FEBRUARY 2025 - BOOKS ABOUT MUSIC

 

FEBRUARY BOOKS.

February Book Club saw us happily welcoming new members. Our topic was 'music' and a varied selection of reading material and music was very well presented.   

ED - MUSIC AND HOW IT WORKS. The book covered all aspects of music, instruments, styles etc. Ed enjoyed it.

JUDY D - SOUND BITES - Edited by La Brock.

ROSEMARY S - THE MUSIC SHOP - Rachel Joyce.  - A quirky book with quirky characters, an eccentric mother dies and donates her estate to the Cats Society. She has a boot full of vinyl records so her son Frank saves them. Frank, a loner, has amazing knowledge of music and knows what people want to listen to. He opens a shop, is successful and into the shop comes a mysterious women named Isla. Life is about 2nd chances. A good read.

ROSEMARY W - THESE ARE THE DAYS - MICK THOMAS. An Australian songwriter and performer. Folk/Rock. Melbourne based, the book tells many stories of the band, the social issues of the times, the environment and the outback.  What was happening in the 1980's.

JO - THE SEEKERS - DVD - Jo loved the DVD.

KRIS - MUSIC AND SILENCE - ROSE TREMAIN. 1999. Historical novel. 1629 an English lute player joins the Royal Orchestra of the King of Denmark. The country is going through tough economic times, the King's wife is having an affair, there is unrest in the court. Music soothes his jangled nerves. The lute player is unhappy in the conditions in the court but further complications arise when he falls in love with the lover of the Kings wife. Kris loved the book, many twists and turns, a good mystery but she had to race through the final chapters to finish it.

PAMELA - Discussed a piece of music. Australian composer Nigel Westlake suffered great loss when his son was killed. He couldn't write, couldn't function due to the grief. Then he heard an ancient Hebrew hymn that speaks of compassion and leads to a sense of freedom. For Nigel it started the healing process. Nigel was able to create a orchestral backing for the hymn. He won an ARIA in 2013 for COMPASSION.

VAL - PIANO SHOP ON THE LEFT BANK - T.E.Carhart. Memoir of himself, an American living on the left bank in Paris. He meets Luke, a man with many piano's in his shop. Luke not only knows a great deal about piano's, he matches his piano's to the buyers. He finds a special piano for the author, T. E. Carhart. The book has a lovely feel, a glimpse into the Parisian way of life.

JOAN - DANCING QUEEN, THE REAL STORY OF ABBA. Carl Magnus PALM. Definitive biography of the amazing Pop group ABBA. All 4 members had previous musical careers but after winning Euro 1974 they skyrocketed to fame. 1976 they visited Australia to screaming fans, became a hit in the disco era and have a musical - Mumma Mia - to secure their popularity.

PAT - MAESTRO - Peter Goldsworthy. 1967. Living in Darwin, father a doctor, son Paul a talented pianist, he is expected to always be the best with this talent, but he's careless. He has an Austrian music teach, unorthodox style, never compliments or shows joy with Paul's playing. Enters a comp and comes 3rd - great disgrace, a humiliation. Life then changes, a wake up moment, studies law and is a success but always keeps in touch with his Austrian piano teacher from his past.

KERRY - BERNIE TAUPIN - SCATTERSHOT.  An autobiography. Non linear so moves around in time, Bernie had a French mother, lived a rural/hippie/Spartan  life but - was a wordsmith. Hated school.  So very talented. He was always a writer and observer of the world however Kirry was disappointed with the book.

MARGARET - THE ANGRY WOMEN'S CHOIR. Meg Bignell. 2022. A group of women realise they can achieve many things if they are incensed enough to act. The enjoyable book looks at issues covering the environment, social justice, positive affirmation and the joy of singing together.

PRUE - GURRUMUL. Robert Hillman. ABC. 2013. - Coffee table book, glossy, great pictures, with CD. Includes words to the songs in both Indigenous language and English. Relationship between the land and culture, descriptive and insightful, the writing is descriptive and emotional. Born blind, with family ties to Yothu Yindi, a remarkable man. The book was well worth reading.

LYN - TELL ME WHY? Archie Roach. 2019. Part of the Stolen Generation, Archie was 2yo when taken from his family. He was a talented musician but an alcoholic. He managed to overcome this and developed into a wonderful song writer.  

JUDY A. - A SONG OF THE LARK - Willa Cathar. 1915.  

An Autobiography of a  young woman growing up in small town in USA and her musical awakening, eventually becoming an opera singer. Insights into how the creative process develops and the many challenges she faced in her journey to the world stage.  

KELLY - To Kelly music is reading

LESLEY - RIVERSONG - Di Morrissey. 2024. With themes of friendship, small town life, environmental issues, heritage questions and many of life's challenges the book covers so much of contemporary Australia. Likeable characters, and a easy read. The talented Percy Grainger, (born in Melbourne 1882) and his eccentric  life, compositions and quirkiness are also woven into the narrative.

 Lesley

In March we will be reading books by Japanese authors