make you smarter."  I don't know about the smarter part, but it surely is entertaining.

My Christmas Reading - Part 1

Happy New Year! We're a week in and already I'm behind. I read a number of books over the holidays that I haven't found time to write about so here's a quick summary.

A Halifax Christmas Carol by Steven Laffoley

I was excited to find a Christmas story set in Halifax, not your typical holiday fiction setting. Many take you to sparkling cities - New York, Paris - or idyllic winter spots - Vermont, Scandanavia - all great backdrops for a festive story/romance, but not terribly realistic for most of us. 

This one is set in 1918 Halifax, N.S., a city devestated by the great explosion of a year earlier. The author makes it very real, writing of soldiers - some without limbs, some broken mentally by the unthinkable horrors they've seen - coming home at long last only to find the homes and families they'd been longing for gone forever. And now the deadly influenza pandemic killing millions around the world is coming for them.

In the midst of all this sorrow, a couple of reporters - one fresh and optimistic, one seasoned and cynical - cover stories of returning soldiers, desperate families, and orphaned children. The cynic is convinced there is no reason to hope that life will ever be good again, until one day a young boy comes in off the street and leaves 25 cents on the front counter "for the kids" he's read about in the paper's tragic stories. What follows is a search to locate him and find out why he would give away what little he had, a search during which everyone involved will be changed, especially our Scrooge-like cynic.   

This was an uplifting story and a nice surprise. There is a romance - it seems a Christmas story must have one - but it's mostly about finding a reason for hope in the midst of despair. This is one I will probably read again next year.

The Birds of the Air by Alice Ellis Thomas

I didn't see much in the plot or the characters in this one. One particular scene was so unlikely and ridiculous that it reminded me a little of Cold Comfort Farm (which I, in fact, loved). It's about a family getting together for Christmas with none of them very happy about it except the mother who tries very hard to make it nice. There's not much joy to be had here with most of the characters surly, usually for good reason. Having said that, I do think it deserved more than the cursory reading I gave it, so I'll read it again and see if I can't find a little more in it.

Christmas in Vermont by Anita Hughes

A sweet...bordering on too sweet...story about a girl spending some time away over Christmas at a cozy Vermont inn. The trip is a gift from a friend with an ulterior motive - she knows an old boyfriend will be there at the same time and is hoping the two will make a connection. They do of course and it ends as you would expect. Some of it is a rather unrealistic but it's a light holiday read if that's what you're looking for.

The Christmas Tree by David Adams Richards

There are two short stories in this little book - The Carmichael's Dog and The Christmas Tree. In the first, two boys find a puppy and decide to keep it as a Christmas gift for their mother, but when a police car with the dog's owner shows up at their house, and their frantic attempts to hide it are unsuccessful, they face losing the dog and the good will of their neighbours. 

In the second story, The Christmas Tree, two boys go on a very long trek to find the perfect tree only to realize when they get there that they didn't think to bring an axe. On the way home the perfect tree appears out of nowhere. Nice stories, both.

Christmas at Thompson Hall and Other Stories by Anthony Trollope

 

Five refreshingly different short stories in Trollope's wonderful writing. What more could you want? Original review here.  

Merry Christmas

 

Wishing One and All 

a Very 

Merry Christmas 

and 

Happy New Year

God bless you

every one!

The True Life of J.S. Bach

 The True Life of J.S. Bach by Klaus Eidam

A detailed look at the life and accomplishments of Johann Sebastian Bach. Like the other Bach biography I read this year, it deals mainly with his music and his work life - the positions he held as Court Composer to the King of Poland, Court Music Director to the Prince of Anhalt-Cothen, and School Choirmaster of The St. Thomas School at Leipzig. There is little about his personal life in either book so perhaps that information has not been preserved.

Many times throughout this book I felt far out of my depth, but at the same time it gave me a sense of who Bach was and how he worked, and that has made his music all the more interesting to me. I've listened to classical music knowing only what I liked and didn't like. This book has helped me appreciate it a bit differently, to not just listen but to hear it. I'm paying attention now, trying to see what the composer has done with it. All of this is on a very elementary level of course, but it's added enjoyment to my life and I'm grateful for it. 

