December, Part 1

Part One of what I've read in December covers from the last week of classes until when I left for Texas.

Books Bought:

• Thousand Mile Song: Whale Music in a Sea of Sound (David Rothenberg)

Books Read:

• Music as Social Life: The Politics of Participation (Thomas Turino)
• Ender's Shadow (Orson Scott Card)
• The Principles of Uncertainty (Maira Kalman)
• Sisterland (Curtis Sittenfeld)

I bought Thousand Mile Song because a good chunk of one of my thesis chapters is about whales. David Rothenberg writes a lot about music and nature, but his books aren't always the most scientifically accurate. He also seems a little spacey, but I don't mind that. I read Music as Social Life for my intro to ethnomusicology class and enjoyed it. It's aimed at undergraduate non-musicians, but it's still a great read that explores some interesting ideas about the different roles music can play in societies.

I reread Ender's Shadow and enjoyed it as much as the first time I read it. I'm working on the rest of the Shadow series now. 

The Principles of Uncertainty is another quick read. Maira Kalman is known for her quirky paintings (she illustrated Daniel Handler's Why We Broke Up, which I read back in January and loved). This book is basically a collection of her paintings with her thoughts about her daily life written around them. It's a beautiful book. Sisterland got some interesting reviews when it came out in June, so I checked it out from the library. I flew through it pretty quickly once finals week was over, and for the most part I enjoyed it. It wasn't necessarily what I expected - the blurb describes two sisters' psychic powers; one sister uses her powers and ends up warning a city about an upcoming earthquake, the other sister rejects her powers in favor of a more "normal" life. Psychic powers aside, though, it's really a novel about the relationship between sisters as they grow up. I really didn't care for the ending - I thought it was melodramatic, unbelievable, and unsatisfying. 

November

Books Bought:

• The Lady of the Rivers (Philippa Gregory)

Books Read:

• A Game of Thrones (George R. R. Martin)
• High Fidelity (Nick Hornby)
• Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (Mindy Kaling)
• Girl at Sea (Maureen Johnson)
• Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
• Last Chance Saloon (Marian Keyes)

Clearly, I had more time on hand to read this month...mainly because I spent two weekends out of town, so I had a good amount of plane rides/airport time to fill. I finally finished GOT - now to tackle the (even longer) sequel.

I've read High Fidelity before, but I needed to reread it because it's basically the ultimate break-up book - and very revealing because it's written by a man from a man's perspective. I watched the movie adaptation with John Cusack after finishing the book this time, and I was unimpressed - perhaps because the setting was transferred from England to America. This was disappointing, because I generally love John Cusack, even in overall weak movies. 

I read Mindy Kaling's book because I needed more cheering up, and this book is definitely an easy way  to brighten your day! Now, I have to admit that I wasn't exactly sure who Mindy Kaling actually was before I read this book, but now I am inspired to start watching The Office (I'm pretty sure I've seen maybe five episodes...ever). She is so funny and open about making fun of herself, which makes her easy to relate to even though she's incredibly successful and probably super rich.

I had to reread Ender's Game after seeing the movie...I flew through it in about a day. I really enjoyed the book the first time around, so I was very apprehensive about seeing the movie. However, I have to say that ultimately I think it was a good adaptation. There were obvious challenges with adapting the book: the book covers a much greater period of time (Ender is 6 when he arrives at Battle School and 10 at the end of the book); the amount of graphic violence in the book would probably have been controversial with child actors; and much of the book explored psychological and emotional issues that don't transfer well to the screen. Because of these issues, the movie didn't pack the same punch as the book (and I was disappointed that the side-plot with Valentine and Peter was entirely left out), but it's definitely worth seeing.

Last Chance Saloon was another re-read this month...as I've mentioned before in this blog, Marian Keyes is one of my favorite authors. I enjoyed this book more than the first time I read it, perhaps because I'm older now and identified with the experiences of one of the characters in particular. I'm just going to go ahead and leave it at that and recommend ALL of Marian Keyes's books. :) 

October

My thesis rules my life. Actually, that's not even true. October was a rough month, and my thesis should have ruled my life, but it didn't. But I made it through, and part of the reason I did so this month was by escaping into books.

