Sisters by Nancy Jensen

These sisters, and their female descendants, cannot catch a break. Bad luck in the form of sexual abuse, poor choice of husband and sexual partners, misunderstandings and miscommunications, and so forth. The original two sisters are separated when they are teenagers because of a tragedy, and one of them disappears and stays lost on purpose.

An essential part of the book is the genealogical chart in the beginning - without it, keeping track of the many descendants would be impossible. The chapters skip years and narrators, so careful attention to the details is needed.

Fortunately the characters and their situations are all interesting, and the writing is excellent, so as a reader I was captivated enough to keep track of the complicated events and numerous characters.

Of course, I wanted a happier ending, but I cannot argue with the author's decisions.

Piano Lessons by Anna Goldsworthy

A memoir of the relationship between pianist Anna Goldsworthy and piano teacher Eleonora Sivan. Anna started lessons with Sivan at age 9, and she chronicles the relationship with her teacher and the lessons she learned about music, life, love, and playing the piano. A good read, very true to the the experience of learning a musical tradition.

Nightwoods by Charles Frazier

An excellent novel. Frazier has all the right tools in his arsenal. Nightwoods tells the story of Luce, who inherits her sister's twin children, after her sister is murdered by her husband. The children witness the murder, and are damaged by the experience and the abuse they suffered at the hands of their father. They don't speak, they kill chickens, and they start fires. A suspenseful plot pulls the reader along.

The other significant character is the setting, the mountains of western North Carolina and other areas of the South, from the 1960s. Maybe this is why I enjoyed the novel so much - that is the South of my childhood, and it rang true and vivid for me.

Much better, in my opinion, that Frazier's Cold Mountain or Thirteen Moons. It is violent, but the ending is much more satisfactory than his earlier novels. Highly recommended.

Marrying Mozart by Stephanie Cowell

The opposite of the screenplay Amadeus. In this novel Mozart is thoughtful and sensitive, but the the real center of the novel are the four Weber sisters. Mozart befriends all of them, eventually marrying Constanze after being jilted by another. They all played a large part in his early life. Very interesting novel, authentic and entertaining.

Vivaldi's Virgins by Barbara Quick

An interesting novel, set in the early 18th Century in Venice. The Pieta used female musicians in their choir, orphans and foundlings - virgins, in other words. Vivaldi wrote much of his music for them. The novel follows the life of one o the foundlings as she comes o age and discovers who her parents were. Music plays a large part in the novel.

Clara Schumann by Nancy B. Reich

The best English biography of Clara. Finally answered the question for me of how Robert Schumann died: Tertiary neurosyphillis.

If Jack's In Love by Stephen Wetta

A surprisingly good first novel, a traditional coming-of-age story. Jack is thirteen, and the youngest son of the white-trash Witcher family. As is usual in coming-of-age novels, he begins to see his parents and brother as they really are, makes friends with an adult (a Jewish jeweler) outside the family, and has his first girlfriend and kiss. His brother is also implicated in the murder of his girlfriend's brother.

It's told throughout from Jack's viewpoint, which does wear thin part way through, but the suspense of the mystery pulls us through the rough spots. The ending is satisfying if not unexpected. Overall an excellent novel.