The Whole Wide Beauty by Emily Woof

A surprisingly good book. Surprising, because the back-cover copy led me to believe it was about a woman's passionate affair with a poet. It is about that, but it is also much more. It gets off to somewhat of a slow start, introducing lots of peripheral characters. At least they seemed to be peripheral, until the novel blossomed into an examination of all the linked characters and their loves and lives. The author does a great job portraying the diverse characters and examining their motivations and desires. A very enjoyable and satisfying novel.

Link to Amazon: The Whole Wide Beauty: A Novel

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

I dislike books that are overly manipulative and heavy on pop psychology, and that's what this book is. The author follows the trials of a family through the eyes of their dog. He throws in a mother with brain cancer, a child taken away by evil, rich grandparents who engage in a devastating legal battle with their poor son-in-law, and a father who puts his family ahead of his career as a race car driver. The dog narrator is treated like a dog, hit by a car, suffers from arthritis, and so on. Everything is tied together by the pop psychology of race car driving, reminiscent of "The Five People You Meet in Heaven". In addition, the dog narrator is hardly a dog. He understands more about life than all the people around him. He speaks in complete sentences, and has an encyclopedic knowledge of old movies and auto racing. Entirely unbelievable.

But it is a page-turner and easy to read. Once begun, it is hard to stop. I found myself caught up in the trials of the family even as I condemned the author for manipulating me.

Link to Amazon: The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel

The Life of Johnny Reb by Bell Irvin Wiley

First published in 1943, this is a classic text that dispels many of the myths and legends about the soldiers of the confederacy and reveals their lives during the war as revealed by letters, journals, and primary sources of facts. Facts are good, romanticized notions of history are bad. If you are writing a historical novel dealing with the civil war, then this book is for you. If you are an interested student of history, this book is for you.

Link to Amazon: The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy

Chopin by Jim Samson

This if one of the Master Musicians series from Oxford University Press.

This biography takes an interesting approach. The chapters alternate between history and musical analysis. So a chapter will detail Chopin's early life, and the next chapter will discuss his early compositions during that period. I think that's an effective approach - those readers who are not interested in detailed musical analysis can skip those chapters, and those readers who are interested in the music can use it as a reference.

Of course, no book on Chopin can succeed without dealing with the elephant in the room - his relationship with George Sand. I think this book does an excellent job of reporting the facts that can be verified about their life together without vilifying Sand or even placing blame. It's much better to report the facts and let the readers reach their own conclusion.

Now that I have read it I'll weigh in with my opinion, for what's it worth. Obviously they would not have stayed together as long as they did (9 years?) if each had not gotten something of value from the relationship. The fact that they were probably platonic after the second year means that it wasn't sex that keep them together. Sand mothered Chopin, and he let her. She provided stability and a place of refuge for him. She nursed him back to health several times. She also reinvented her past to suit her own purposes, probably to justify her own actions. Chopin seemed easily manipulated by Sand's daughter, who at least provided the immediate reason for the breakup.

But I don't think the facts, as presented in this book, support the idea that Chopin would have lived much longer and written more and better music if he had not lived with Sand. In my opinion the opposite is probably true. She provided some stability in his life during his most productive periods.

So read this biography and make up your own mind already!

Link to Amazon: Chopin (Master Musicians Series)

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

Dickens' last complete novel. I think that the influence of Wilkie Collins' success is evident. Dickens' novel has some of the same elements - a mystery (more than one, actually) and unexpected twists and turns in the plot.

It still has Dickens' exceptional treatment of the characters. There are many scenes in which the reader can revel in the details of character and setting - the first scene in the bone articulator's shop, for instance.

But the part of the novel that exasperated me was the plot to test the moral character of Bella Wilfer carried out by Rokesmith and the Boffins. It borders on lying to the reader. It is an intentional deception, at least. Such a deception should be accompanied by clues and symbolism that allow the reader to have a chance at predicting where the plot will turn. I don't think there are any clues here. The Harmon/Handford/Rokesmith complication is amply telegraphed to the reader - it does not come across as an unexpected plot surprise. But the deception to fool Bella also fools the reader and leads to a certain amount of disgust - at least for me.

I really enjoyed the rest of the novel, though. I think it would be much more popular if the unfortunate deception had been altered by Dickens.

Link to Amazon: Our Mutual Friend (Modern Library Classics)

Evening in the Palace of Reason: Bach Meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment by James R. Gaines

This book needs to get an award just for the length of the subtitle!

Entertaining, excellent, and approachable history. Not a biography, but an examination of the lives of J.S. Bach and Frederick the Great inspired by their famous meeting. Late in Bach's life, he journeyed to the court of Frederick (where his son, C.P.E. Bach, was a court musician). Summoned by Frederick, he was presented with a theme and asked to compose a fugue on it in three parts. Back improvised the fugue, to the astonishment of everyone. Later, when Bach returned to Leipzig, he composed and had printed the "Musical Offering" on Frederic's theme and sent it to the court.

The author does a lot of creative reading between the lines to fill out the historical record. That is what makes the book so enjoyable, presenting the facts and giving an entertaining interpretation. He fills in the history of Bach and Frederick, and casts their meeting as a collision of the serious baroque music of Bach with the lighter music favored by Frederick, and uses that as a metaphor for the change from the religious reformation to the birth of the Enlightenment.

Link to Amazon: Evening in the Palace of Reason: Bach Meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment (P.S.)