Books Bought:

• Sounds of War: Music in the United States during World War II (Annegret Fauser)
• Now I'll Tell You Everything (Phyllis Reynolds Naylor)

Books Read:

• Commencement (J. Courtney Sullivan)
• Now I'll Tell You Everything (Naylor)
• Z (Therese Anne Fowler)

I actually bought Sounds of War last month, but I forgot about it then. I haven't read any of it yet, but the way WWI and WWII affected music is something I'm interested in (both wars had massive effects on the American band tradition). I probably won't get around to reading this book until next semester at best, but it will be a good one for me to own.

Now I'll Tell You Everything is the last book in Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's "Alice" series. Some people say they grew up with Harry Potter, and to some extent that was true for me, but Alice is my fictional best friend from my childhood (and beyond). I read my first Alice book in the fourth grade (which takes place in the sixth grade for her) and continued reading until this year. Alice was older than me until the summer before my junior year when we were the exact same age (the books were published once a year and each covered a semester or a summer of her life), so since then she's been catching up with me. This final book covered her college years until her sixty-fifth birthday (relevant because that's when her seventh grade history class opens their time capsule), so it's not really a book that would interest anyone other than long-time Alice fans because the entire thing is basically snapshots of her life. But for people like me who have been reading about Alice's life for over a decade, it's the perfect end to the series.

Z is a fictional novel about Zelda Fitzgerald covering her life from meeting Scott in Georgia as a young woman to her separation from him when her schizophrenia set in. I have an odd fascination with Zelda, and I really enjoyed this interpretation of her life, but I wish that it had been more in-depth. Still, I recommend it, especially if you enjoy Scott Fitzgerald's writing. I have no idea how accurate Fowler's representation of him is, but it's interesting. 

One more thing - if you've been keeping up with this blog, then you might wonder, "What happened to Game of Thrones? Did she ever finish it?" Truth is, October was yet another month that passed by without me finishing that book...but I'm very, very close. I'm going to blame this on the fact that we now have to erase written-in scores and books while working at the music library circulation desk.

Hopefully I'll get my November post written at the end of the month instead of a third of the way into the next one...oops. 

September

It's the last day of September, so technically, this is not late. I'm just writing about the whole month in one sitting, which is totally fine because I haven't finished very many books (okay, I haven't finished any).

Books Bought:

• Walden (Henry David Thoreau)
• This Side of Paradise (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

Books That I Have ALMOST Finished Reading:

• A Game of Thrones (George R. R. Martin)
• Commencement (J. Courtney Sullivan)

Based on my pitiful reading list for the month, you may think that this semester is tougher than the last...it really isn't (I mean, besides the fact that I have to complete a full draft of my thesis by December). With that said, though, I'm still figuring out how to schedule in free time, and this semester has been different so far in that I'm choosing to spend most of my free time with people instead of books...which is not a bad thing.

Also, A Game of Thrones is a really long book. And it's pretty gruesome at times, so I'm not reading it very religiously. I've actually been reading this book pretty much solely while working at the library circulation desk. It has the added bonus of being an excellent conversation starter - pretty much every patron who sees me reading it either asks me how I like it or gives me their opinion on the book and/or TV show. So there's that. I should start a blog about opinions on GOT from patrons of the Allen Music Library. 

I picked up Commencement a few days ago and am really enjoying it - already halfway through it. I saw a review of Sullivan's newest book, and while adding my name to the hold list for that book at the library, I decided to pick up her first book, too. It's about four friends and how their lives have changed (or not changed, I guess, in some cases) four years after graduating from their undergraduate. So far, so good, but the thing about reading new authors is that you have no idea about their ending style. 

I bought Walden because connection to the natural world plays a big part in my thesis, and my advisor told me I needed to read Walden if I could ever fit it into my schedule. I bought This Side of Paradise because I began rediscovering Fitzgerald this summer and am hooked. Both of these books were under $5 brand new. Basically, it's financially prudent to read books that were published before 1923. 

Happy October! 

