Westport Public Library BOOK blog

In 1690, Stradivari changed the length of his violins by about one quarter of an inch.In the world of violin makers, this was an historic event! After eight years, he returned to the previous size. To the world at large, this seems insignificant. Not so!

The Violin Maker: Finding a Centuries-old Tradition in a Brooklyn Workshop by John Marchese interweaves the craftmanship of making a new violin (the magic box) with the history of violins through the centuries. Last evening, we heard from Marchese and Sam Zygmuntowicz who made the violin that emerges in the book for Eugene Drucker of the Emerson String Quartet.
There's a quote in the book from You Can Make a Stradivarius Violin by Joseph Reid. "Violin making is one of the most noble crafts of man...If (the maker) is a true artist he will build his very soul into the instrument." It's that elusive element of violin making and of music that sets this book apart from our modern tendency to define every detail of our lives.
Marchese has a musician's sensibility; there is no attempt to emphasize technology at the expense of art. Zygmuntowicz emphasizes that an instrument is not complete until it is played; it's creation includes the sound it makes. Part of Drucker's desire for a new instrument arose from "the sound under his ear"; i.e., his playing was not good enough for his own ear, reminding me of Renne's discontent in The Soloist.

Incidentally, Violinist Eugene Drucker, a Music & Arts School and Julliard graduate, also has a degree in Literature from Columbia. We will be ordering his first novel, due out in July. The Savior is set in World War II Germany. The lead character is a violinist who is ordered to play for the Jewish prisoners.

Marchese's previous book was Renovations: a Father and Son Rebuild a House and Discover Each Other. Booklist calls it "an honest, uncluttered account.." Two strong-minded men find their emotional connection as they work together.

Music travels through time across the centuries, out-living its creators! What a wonder!
Have you considered the simple elements that make up the instruments ? How does that sound come out of that wood and metal? What a confluence of craftsmanship, intent, creativity and skill!

If you share my enthusiasm, come to hear author John Marchese talk about his new book The Violin Maker:Finding a Centuries-Old Tradition in Brooklyn Workshop on Wednesday March 28 at 7:30 pm in the McManus Room at the Library. Joining Marchese will be Sam Zygmuntowicz, the violin maker featured in the book. Books will be available for purchase and signing by the author.

This is the concluding event of WestportREADS 2007 with its focus on The Soloist by Mark Salzman.

As anyone who has attended a classical music concert or seen pictures of a full symphony orchestra, the violin is the smallest of the family of stringed instruments and creates the highest pitches. Its innate acoustics give it enormous versatility in producing beautiful, sustained tones and pathos similar to the human voice while simultaneously giving the player enormous potential for flashy and scintillating sound effects and dramatic techniques. Its range of more than four octaves and the ability to play chords has made it ubiquitous in all kinds of music and cultures.

The evolution of violin making reached its apex in Brescia and Cremona Italy in the seventeenth century by Antonio, Girolamo, and Nicolò Amati, Antonio Stradivari, and Andrea and Giuseppe Guarneri. The instruments by these distinguished craftsmen have been prized and sought after by generations of artists, collectors, and musicians.

In celebration of WestportREADS, the Library will be featuring John Marchese, author of The Violin Maker: Finding a Centuries-Old Tradition in a Brooklyn Workshop. He will speak about his new book and introduce Sam Zygmuntowicz, the violin maker portrayed in the book. This program will take place on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. in the McManus Room.

To learn more about the history of the violin and its creators, be sure to look at Toby Faber's Stradivari's Genius: Five Violins, One Cello and Three Centuries of Enduring Perfection, Edward Heron-Allen's Violin Making, As It Was and Is: Being a Historical, Theoretical, and Practical and Karel Jalovec's Beautiful Italian Violins. Some of the violinists in our compact disc collection include Jascha Heifetz, Itzhak Perlman, and Isaac Stern.

Jane Austen’s Catherine Morland journeys to Bath in Northanger Abbey to “walk and be seen” and is quite taken with the city.

