Themed Reading Challenge

I’ve finished my second reading challenge of the year with a month to spare.

Themed Reading Challenge runs 1 Feb-31 July 2009

4 books with the same theme; from your TBR pile; my theme is books with a musical instrument as a major plot device

The Piano Tuner, by Daniel Mason: This novel was very slow-moving, but not in a negative way.  It is a  character development novel and just took its own sweet time unfolding the character.  The story was intriguing: in 1886 an English piano tuner receives a commission from the War Office to tune a miltary officer’s piano in Burma.  The novel shows how Edgar Drake, the tuner, is changed during his fascinating journey to Burma and his stay in the jungle.  He is an Everyman thrust into an alien environment and how he reacts to his situation is the real thrust of the story.  The author also includes some interesting history of the area and Anglo-Burmese relations, and technical descriptions of pianos and the art of tuning.  The ending had some twists and turns and the novel did not end the way I expected.  It is a good book, but the reader has to be willing to go along for the ride.

The Soloist, by Mark Salzman: I really liked this book.  I was drawn to it originally at the thrift store because it had a musical title and a picture of a cello on the cover.  The description sounded good, so I picked it up.  It turned out to be a quiet book that was immensely touching.  It has three strands that are all woven together to form the full picture of a man coming to grips with his past and present and weaving them together to face his future.  It is written in first person and vignettes of Renne’s past as a child prodigy are interspersed with his present as a cello teacher of another prodigy and his involvement as a juror on a murder trial.  All these stories combine to help him re-invent himself as a man and as a musician and it was an interesting journey.  His descriptions of music and playing an instrument were deep and profound and I really enjoyed his wisdom and view of music.

Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett: This was a great book that explored the relationships between hostages and their captors.  The plan goes wrong and the terrorists are faced with a house full of hostages and their experience together is the theme.  It shows what people are willing to do and to forget in order to survive.  It also shows the resiliency of the human soul.  Gen, the Japanese linguist who becomes the translator, is the filter through which we see everyone else’s dreams and desires.  I liked the way music and singing became the moving passion that unites them.

The Singing Stones, by Phyllis Whitney: Ah, Phyllis Whitney.  Her novels are one of life’s simple pleasures: romantic mystery sans blood, gore, sex, and language.  What better for some mind-candy fun?  Yes, her novels are somewhat formulaic, but part of the fun is always the setting.  Her novels are set in interesting locales that often become a character themselves.  I like books with a strong setting; I guess that’s how I get to travel, so I’ve been all over the world with Phyllis.  The stones that sing are an integral part of the story and since my theme is musical instruments, it fit right in for this challenge.