August: Weeks Three and Four

Books Bought:

• History and Theory of Anthropology (Alan Barnard)
• The Anthropology of Music (Alan Merriam)
• The Study of Ethnomusicology: Thirty-one Issues and Concepts (Bruno Nettl)
• Music as Social Life (Thomas Turino)

Books Read:

• My Education (Susan Choi)
• Love is a Four-Letter Word (ed. Michael Taeckens)

Okay, reading in August became difficult. (Life in flux, see two posts ago.) I bought my textbooks for my Intro to Ethnomusicology class. I've started reading the Nettl book, and it's great. I appreciate anyone who can write an academic book that is not the least bit dry. 

Here are my textbooks amongst other homework detritus.

I finished reading two books this past weekend that I've been working my way through over the past few weeks. I'd read a review of My Education in The Week and thought it seemed interesting (plus, Choi has been a Pulitzer finalist before), so I added it to my library list. Perhaps not coincidentally, the subject matter was quite similar to the memoir/movie An Education - taboo love affair between a student and an older person. I appreciated the writing more than the plot. I know some have called it verbose and melodramatic (the writing AND the plot, I guess), but I think those critics just probably don't remember what it's like to be an intelligent person caught up in loving someone you shouldn't (instant recipe for melodrama). 

Love is a Four-Letter Word is a collection of short stories about break-ups. Like any good short story collection, some are sad, some are funny, some are serious, some are clever. I think I found this book on the sale rack at a store a few years back - if I'm remembering correctly, after my own giant break-up. I probably should have read this book then, but it's an enjoyable read even if you're completely satisfied with your current love life (or lack of). 

August: Weeks One and Two

Books Bought:

• The Satanic Verses (Salman Rushdie)
• The Three Weissmanns of Westport (Cathleen Schine)
• Brat Farrar (Josephine Tey)
• And Another Thing... (Eoin Colfer)
• Silent Spring (Rachel Carson)
• The Little Drummer Girl (John Le Carre)
• Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books (Aaron Lansky)
• See, Mix, Drink (Brian D. Murphy)

I spent the first week and a half of August at home in Texas...which means I visited my favorite used book store THREE TIMES. But I only bought books the first two times - that means I'm improving, right? Also, let me just brag about how I got the first six books on that list for a total of $6.21. Thank you, Rice Village Half Price Books, and your wonderful $1 fiction shelf.

If there's one thing I can't resist, it's trying new mysteries (after reading everything written by Agatha Christie, what other choice do I have?) - and if there's another thing I can't resist, it's books about books. I've read reviews of a couple of Josephine Tey's books (not the one I bought, however), so when I saw one on the $1 shelf I decided to try it. As for John Le Carre...well, I haven't read Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy yet, but I just finished watching the old TV adaptation (as well as the new movie) and am pretty much 100% sure I'm going to love the book, so I ended up buying another of his books, too. I also couldn't resist buying Eoin Colfer's sixth installment to the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy." Outwitting History is a book about books - enough said. See, Mix, Drink isn't a usual purchase for me, but Matt and I had just seen the book at Urban Outfitters for three times the price, so we decided to each buy one and learn to make drinks. I like the book because it's not just recipes, but includes diagrams and charts for each drink, too. I love diagrams and charts!

I was enjoying being home so much that I had little time to read (unusual for me). I'm still halfway through A Game of Thrones, as well as several other books, so we'll see what I manage to actually complete in the last two weeks before school starts!

July: Weeks Three and Four

Books Read:

• The Interestings (Meg Wolitzer)

The end of July was pretty crazy - moving to a new apartment, dog-sitting, and driving back to Texas, to name the big things. I kind of temporarily forgot about this blog, which was actually OK because I haven't completed very many things. Whenever my life is in flux I tend to hop around between different books. With that in mind, this list is necessary:

Currently Reading:

• The Great Animal Orchestra (Bernie Krause)
• A Game of Thrones (George R. R. Martin) *apparently if you're a fantasy writer it's hip to have the double "R" thing going*
• The Gift of Fear (Gavin de Becker)

I am LOVING A Game of Thrones (I know, I'm getting into this a little late in the game) - such complex characters! That's all I can say about it so far, other than I'm hooked.