I will be visiting there this coming week to walk in the footsteps of Jane Austen herself, albeit hoping to see, rather than be seen.

This is the city of Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond as well, and I will be watching for all of the landmarks described in author Peter Lovesey’s mysteries. I am eagerly awaiting the newest book in the series, The Secret Hangman, which is due out in early summer.

The advance publicity offers this clue as to its contents: “Widowed Inspector Peter Diamond is being pursued by a secret admirer as he pursues a serial killer.” Perhaps a romance is in the offing? Fans who were distraught over the death of his wife would be happy to see that happen.

There is a recent series by Morag Joss also set in contemporary Bath that feature Sara Selkirk, a cellist, who sometimes plays in the Pump Room at teatime. I noticed that she has a detective named Lovesey in one of the books, perhaps in tribute to the legendary author.

For a glimpse of Bath in the mid-eighteenth century try Murder by the Waters, one of Robert Lee Hall’s Benjamin Franklin mysteries.

I wonder what Austen would think of herself as a detective, as she is portrayed in the Stephanie Barron series. Or of the investigative skills of her characters Elizabeth (née Bennet) and Fitzwilliam Darcy in the Carrie Bebris books?

I think she would be greatly amused.

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”

What is perfection? When is life "good enough?" Does the drive for perfection lead to achievement? or paralysis? If we expect to attain perfection, are our disappointments especially harsh? The narrator of The Soloist by Mark Salzman seems unable to be present in the moment, except when he is lost in music. Soon that escape eludes him, when his search for perfection interferes with his cello playing.

On Sunday March 25 at 2 pm in the McManus Room, Dr. Mark Schenker will explore the dilemma of the search for perfection and how it is portrayed in The Soloist. Associate Dean at Yale College, Schenker is a frequent Library speaker known for his incisive analyses of literature.

WestportREADS discussion question:
Is perfection possible? Do unfulfilled dreams have a harsher impact on those with special gifts?

The latest addition to the celebrity detective list is none other than Dante Alighieri, newly installed Prior of the city of Florence, who is searching for shards of evidence in The Mosaic Crimes by Giulio Leoni.

It is June, 1300. Ambrogio, a master mosaicist has been found tortured and murdered, his face covered with quicklime.

While making enquiries about the dead artist, Dante is welcomed by the Third Heaven, a group of scholar-philosophers who discuss theology, philosophy, and question the workings of the powerful and mysterious Knights Templar.

The Knights Templar have always been a popular source of speculation, but certainly much more so since The Da Vinci Code.

Lore and legends of The Templars surface throughout the Medieval West Country Mysteries by Michael Jecks.

In the series opener, The Last Templar, when a spate of burnings occur in a quiet 14th century Devon village, Bailiff Simon Puttock is grateful for the help of a recent arrival, reticent Sir Baldwin de Furnshill.

Sir Baldwin turns out to be an ex-Templar who managed to escape the Pope's murderous purge of the order.

Still devoted to the vows he once took, by working with Puttock he finds a new way to combat the evil in the world and ensure justice to those denied it.

Jecks also participated in two collaborative mysteries, The Tainted Relic and Sword of Shame, with a group of fellow medieval mystery writers including Simon Beaufort, Susanna Gregory, and Bernard Knight under the collective pseudonym The Medieval Murderers.

Today's WestportREADS discussion question has a multitude of possible answers.
Here it is: To what degree are parents responsible for their children's successes or failures?

Do you know how your offspring would respond to this question ?

Some people have told me how much they dislike Renne in The Soloist; others have commented that he was the way he was because of his mother. Do you think her control of his young life led to his successes or his failures?
How about Kyung -hee? How did his parents' attitudes affect his probable success or failure?
And what about the defendant, Philip Weber?
No definitive answers, but an intergenerational conversation might reveal some interesting opinions!

I am excited to announce the upcoming book discussion of Josephine Tey’s classic mystery, The Daughter of Time . Written in 1951, this book came in at #4 on the list of the all-time 100 best mysteries by the Mystery Writers of America.

