It’s time
for the second of three post about books including music/about music. This is
all part of my musical feature „Sky’s Musical Corner (see schedule at the end
of this post). So in this post I introduce you to some books that are about
music. Some I have read, some I haven’t.
Songs About a Girl by Chris Russel
Charlie Bloom never
wanted to be 'with the band'. She's happiest out of the spotlight, behind her
camera, unseen and unnoticed. But when she's asked to take backstage photos for
hot new boy band Fire&Lights, she can't pass up the chance.
Catapulted into a
world of paparazzi and backstage bickering, Charlie soon becomes caught between
gorgeous but damaged frontman, Gabriel West, and his boy-next-door bandmate
Olly Samson. Then, as the boys' rivalry threatens to tear the band apart,
Charlie stumbles upon a mind-blowing secret, hidden in the lyrics of their
songs...
Appassinata by Jilly Cooper
Abigail Rosen,
nicknamed Appassionata, was the sexiest, most flamboyant violinist in classical
music, but she was also the loneliest and the most exploited girl in the world.
When a dramatic suicide attempt destroyed her violin career, she set her sights
on the male-dominated heights of the conductor's rostrum.
Given the chance to
take over the Rutminster Symphony Orchestra, Abby is ecstatic, not realising
the RSO is in hock up to its neck and is composed of the wildest bunch of
musicians ever to blow a horn or caress a fiddle. Abby finds it increasingly
difficult to control her undisciplined rabble and pretend she is not madly
attracted to the fatally glamorous horn player, Viking O'Neill, who claims
droit de seigneur over every pretty woman joining the orchestra. And then
Rannaldini, arch-fiend and international maestro, rolls up with Machiavellian
plans of his own to sabotage the RSO.
Effervescent as
champagne, Jilly Cooper's novel brings back old favourites like Rupert and
Taggie Campbell-Black, but also ends triumphantly with a rampageous orchestral
tour of Spain and the high drama of an international piano competition.
Secret oft he Song by Cathie Hartigan
When a song by the mad
composer, Carlo Gesualdo, is discovered in Exeter Museum, trouble descends on
the group asked to sing it. Lisa is full of enthusiasm at first, but she soon
becomes convinced the song is cursed. What is the mystery behind the discordant
harmonies? Will she solve the song's secret before her relationship with Jon
breaks for good and harm befalls them all? In Renaissance Naples, young Silvia
Albana is seamstress and close confidant of Don Gesualdo's wife. When Donna
Maria begins an affair, Silvia knows that death is the only outcome. But who
exactly will die? And where is Silvia's own lover? Why is he not there to help
her?
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
In an unnamed South
American country, a world-renowned soprano sings at a birthday party in honor
of a visiting Japanese industrial titan. His hosts hope that Mr. Hosokawa can
be persuaded to build a factory in their Third World backwater. Alas, in the opening
sequence, just as the accompanist kisses the soprano, a ragtag band of 18
terrorists enters the vice-presidential mansion through the air conditioning
ducts. Their quarry is the president, who has unfortunately stayed home to
watch a favorite soap opera. And thus, from the beginning, things go awry.
Among the hostages are
not only Hosokawa and Roxane Coss, the American soprano, but an assortment of
Russian, Italian, and French diplomatic types. Reuben Iglesias, the diminutive
and gracious vice president, quickly gets sideways of the kidnappers, who have
no interest in him whatsoever. Meanwhile, a Swiss Red Cross negotiator named
Joachim Messner is roped into service while vacationing. He comes and goes,
wrangling over terms and demands, and the days stretch into weeks, the weeks
into months.
With the omniscience
of magic realism, Ann Patchett flits in and out of the hearts and psyches of
hostage and terrorist alike, and in doing so reveals a profound, shared
humanity. Her voice is suitably lyrical, melodic, full of warmth and
compassion. Hearing opera sung live for the first time, a young priest
reflects:
Never had he thought,
never once, that such a woman existed, one who stood so close to God that God's
own voice poured from her. How far she must have gone inside herself to call up
that voice. It was as if the voice came from the center part of the earth and
by the sheer effort and diligence of her will she had pulled it up through the
dirt and rock and through the floorboards of the house, up into her feet, where
it pulled through her, reaching, lifting, warmed by her, and then out of the
white lily of her throat and straight to God in heaven.
Joined by no common
language except music, the 58 international hostages and their captors forge
unexpected bonds. Time stands still, priorities rearrange themselves.
Ultimately, of course, something has to give, even in a novel so imbued with
the rich imaginative potential of magic realism. But in a fractious world, Bel Canto remains a gentle reminder of the transcendence of beauty and
love. --Victoria Jenkins
The Perfect Girl by Gilly Macmillan
To everyone who knows
her now, Zoe Maisey - child genius, musical sensation - is perfect. Yet several
years ago, Zoe caused the death of three teenagers. She served her time. And
now she's free.
Her story begins with
her giving the performance of her life.
By midnight, her
mother is dead.
The Perfect Girl is an intricate exploration into the mind
of a teenager burdened by brilliance. It's a story about the wrongs in our past
not letting go and how hard we must fight for second chances.
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Bennie is an aging
former punk rocker and record executive. Sasha is the passionate, troubled
young woman he employs. Here Jennifer Egan brilliantly reveals their pasts,
along with the inner lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect
with theirs. With music pulsing on every page, A Visit from the Goon Squad is a startling, exhilarating novel of
self-destruction and redemption.
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