A note on the only book I finished in the past couple of weeks: The Interestings is a great book if novels about ordinary people are your thing. I personally love them; in this case I especially enjoyed the ordinary people described because the relationships in this book started at a high school summer camp for the arts, which I can completely relate to as I spent every summer in high school at music festivals. I just realized that it's slightly ironic that the word I used to describe the characters is "ordinary," but perhaps that was the ultimate message of the book, anyway.

Amazon Kindle Deals!

Some of you may know that I own a Kindle - and love it. I still predominantly read physical books, but I love the convenience of e-books - as a kid, I used to bring five or six books on long car rides so I had a variety to choose from; now when I travel, I bring fifty or sixty books! 

Amazon is pretty great about having cheap e-books - the trick is to keep an eye on their Kindle Daily Deal page. Four new e-books are offered each day, but they also have monthly deals. I was browsing today and noticed that a few books I really enjoyed are $3.99 or less, so I thought I would share those with you! (Note - you can also purchase these e-books for iPad or other tablets; you just need to have the free Amazon Kindle app.)

Here's what caught my eye today:

• Animal Dreams (Barbara Kingsolver) - I read this a few years ago (I think my freshman year at Baylor) and it immediately became one of my favorite books. I probably need to reread it because I don't remember much about it (which is why I don't include it in my mental list of favorite books anymore), but I do remember that this is an incredibly heartfelt book. Currently available for $1.99!
• In One Person (John Irving) - I wrote about this book in an earlier blog post this year (February, if you're interested), so I won't repeat what I've already said. I admire John Irving for his willingness to write about controversial topics, and this book was no exception. Currently available for $2.99!!
• The Sirens of Titan (Kurt Vonnegut) - Vonnegut's books are frequently featured in the Sci-Fi Kindle Daily Deal. The Sirens of Titan is probably one of my top three favorites by him - the book description on Amazon describes it as an "interplanetary Candide" which I think is perfect. If you're a Vonnegut fan and haven't read this one, here's your chance! Currently available for $1.99. 

Enjoy!

July: Weeks One and Two

Books Read:

• And the Mountains Echoed (Khaled Hosseini)
• The Bookman's Tale (Charlie Lovett)

I'm writing this post early (or late, depending on how you look at it) because this week has been taken over by moving! Both of the books listed above are new releases. I loved Hosseini's new book - more than The Kite Runner, perhaps not quite as much as A Thousand Splendid Suns. It's pretty different from both of those, though - it's only nine chapters (long chapters), each of which is told from the perspective of a different character. It's more like a collection of short stories that overlap in one way or another than one continuous plot. As usual, Hosseini's writing is beautiful, but one of the interesting things about this book is the number of times he mentioned the idea of story-tellers feeling guilty for borrowing the stories of real-life people for their own gain. I read a short article recently that discussed his own guilt about his success...he said, "I wrote about people in Afghanistan who suffered for a long time, and their stories made me very successful. That has left me with a sense of debt. Writing is an act of thievery. You adapt experiences and anecdotes for your own purposes." (The Week, July 5) 

I was expecting The Bookman's Tale to be similar to one of my favorite books, The Shadow of the Wind, but it was more like National Treasure from a bibliophile's point of view. After spending a year immersed in the world of historical musicology (and working at a music library), I really appreciated the detail that went into this book (Lovett is a former antiquarian bookseller), perhaps even moreso than the story itself. This is a book written by a book lover for other book lovers - I enjoyed it! 

June: Week Four

Books Read:

• Silver Girl (Elin Hildenbrand)
• The Kitchen House (Kathleen Grissom)
• A Natural History of Dragons (Marie Brennan) 

This was a week for light summer reading...well, except for The Kitchen House, I guess. Silver Girl is a straight up beach read...it was ok - a little melodramatic, but a good vacation read. A Natural History of Dragons had the potential to be a really cute read (about a female protagonist in a Victorian-style fictional country who wanted to study dragons, which was of course totally inappropriate for a lady), but the plot never really went anywhere, so that was disappointing. 