If you have already read it, give it a quick once over again and join us! If you have never read it, you ought to give it a try. And even if you can't get around to reading it, come any way. This is a great chance to get together with some fellow mystery fans.

Alan Grant, a Scotland Yard inspector, is recuperating “in hospital” from a broken leg. To keep his mind agile he decides to delve into the mystery of the Princes in the Tower, which was never resolved. Was their uncle, King Richard III, truly the heinous villain responsible for their deaths?

There are plenty of “armchair detectives” out there, but also a few of these “mysteries solved from the bed” as well.

Colin Dexter paid homage to Tey with The Wench Is Dead , wherein perennial favorite Inspector Morse, with the assistance of his loyal Sergeant Lewis and a “winsome” female librarian (my kind of character) investigates a century-old murder on the meandering Oxford canal while hospitalized with an ulcer. Who would have thought … he was such a laid back guy.

In The Grave Maurice, Martha Grimes’ tall, dark and handsome – or is he a blonde? – Inspector Richard Jury learns of the unsolved kidnapping of his doctor's young daughter two years earlier while recuperating from a near-fatal shooting and sends his minion Melrose Plant to make some inquiries.

Let me know if you can think of any others.

The book discussion will take place on Sunday April 15th at 2 PM in the Seminar Room upstairs. Grab a latte from the café on your way up and bring along some titles you would like us to see discussed over the upcoming year.

If you have any questions just dash off an e-mail or call Jane Murphy at 291-4836.

Yesterday at our weekly selection meeting, we ordered a new mystery by Peter Pringle. Day of the Dandelion is a thriller that brings together the Royal Botanic Gardens, the Secret Service and genetically modified foods. Governments and private companies fight to patent a process enabling plants to reproduce without male pollen. The stakes are high and various people go missing.
In 2005, Pringle published Food, Inc.: Mendel to Monsanto.. the Perils and Promise of the Biotech Harvest. His journalistic investigation shows false promises, propaganda and fear mongering on both the corporate giant and the anticorporate ecowarrior side of the battle over genetically modified food. He re-visits the history of experiments that failed or were abandoned.
He looks at transgenic technology, in which foreign genes (from fireflies or chicken) are inserted into corn, potatoes or rice. There is a huge potential upside to this business of improving the world's food supply and also the real possibilities of disaster.
Pringle has launched two ways of bringing attention to this timely topic.

I assume you are all "talking amongst yourselves" about WestportREADS and The Soloist by Mark Salzman. We would love to get an online conversation started, so just click "Comments" to share your opinions.
The discussion question today: Renne was mentor or pupil depending on the relationship. Which times did he switch from mentor to pupil?
When in the story did Renne learn something new about life or himself? Who were his teachers?

Last month I wrote about the popularity of Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky, a book sure to become a “classic read.” But every month we have a few clubs that always choose a classic or older title for their book club selection. Just recently several clubs read The Good Earth by Pearl Buck. A Pulitzer Prize winner in 1932, this moving story of a farmer and his wife is a wonderful tale of one man’s journey though life in China with his family. Pearl Buck spent most of her life living in China and truly captured the sweeping changes that have occurred in the lives of the Chinese people over the years.

James Agee’s A Death in the Family, a Pulitzer winner in 1958, was also a recent book club choice. This account of one man’s unexpected death and the impact it has on his family is another great classic read. If your club can’t decide on which one of the latest acclaimed titles to read, how about revisiting one of these older titles? Copies are always available through interlibrary loan, but you might find you just have a copy around the house. If not, contact me.

Do you agree that in life, one must show both strength and gentleness?
How did these traits show up in the story?

You are invited to comment.Your reaction to The Soloist by Mark Salzman or to the events you have attended is most welcome. If your group had a book discussion on The Soloist, please share the ideas that were expressed.

Which WestportREADS book is your favorite so far? Why did you like it? Here's the list:
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Snow in August by Pete Hamill
When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
The Soloist by Mark Salzman
WestportREADS continues through the month of March.

Roshis, sesshins, zazens?

