Conversation with Books and Music

Friends of the SPCO's
9th Annual
Conversation with Books

2008 Friends of the SPCO Conversation with Books List:

Musciophilia: Tales of Music and the Brainby Oliver Sacks, Knopf, 2007.
This book by the famous neurologist/writer Oliver Sacks "examines the extreme effects of music on the human brain and how lives can be utterly transformed by the simplest of harmonies. With clinical studies covering the tragic (individuals afflicted by an inability to connect with any melody) and triumphant (Alzheimer's patients who find order and comfort through music), Sacks provides an erudite look at the notion that humans are truly a 'musical species.' " (according to Amazon).



Ravel (A Novel) by Jean Echenoz, translated by Linda Cloverdale, The New Press, 2007.

"Echenoz employs almost no dialogue and nothing that departs from known facts in this tiny miracle of a biographical novel, which begins dryly and builds to a shattering, but still contained and elegant, emotional climax, like a Ravel masterpiece" says Booklist.





The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West, NYReview of Books Classic, 2003 (originally published by Viking, 1956).

This 1957 bestseller, which is mined from Rebecca West's own volatile childhood, is turned into art in The Fountain Overflows. As the family faces deepening poverty, brought on in part by the father's foolish choices, the mother has to take center stage. Jesse Larsen (500 Great Books for Women) explains: "A concert pianist turned wife and mother, she makes music a constant for her children. Rose [the Rebecca West character] and Mary play the piano; Cordelia performs on the violin 'with the air of somebody who is being photographed," determined to make it her road to fame and fortune. The Fountain Overflows is a reader's feast of subtle, penetrating, and hilarious observations on childhood, social posturing, and anglo-saxon heritage. "

The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay, Doubleday, 2007
This debut novel of Hay's intertwines many things at once: a mystery, a lost Meliville novel, a coming-of-age story, the New York bookstore scene of the 1970s, memories of Tasmania, explorations of loss, and a glimpse into literary obsessions. The novelist has a connection to a member of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.





Run by Ann Patchett, HarperCollins, 2007
Publishers' Weekly says "Run is a novel with timeless concerns at its heart—class and belonging, parenthood and love—and if it wears that heart on its sleeve, then it does so with confidence. And so it should: the book is lovely to read and is satisfyingly bold in its attempt to say something patient and true about family. "






Grace Flandrau: Voice Interrupted by Edinborough Press, 2007.
"This captivating biography explores the life of Grace Flandrau and the upper crust of St. Paul, Minnesota, in the early 20th century. The author of six novels, including the acclaimed Being Respectable, and numerous short stories, Flandrau was a contemporary of F. Scott Fitzgerald and one of Minnesota’s best-known writers. A cautionary tale that illuminates the constraints placed on women writers during the birth of Jazz Age literature, this life story also examines the honesty and integrity that Flandrau was known for, as well as her fall from literary and social grace." [from the Book Description].




The Florist's Daughter by Patricia Hampl, Harcourt, 2007.

This book is a crossover selection from the 2008 Conversation with Books of the CSC Alumnae Association. In it, St. Paul native Patricia Hampl chronicles her childhood with her parents, her father the florist and her mother, the Irish American storyteller. Hampl was a rebellious "hippie" member of the household, and her recollections are not sentimental and are often unflattering to those remembered.

The prose is lovely, but the question arises, is the book accurate or fair to those portrayed? Members of the Friends of the SPCO who know people in the memoir had their chance to stand up at the event and object to the portrayals and provide their own versions. This occasion offers even more material for the questions: what is memoir and how stable is memory? Who's versions are the most accurate? Does it matter and why?
For more on this title...




The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2007.

In this exciting title, Alex Ross explores the historical, biographical, and social context of various pieces of the last century's major musical pieces and movements in easily accessible language. In a starred review, Publishers' Weekly proclaims: "Ross, the classical music critic for the New Yorker, leads a whirlwind tour from the Viennese premiere of Richard Strauss's Salome in 1906 to minimalist Steve Reich's downtown Manhattan apartment. The wide-ranging historical material is organized in thematic essays grounded in personalities and places, in a disarmingly comprehensive style reminiscent of historian Otto Friedrich. Thus, composers who led dramatic lives—such as Shostakovich's struggles under the Soviet regime—make for gripping reading, but Ross treats each composer with equal gravitas. The real strength of this study, however, lies in his detailed musical analysis, teasing out—in precise but readily accessible language—the notes that link Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story to Arnold Schoenberg's avant-garde compositions or hint at a connection between Sibelius and John Coltrane. Among the many notable passages, a close reading of Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes stands out for its masterful blend of artistic and biographical insight. Readers new to classical music will quickly seek out the recordings Ross recommends, especially the works by less prominent composers, and even avid fans will find themselves hearing familiar favorites with new ears. "

Vienna Blood by Frank Tallis, Random House Paperback, 2007.
Our mystery offering -- this is a complex, musically oriented mystery set at the turn of the last century, a period preceding -- and predicting -- the fascinating section of the thirties that is in The Rest Is Noise. Not a cosy mystery!






This Real Night and Cousin Rosamond


These are sequels to the wonderful The Fountain Overflows by West. The Aubrey triology was left unfinished at West's death and was put together from her MSS by her publishers. They are fun to read, thought not of the quality of the first book. This Real Night sketches out the children's struggling to become established in their lives and careers, while Cousin Rosamundchronicles the Rose and Mary's lives after the death of their mother and brother and the marriage and leaving of their close cousin Rosamund. The Penguin Classic edition of Cousin Rosamondfrom 1987 includes in the back matter West's own synopsis of the triology. These are not in print as far as we know but are available in many libraries and through used book sources.




Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver, with husband Steven L. Hopp and daughter Camille Kingsolver
This book, which is also a crossover pick with the 2008 Conversation with Books of the CSC Alumnae Association, is a family memoir, with husband Steve providing the Appalachian farm and sidebars on environment and economics, nine-year old daughter Lily offering home grown chickens and eggs, and daughter Camille offering comments on food and recipes at the ends of chapters. The family chose try to live for a year off the land and locally grown foods, and they discovered that the attempt was not depressing, but delicious – they were surprised at how much more flavorable everything tasted. Formerly, they had been vegetarians, and now they became conscientious carnivores. For more...