I would recommend The Kitchen House to pretty much everyone, especially if you liked The Help (the book version). The Kitchen House examines slavery in the late 1700s/early 1800s from a different perspective. There are two alternating narrators - Lavinia, an orphaned Irish girl who is sent to live in with the kitchen house slaves until she is old enough to be married off, and Belle, a kitchen house slave who is the white master's daughter. The chapters narrated by Lavinia are always longer - this is mostly her story - but the Belle chapters are important because Lavinia (especially when she is younger) doesn't understand everything that is going on. Great book - I flew through this one! (With that said, I would be interested to know how historically accurate this book is - I wish there had been more historical information about indentured servants, for example.)

June: Week Three

Books Read:

• Modern Music and After (Paul Griffiths)
• Inferno (Dan Brown)
• Revenge Wears Prada (Lauren Weisberger)
• Under the Tuscan Sun (Frances Mayes)

Simple review of the week: yes, no, no, yes. 

Ok, Modern Music and After actually took six weeks to read (the length of my summer theory class). I didn't expect to say this, but I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about twentieth-century art music. That's who the book seems aimed at, rather than theorists or musicologists. Also, although a musical background certainly helps, I would imagine that someone without any background would also enjoy this book - just skip over the analytical paragraphs (not that much time is spent on actual theoretical analysis). I'll admit it: there was a large chunk of twentieth-music that I couldn't stand before I took this class and read this book, including the majority of Messiaen's music, which I am totally ashamed to admit now! Contemporary music is SO IMPORTANT, and I fervently believe that anyone is capable of learning to appreciate (if not enjoy) all of the music discussed in this book. 

Now to the two new releases: Inferno initially looked like it was going to be the best since Angels and Demons (the only Dan Brown book that I've enjoyed), but it turned out to be a huge disappointment. I won't go into detail because I know a lot of people want to read this book and deserve a spoiler-free read. I'll just say that after a year of graduate school, Brown's writing style absolutely grates on my nerves. Also, I think it seems like he tried to escape his usual formulaic plot structure, but failed...which is almost worse than not trying in the first place. 

My response to Revenge Wears Prada: was this even written by the same person?? This is nothing like The Devil Wears Prada. I don't even really know what to say, actually. 

Luckily, I get to end this post on a good note. I have always enjoyed the movie Under the Tuscan Sun, so after rewatching it last week I decided I should read the book (which I already owned and just hadn't got around to yet - I am really bad about being a book hoarder). I knew going into it that it was totally different from the movie, which was good because I was able to enjoy this book as a separate entity. I don't read a lot of travel memoirs, but I loved this one...I thoroughly enjoyed Mayes's thoughtful descriptions - remember the scene in the movie where the fictional Mayes writes a postcard for someone and he is totally peeved because his mom will never believe he wrote it? That's how Mayes writes in this book, but it's never wordy or self-indulgent. Reading this book makes me wish I had enough money to buy a villa in Tuscany...maybe one day?

June: Weeks One and Two

Books Bought (!):

• Past Imperfect (Julian Fellowes)

Books Read:

• Snobs (Julian Fellowes)
• Wedding Night (Sophie Kinsella)
• Tender is the Night (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

Combining two weeks into one post again - oops. No excuse, I'm just going to dive right into what I read! The name Julian Fellowes may be familiar to you...he is the screenwriter for both Downton Abbey and Gosford Park (which is one of my favorite movies, mystery lover that I am). His book Snobs is set in the present day, but examines the same class of people that Downton Abbey and Gosford Park examine so well. I couldn't decide whether to be surprised about this or not, but his writing flows really nicely, making this a very enjoyable read. I also loved the quasi-third-person-omniscent narrator - although the narrator is a character in the book and sometimes plays a role in the action, he knows everything that happens, telling it like he was actually there...there was something quite old-fashioned about this that I found appropriate. After reading Snobs, I had to buy his other book, Past Imperfect, which my local library didn't have. I got it brand new for $6 - pretty good!

The latest from Sophie Kinsella, author of the Shopaholic series, was a disappointment. Usually her characters are annoyingly stupid about something, but in an endearing way...this time, they were just plain stupid. The plot was farcical and went on for about 200 pages too many. I finished it, but only because it was a Friday night and I was trying to avoid writing a music theory paper. I don't recommend it, even if you've liked her other books.