Meet Darcy Lott, Hollywood stuntwoman and Zen practitioner. When a stunt goes horribly wrong she retreats to Redwood Canyon Monastery.

She doesn’t quite find the tranquility she seeks, however, because she is drawn into the monastery intrigue when the enigmatic leader is poisoned and then she learns of the disappearance a young Zen student several years earlier.

Susan Dunlap’s A Single Eye is aptly named because it caught my eye recently when I was poking around for something a little out of the ordinary.

This book got a starred review from Library Journal which called it a “polished triumph” with a “beautifully plotted story that features an unusual setting and fully realized characters.”

This evening at 7:30 here at the library there will be a program called Buddhism 101 that might help you enjoy this book on an ever higher plane!

"Sit quietly, doing nothing, spring comes and the grass grows by itself."

This Zen saying reminds us to "pause" and "refresh" and although these words have been snatched up by the technologies of our lives, in Buddhism we are talking about people, not PCs.
Did you wonder about Buddhism, when you read about the murder trial in The Soloist ? Come to the Library on Monday March 12th at 7:30 pm in the McManus Room to meet Tibetan monk Geshe Lobsang Dhargey. Find out what it means to practice Buddhism and participate in meditation and a chant for world peace.

Someone mentioned A.O. Scott's review of the film, "Into Great Silence" as reminding them of Buddhism. Scott says, " I hesitate, given the early date and project's modesty, to call "Into Great Silence," one of the best films of the year. I prefer to think of it as the antidote to all of the others."

In the conflicts and stresses of our world, Buddhism may be the antidote that all of us need to sample.

Fans of Steve Hockensmith's Holmes on the Range, this is your lucky day! "Old Red" and "Big Red" are back in the "detectifying" business in On the Wrong Track, which is hot off the presses. I so thoroughly enjoyed the first book, finding it the freshest take on the Holmes mystique in years.

If you want a real treat, try it on CD. Read by William Dufris, it is an absolute delight.

Fans of Edgar Allan Poe, here is yet another take on the Poe mystique for you: The Blackest Bird by Joel Rose. The pivotal figures are Poe himself and Jacob Hays, the city's 69 year-old high constable. We are back in the long, hot summer of 1841 and the pitiful remains of Mary Rogers have just been found. A fictionalized account that is a perfect follow up to Daniel Stashower's The Beautiful Cigar Girl. I found both accounts equally riveting.

Much of The Soloist by Mark Salzman revolves around the murder trial for which the narrator Renne is a member of the jury. During the trial, Renne reports: "Mr. Graham created a pause in the testimony by going over to his desk and picking up a thick sheaf of papers. It was a short delay, but the break in the rhythm got everyone's attention. It reminded me of how, just before playing a cadenza, I would freeze for a beat...and people in the audience would be on the edge of their seats, anticipating..."

Have you served on a jury? I wonder about the role of non-verbal communication in the courtroom. How much does the appearance of the lawyers and witnesses affect the jury's decision? On Thursday March 8th at 7:30 pm in McManus Room, The Honorable Alan H. Nevas, District Judge will speak on the jury system and how it is portrayed in The Soloist.

WestportREADS discussion question:
Should the mentally ill pay for their crimes? Did justice prevail in the trial?

Does a waltz played on an organ evoke memories of a roller rink? I guess you have to be a certain age to know what I'm talking about. When I was in 6th grade (many years ago), the teacher took the entire class to the roller rink one Saturday. What carefree fun!

Music is an essential part of memory for many people and the associations that have developed affect what you see or taste or feel or smell when you hear new music. In The Soloist by Mark Salzman, Renne (the teacher) gives Kyung Hee (the pupil) many pictures to look at while they listen to music. Kyung Hee makes the connection with enthusiastic excitement and Renne knows that Kyung Hee experiences music with all his senses.

You are invited to hear some special music- Haydn, Klughardt, Arnold, Joplin & Debussy- and look at some artwork that may or may not "match" what you hear. On Tuesday March 6th at 7:30 pm in the McManus Room at the Library, the Norwalk Symphony Woodwind Quintet will provide the music. Come and see what you hear! Fun for the whole family!!