Though the content dives deeply into Bach's music it remains readable, even for novices like me. One curious aspect of it is how determined the author is to correct previous biographers, who in his view drew too many inaccurate conclusions about Bach. He is out to correct them all, using phrases like "certain scholars would have us believe", "a lot of nonsense has been scribbled that..." and "they are utterly mistaken". He says some "have exhibited not only simple ignorance on occasion but an absolute dearth of musical expertise" and that some "specialists set out not to demonstrate Bach's learing but chielfly their own. They were not interpreting Bach but indirectly proclaiming their own importance via Bach." Ouch. Strong words from a man who obviously has enormous respect and admiration for the composer and is determined to defend him. That he wants the world to understand the "stunningly magnificent musical architect" as he does is not a bad thing, but his intensity is almost comical at times.  

This book was a bit of a challenge, but worth it - even the bits I had to wade through - for the sheer exhilaration of learning, of beginning to understand things I didn't before. That never gets old.  

One last thing I'm taking away from it is a soul-searching quote by a writer named Jean Paul (1763-1825) who said "daring judgements often spare us the effort of deeper insights." Again - ouch. I wonder how much music, how many books, how many people I've dismissed in judgement to spare myself the effort of deeper insight. Too many, I think. 

Body and Soul/Build a Better Book Club

 Body and Soul by Frank Conroy

The story of a 6 yr old boy who, left alone all day in a tiny basement apartment while his mother drives a taxi, finds an old piano in a storage room and is both startled and thrilled by the sound that comes out when he presses a key. His curiosity about how that sound is made increases exponentially when he finds pages full of black lines and dots that he thinks might tell him what keys to press if he only understood how it worked. 

He asks the man at a nearby music shop to show him what it means and so begins his education in the making and playing of music. The shop-keeper gives him lessons in return for help in the shop, and later the boy receives a scholarship to a prestigious music school and travels the often bumpy road to a career as a professional pianist. 

I loved the story and was particularly impressed by the wonderful depictions of his interaction with the music - learning and experimenting with how the piano produces sound and how printed music can be interpreted in different ways on the keys. The author did a stellar job of portraying the boy's thoughts and feelings as he made those discoveries.   

I've had this book for a few years and can't think why I waited so long to read it. It's an excellent story with interesting and appealing characters and the kind of writing of that leaves you wanting more. This one is worth reading and reading again.

 I'll end with some of the beautifully articulated lines that stood out to me... 

"It was a shock when the movies ended, as if his soul had been flying around in the dark and had now slammed back into his body. Outside, the unnaturally still street and the implacable heat seemed to claim him, to smother the quicksilver emotions of the films and flatten him in his contemplation of the meaningless, eternal, disinterested reality of the street, of its enduring drabness and familiarity." 

"Telephone poles whipped by with metronomic precision."

"There was a vibrancy to the man's image, as if he were packed into himself, as if the specific gravity of his body were higher than that of ordinary men."

Build A Better Book Club by Harry Heft and Peter O'Brien

This is my second reading, and though I'm completely happy with my book club of 32 yrs and am not looking to build a better one, I did think it might have some helpful suggestions to review for my own personal reading. And it did. It has lots of suggestions for any book club just starting up but also has some ideas helpful for individual readers.

Remember / The Company We Keep

 Remember by Lisa Genova

An interesting (non-fiction) book that looks at the science of memory: what we remember and why, and how and why we forget. She teaches techniques to improve memory, and there's some enlightening information about dementia and what we can do now to try to avoid it. Sketchy health and medical information comes at us from every direction these days, so it was nice to read something that made sense and sounded credible; with a Harvard degree in neuroscience the author is qualified to speak about these things. If you haven't read any of her fiction yet, check out Every Note Played, Left Neglected, Still Alice, Inside the O'Briens, and Love, Anthony. The stories center around characters diagnosed with different neurological conditions and are well-written and riveting, every one.      

The Company We Keep by Francis Itani

Three years after losing her husband, Lew, Hazzley is still trying to figure out who she is on her own. A spur of the moment decision has her pinning a notice to a grocery store bulletin board inviting people to a "Grief Discussion Group, Tuesdays 7-8:30 pm". 

Four people turn up: Gwen, widow of bullying husband Brigg, and now temporary caretaker of a persnickity parrot named Rico; Chiyo, a fitness instructor grieving the loss of her demanding mother; Tom, a dealer in antiques, writer of poetry, and widower of Ida; and Addie, a health administrator whose best friend, Sybil, is dying of cancer. Later they will be joined by Hallam, a Syrian refugee whose wife was killed in a bombing raid. Hazzley has no real plan for the group, hoping only for each one to tell their story so they can all hear how others cope with the many aspects and complications of loss.

Though the subject is grief, the tone is warm and uplifting. What these six grieving people find as they get to know each other is community, a place to listen and be heard, to accept and be accepted. A quiet book about people more than plot, it's a lovely story.