However, I DO recommend Tender is the Night. After rereading The Great Gatsby a few weeks ago, I decided I needed to read Fitzgerald's other works. Tender is the Night was his last completed novel, and it's quite different from Gatsby. I was discussing this with a co-worker at the music library - it's almost as if Fitzgerald was ahead of his time with this book. I thought it was wonderful!

Coming up soon...new books by Dan Brown and Lauren Weisberger!

May: Week Five (and a couple of days of June)

Books Read:

• Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
• Bossypants (Tina Fey)
• The Silver Linings Playbook (Matthew Quick)

I can't believe I haven't bought any books (not counting books for school or research) in weeks...I guess that's the benefit to living close to a public library.

Catch-22 is one of my dad's favorite books, and I finally checked it out from the library. This is one of those "classic American" novels that everyone is supposed to read at some point, and I'll agree with that. It took about 150 pages for me to become invested in this book (out of 450+), and I might have been tempted to stop reading it did I not trust my dad's recommendations. I'm glad I persevered - definitely worth the read. (Plus, isn't it interesting that the catchphrase "catch-22" came from this book? How many other titles of books have become parts of our everyday language?) I'm generally not a fan of war novels, but this isn't what you would usually expect from a war novel. If you're interested in the book, it's worth checking to see if your library has the 50th anniversary tradition - the essays in the back of the book explore what makes Catch-22 such a different book. Also, I 100% agree with the Harper Lee quote on the front of the book that says, "Catch-22 is the only war novel I've ever read that makes any sense." (I had to look up the author of the quote because the Leon County library put a barcode sticker over her name.)



Bossypants is a pretty different read from Catch-22, although, like Heller, Tina Fey does explore serious issues (mainly feminism) in a comedic fashion. Mostly, though, this book is just funny. I only watched SNL for a brief period (while I still lived at home), but that was when Fey came back to do her Sarah Palin impersonations, so I enjoyed reading about that time.

I haven't seen the movie version of The Silver Linings Playbook yet, but I've wanted to for a while. Once I found out it was based on a book by Matthew Quick, I decided to read the book first. It's a quick read - I read it in two days - and I thought it was well done. The characters have depth, especially Pat and Tiffany (although I would have liked to have read more about her - it'll be interesting to see what they do with her character in the movie...and I'm looking forward to see Jennifer Lawrence play her). Some of the supporting characters initially seemed to have stock personalities, but there were some surprises further into the book. I'd recommend it!

May: Week Four

Books Read:

• The Pastures of Heaven (John Steinbeck)

Steinbeck published The Pastures of Heaven in 1932, making it one of his earliest works. I haven't read East of Eden or The Grapes of Wrath (yet!!), but if this is his early work, I can't even imagine how good his later works are. I really enjoyed this book - it's a collection of short stories featuring a community of people who live in a valley called the Pastures of Heaven. Most of them end on a poignant or melancholy note (so certainly the same man who wrote Of Mice and Men and The Red Pony), but they are thoughtful little stories with a surprising amount of depth (lack of depth is usually my biggest complaint about short stories, but stories like these prove that it is possible to explore big ideas in a small number of pages). Definitely recommend!

Other than that, I have been reading various conducting students' dissertations and treatises about David Maslanka's music in preparation for writing my prospectus this summer. I'm also currently in the middle of Catch-22, so stay tuned for my thoughts on that next week!

May: Week Three

Books Bought:

• Concert Music, Rock, and Jazz Since 1945 (eds. Marvin and Hermann)

Books Read:

• The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
• A Fairly Honorable Defeat (Iris Murdoch)
• Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality (Jacob Tomsky)

This week's list is late because I was without Internet for a few days. However, since I didn't have Internet, I had plenty of extra time to read! After seeing the new Great Gatsby movie last weekend I had to reread the book - luckily, I foresaw this and had already asked for my copy to be mailed from home. It took no time at all to reread - what a wonderful little book! Regarding the movie: I am an incredibly difficult person to please when it comes to book/movie adaptations (most recently, I was extremely disappointed in The Hobbit). I could find almost nothing wrong with The Great Gatsby, however! I enjoyed the movie almost as much as I enjoyed the book (the fact that Carey Mulligan was Daisy didn't hurt). After a semester of watching documentaries and listening to the way they use music, I can't watch anything without analyzing what's going on with the score, and I really approved of the soundtrack, anachronisms and all (best use of Rhapsody in Blue I've ever seen in a film - I have zero problem with it being two years early). More importantly, I thought the movie captured the important themes of the book - the superficiality of the jazz age, Gatsby's naive desire to change the past, the false dream symbolized by the little green light. 