The Grave Tattoo by Val McDermid. Edgy, tense, compelling.

A 200-year-old body appears when a peat bog in England’s Lake District dries up. There is much speculation as to who the man covered with South Seas tattoos was and how he ended up there.

Wordsworth scholar Jane Grisham is convinced that he was Fletcher Christian, famed HMS Bounty mutineer, who somehow managed to escape from Pitcairn Island and make his way back to England.

Christian and Wordsworth were schoolmates, and Jane is convinced that Wordsworth would have been compelled to elicit his story and record it, perhaps even render it into verse.

If so, what had become of the manuscript?

This book has already won the Portico Prize for Fiction, a prize is awarded by the Portico Library in Manchester to a book about the North West of England or set primarily in that region.

PW says “… this could be McDermid’s break-out book.”

Fans can sign up for her personal newsletter on her website.

Have you ever listened to a piece of music and instantly visualized a familiar scene? Have you ever looked at a painting in a museum and found yourself humming a popular tune? You may be experiencing synesthesia, "a subjective sensation (as of color) or image of a sense other than the one (as of sound) which is being stimulated." In the WestportREADS book selection The Soloist, two of the characters have the ability to see the sounds of the music they create.

As part of the celebration of WestportREADS, the Norwalk Symphony Woodwind Quintet will be performing at the library on Tuesday, March 6, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. and will be exploring this unusual concept.

Throughout history, composers have been inspired by family members, surroundings, or writings. Charles Ives paid tribute to his father's job as a band leader in the "Country Band March". Franz Joseph Haydn who was known for his longevity and huge musical output, composed his Symphonies #93-98 and #99-104 on trips to London in 1791-1792 and 1794-1795. Ludwig van Beethoven's emotions were heightened by his nature walks throughout the countryside; these feelings came through in his Symphony #6, also known as the "Pastoral Symphony". Giuseppi Verdi's operas were derived from the plays of Shakespeare including Falstaff and Macbeth.

While you ponder the numerous possibilities and potential influences on the creative mind, you are invited to come to the library to listen to and see the music at this concert.

There are at least 150 of you reading The Soloist by Mark Salzman- that's how many copies are checked out of the Library- as we start WestportREADS 2007! Tomorrow our young cellists will provide the overture with performances around town between 1 and 1:30; drop in at Barnes& Noble, Balducci's, Trader Joe's, either Starbucks, Doc's Cafe or the Library. Pick up a brochure or check the Library website, so you do not miss any of the great programs we have planned for the month of March.

Each week, I will post a question or two about The Soloist to encourage thoughts and conversation about the book. It would be great to get an online conversation going about the book. If you decide to hold a book discussion at home, give me a call and we will schedule a facilitator to lead the discussion.

So, here's the question for today:
Was Renne in control of his own actions and reactions?

As many of you know, the month of March brings in WestportREADS, an annual event whereby everyone in the community reads the same book. This year's choice is Mark Salzman's The Soloist, a novel about a former cello prodigy.

On Saturday, March 3rd, as you are dropping off your clothes at the dry cleaners, getting your nails done at the salon, or going to the gym, be sure to schedule a stop at either Barnes & Noble, Starbucks/Post Road, Starbucks/Parker Harding Plaza, Docs Café, Balducci’s, Trader Joe’s, or the Westport Library from 1:00 - 1:30 p.m. You will be treated with live cello music which will officially usher in WestportREADS. Volunteers will be giving out books, buttons, and brochures listing all the events and book discussions.

Music for the cello often elicits deep, emotional, passionate feelings both for the performer and audience. While you are reading the book, listen to some of the pieces mentioned in it. They include Johann Sebastian Bach's Unaccompanied Suites for Cello, Joseph Haydn's D Major Cello Concerto, and Camille Saint-Saens' Cello Concerto. To learn more about the history, the development, and the masters of this venerable instrument, feel free to read Elizabeth Cowling's The Cello, William Pleeth's Cello, or Carlos Prieto's Adventures of a Cello.