BLUE DUETS by Kathleen Wall

Lila Jameson is a professional pianist living in Montreal. She specializes in chamber music — that is, playing with one or two other musicians rather than solo — so intense intimate interactions with others are an integral part of her life. But right now, her musical exchanges are in danger of being eclipsed by her personal ones. Her mother is dying of cancer and has rejected further treatments. Her husband, Rob, a professor of history, has become distant and Lila suspects an affair. Her daughter, Lindsay, is breaking up with her boyfriend. And Lila herself, at fifty-three, feels herself at a crossroads of her life, both blind and naked at the same time.

September 23, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: Canada, Contemporary

NASHVILLE CHROME by Rick Bass

I’ve often thought that being famous must be a horrible burden. There would be the fun bits, of course, but there’s a definite downside: the psycho fans, the paparazzi, and the fact that every little thing you do could potentially end up on the cover of National Enquirer. But perhaps what’s even worse than being famous is tasting fame and then fading into complete obscurity.

Rick Bass’s novel Nashville Chrome is a fictionalized account of the Browns: Maxine. Jim Ed, and Bonnie. At the height of their fame, this singing trio was second only to Elvis, and even the Beatles shared a few jam sessions with their idols. Have you ever heard of the Browns? I hadn’t, and I’ll admit that I was some way into the novel before it dawned on me that this is a story of very real and very forgotten people.

September 16, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , , , ,  Â· Posted in: Facing History

EVENING’S EMPIRE by Bill Flanagan

At 645 pages, EVENING’S EMPIRE by Bill Flanagan is not a book to be read quickly or lightly, but then since the novel explores forty years of the changing face of the music industry, there’s a lot of material to cover. This marvelous novel is partly a trip into the nostalgic past, and partly an insider’s view of the underbelly of the music biz.

January 17, 2010 · Judi Clark · One Comment
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: 2010 Favorites, Contemporary, Facing History

NOCTURNES by Kazuo Ishiguro

Music, musicians, strains of regret and longing for what never will be, come together to form NOCTURNES, a collection of five short stories by Kazuo Ishigiro. Winner of the Booker and the Whitbread Prize, Ishiguro, an established master of the longer form (REMAINS OF THE DAY, THE UNCONSOLED, NEVER LET ME GO) experiments here with lighter, briefer fare and that’s what we get.

December 9, 2009 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: Short Stories, y Award Winning Author

THE ROSE VARIATIONS by Marisha Chamberlain

A variation, musically speaking, is a repetition of a melodic theme, diverging from its origin through changes in harmony, counterpoint, rhythm, or key. In THE ROSE VARIATIONS, playwright and poet Marisha Chamberlain gives us Rose MacGregor, twenty-five and newly arrived at a private Minnesota college for a year-long teaching assignment. Rose is a cellist, but composing music is her true life’s calling. This is the 1970’s, and both her single status and her aspirations in a male-dominated field earn her the vaguely pejorative nickname of “The Girl Composer.â€

July 12, 2009 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: 2009 Favorites, Contemporary, Debut Novel, Literary, Reading Guide