Back to actual books...I came across a review of Murdoch's A Fairly Honorable Defeat and thought it sounded interesting. Originally published in 1970, this book is a black comedy that plays with human relationships as manipulated by Julius, a character who brings to mind Iago from Othello. I wasn't sure what to expect from this 400+ page book, but was pleased to find that it flew by. I would certainly be interested in reading more of Murdoch's works.

On the less literary side, Heads in Beds is absolutely hilarious. Having spend a semester working in a customer service position (and being a relatively frequent hotel guest), I really enjoyed this book about what it's like in hotels behind the scenes (Tomsky has worked in hotels for years). One of my favorite parts of the book is the list in the back appendices entitled "Standard LIES That Spew from the Mouth of a Front Desk Agent" - it's funny because it's most likely entirely accurate (examples: "I appreciate your feedback." "All the rooms are basically the same size." "My pleasure."). This would be a great airplane book - especially because you would arrive at your hotel knowing how to treat a bellman or what the most effective way to make a complaint is.

May: Week Two

Books Read:

• The Mystery of Mercy Close (Marian Keyes)
• The Cushion in the Road: Meditation and Wandering as the Whole World Awakens to Being in Harm's Way (Alice Walker)

It's wonderful to have finally begun my summer reading! And no better way to start than with Irish author Marian Keyes's latest book: The Mystery of Mercy Close is a book that Keyes's fans have been waiting for for years. The main character, Helen, is the youngest of the five Walsh sisters - Keyes has already written books about the four older sisters. Keyes is one of my favorite authors because she tackles heavy subjects in comedic fashion without taking away from the seriousness of whichever malady the main character suffers from. Helen has always been a source of comic relief in the earlier four Walsh sister books (she is a mean and scrappy private investigator), so I was curious to see what would happen to her. I wasn't surprised that the book involved a mystery, but this is not a mystery novel and the mystery itself ties more into Helen's struggles than provides a source of suspense. I usually try not to give away plot points in this blog, but we find out fairly early on that Helen has depression. However, I still wouldn't describe this as a "book about depression," just as I wouldn't describe any of Keyes's earlier books as "books about alcoholism" or "books about domestic violence." It's about Helen.

I picked up The Cushion in the Road after seeing it on the "New Books" display table at the library. I read Walker's The Color Purple back in March, so I was interested in this new collection of her essays and letters. I didn't read every essay in this book (some are very political), but I read and enjoyed the majority. Her essay on The Help was particularly thought-provoking. Others are very honest (as the full title of the book suggests) and read as calls to action. Worth reading, but it's a lot to absorb at one time. I read it over a period of two weeks, but this might be a better book to have purchased and read over a longer period of time - again, as the title suggests, many of her essays demand reflection.

May: Week One

Books Bought:

• The Sounds of Place: Music and the American Cultural Landscape (Denise Von Glahn)

Books Read:

• The Hours (Michael Cunningham)
• Naked (David Sedaris)
• The Red Pony (John Steinbeck)

Dr. Von Glahn's book The Sounds of Place is on my personal required reading list for the summer - I'm writing my master's thesis about a specific composer's connection to the American landscape, and Dr. Von Glahn is my advisor, so I need to know what she says about the topic!

I can't remember why I decided to read The Hours - I've heard of the movie but have never seen it, and I was unaware that the book won the Pulitzer. It's a pretty good book - a quick read but well thought out. I actually only read parts of Naked (another memoir told in short stories) - I didn't like it anywhere near as much as Me Talk Pretty One Day. I guess I was more interested in Sedaris's experiences in Paris than his everyday stories about his childhood/weird things that have happened to him. I read The Red Pony because I had to write an essay about the 1949 film and Aaron Copland's score earlier in the semester - I have to say that I much preferred the story in the adaptation to the four separate episodes that Steinbeck wrote. 

I didn't love any of the three books I read this week - I find it much harder to write about books I feel more ambivalent towards. 

April: Week Four

Books Bought:

• Ideas and Styles in the Western Musical Tradition (Douglass Seaton)

Books Read:

• The Best of Us (Sarah Pekkanen)
• Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck)

As of tomorrow, my semester is basically over, which means I finally get to read whatever I want, whenever I want! I have a list of musicology books to read over the summer that either relate to my thesis or are just for my personal edification, but I'm also going to read plenty of fiction...I can't wait. 

I've been on the lookout for a cheap copy of Dr. Seaton's music history textbook for a while now, and finally found one new for $25. I've been told that this book is a great resource for studying for masters comps, which I will be taking next spring, but I'm also really interested in reading it after hearing him talk about why he wrote it in my Intro to Historical Musicology class last semester. 

I read Sarah Pekkanen's first book, The Opposite of Me, last year on the way to a grad school interview and really enjoyed it. However, since then I've read her second and third books and really didn't like them very much. The Best of Us was pretty predictable, but I enjoyed it more than the last two. I flew through it in two days, though - I just broke up with my boyfriend and needed "chick lit" therapy (although I still hate that label; I find it a little derogatory).

Last night I finally reread Of Mice and Men - I'm so glad I did because I enjoyed it a lot more than I did in high school. Back then I was so distraught by the ending that I found it impossible to appreciate the writing. Since I knew what was coming this time around, it was much easier to enjoy. I'd be interested to see the original film adaptation with the score by Aaron Copland. 

Happy end of the semester!

April: Week Three

Books Bought:

• Modern Music and After (Paul Griffiths)

Books Read:

• Music and the Skillful Listener: American Women Compose the Natural World (Denise Von Glahn)

Finished reading my last required book of the semester! This book was probably the best one I've read for school this semester - I might be biased, because Dr. Von Glahn is my advisor and she's wonderful, but I think I would have loved the book even if I didn't already love her. Women composers (and let's face it, that term stinks) aren't written about enough, and this book is wonderful because it celebrates composers for being composers and for being women, but not for being women composers. Composers covered in the book: Amy Beach, Marion Bauer, Louise Talma, Pauline Oliveros, Joan Tower, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Victoria Bond, Libby Larsen, and Emily Doolittle. I had only heard of three of those before I took Dr. Von Glahn's seminar, but now after reading about them and becoming familiar with their music, I can highly recommend all of them! Curious? Here are my three favorites and where to find them:

1. Joan Tower - Sequoia (Naxos Music Library)
2. Victoria Bond - Peculiar Plants (Naxos Music Library)
3. Libby Larsen - Symphony: Water Music (her website)

Enjoy! My number one favorite piece discussed in the book was actually Ellen Zwilich's Symphony No. 4, but I can't find that online anywhere, so check your school's library (FSU has it)!

Modern Music and After is for the theory class I'm taking this summer (Music after WWII). I might be crazy, but I think it's going to be really interesting. 

April: Week Two

Books Read:

• Leaving Everything Most Loved (Jacqueline Winspear)

Ok, I couldn't wait until school was out to start reading this book. I started it last Monday night with the intention of reading ONLY ONE chapter a night...because I was really going to stick to that. Except I did, until Friday night. Reading this book took up a pretty good chunk of my weekend that could have been spent writing papers, but it was really worth it, especially since the Elegy for Eddie was fresh in my mind. I really think this is one of the best yet in the series, which is a good sign when it's the tenth book - if Winspear can keep the series this original and engaging for another ten books, I will be really impressed (and happy! because I adore this series). 

It's really hard to discuss plot points of the tenth book of a mystery series, so if you are interested, go back to my November post when I talked about reading the first books in the Maisie Dobbs series. 

Two weeks from today, I'll be completely done with the semester!