Year of Wonder March Check In

This month brought quite a number of new pieces to me with varying degrees of success. Much of it was folk based which I really appreciated. Most of my favorite pieces of classical music are based off folk tunes. There were also a number of modern pieces which were... interesting. I find it interesting to learn about them, but I don't always enjoy listening to them. The other portion of this month was music that was just there. It was fine to listen to, but I felt rather apathetic about it. 

Thoughts on specific pieces below:

Ar hyd y Nos - All through the Night - Traditional Welsh: Beautiful piece of music that I wasn't even aware was Welsh. I didn't come across it until college when we had to show that we could play piano and sing at the same time. This was one of the pieces. 

Missa prolationum 1: Kyrie Eleison I by Johannes Ockeghem - One thing I've learned during this process is that I LOVE the various Masses we've listened to. Apparently I need to add more of those to my daily listening.

Carmen Suite no., 3: Intermezzo by Georges Bizet - I played this in high school! Such lovely music!

Symphony no. 1 in D major, op. 25 ('Classical') 1: Allegro by Sergei Prokofiev - So far, I've been really impressed with the Prokofiev I've heard in this exercise. Other than Peter and the Wolf and his Romeo and Juliet suite, I had never heard anything else by him. But this solidifies the idea that I need more of him in my life. 

Zigeunerweisen, op. 20 by Pablo de Saraste - one of the folk tunes turned classical! This one is super dramatic. You can really imagine Paganini playing this.

Libertango by Astor Piazzolla - Latin music infused with jazz. 

Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major 1: Prelude by J. S. Bach - It occurs to me that I've never heard the rest of this suite, only the first movement. 

Overture from La clemenza di Tito, K. 621 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - I'm not a fan of Mozart, but this piece definitely intrigued me. I've never seen this opera, or even heard of it. Time to do some more research.

Lord of the Rings Challenge March Update

** Reminder this is all part of my reading the Lord of the Rings in chronological order as found here. There may be spoilers to either The Hobbit or the Trilogy in these posts. Read at your own peril.

The vast majority of this month focused on the Hobbit, so this will read more as a review of that novel rather than notes of my journey.

Most people know the story of The Hobbit. Gandalf marks Bilbo as a thief and a number of Dwarfs have a party at his house. There, they ask him to come on an adventure to steal back their homelands from the evil dragon Smaug. 

Bilbo travels with them, encountering trolls, goblins, Wood Elves, and of course the greed of anyone who suddenly finds themselves surrounded by gold. 

Thoughts: The first time I heard The Hobbit was when I was 8 or 9 and my dad read it to us before bed. I adored it. The next time I read it was sometime around high school when the Fellowship of the Ring came out. I listened to it once more via audiobook and then didn't touch any of the series again. So I was looking forward to it this time around.

I was really grateful to have some of the backstory as to why Gandalf A) came with them and B) kept disappearing. I know it's not crucial to the story, but I never really understood why he'd gone with the dwarfs in the first place. Understanding that part of his reasoning was to keep Smaug and Sauron from colluding together helped.

As to the story itself, I found it much sadder than I remember. I always forget about post Smaug. Up until high school, I thought the book ended with killing Smaug. The trolls, goblins, Rivendell, and the woodelves were way more impressionable to me than post Smaug. So when Thorin falls pray to the Dragongreed and the dwarfs bar anyone else from coming in, I just felt... depressed. And the deaths at the end affected me more than I remember. 

The books was interspersed with other material a couple of times, primarily the bit about the Quest for Erebor and a little more knowledge about the Rings of Power. 

After finishing the Hobbit, we learn of the rising of Denethor the II as Steward of Gondor, of Aragorn and some of his doings including becoming friends with Gandalf and becoming bethrothed to Arwen, and we learn a bit more about Saruman and the Palantiri at Orthanc.

Next month, I should be starting Fellowship of the Ring.

Finishing The Hobbit also means I've finished another book on my Classics Club list.

Small Animals: Parenthood in the Age of Fear by Kim Brooks

Title: Small Animals: Parenthood in the Age of Fear

Author: Kim Brooks

Pages: 233

Finished: March 20, 2019

First Sentence: It happened in the parking lot of a strip mall during the first week of March 2011, my last morning in Virginia, at the end of a visit with my parents. 

Summary: Kim Brooks left her 4-year-old in a car on a mild day in a safe town while she went in to buy headphones. When she came back out, he was still happily playing on his iPad. What she didn't know was that a "good Samaritan" had filmed her kid in the car and called the police who issued a warrant for her arrest. What follows is a look at how fear has changed parenting.

Thoughts: Content-wise, I really liked this book. I am not an anxious parent. On the whole, I believe my kid is relatively safe at the park without me hanging next to her the whole time. I believe that I can be in a completely different room of the house than her without it being a problem. A couple weeks ago, an internet scare went around. While everyone was freaking out, I actually fact checked the claims, realized they were not true, and that the reality was A) not as bad as everyone thought it was and B) easily mitigated. But when I mentioned this, I was maligned for not taking it seriously... Also I was apparently victim blaming by suggesting parents monitor their kids' internet usage.

So as she talked, I felt myself agreeing. There were many things I related with. The idea that fathers can get away with plenty of things that are no issue, but when a mom does them, it's suddenly neglect. The idea that people are afraid of things that are incredibly unlikely to happen, but they have no issue with things like their 16-year-olds driving. That by keeping our kids so safe, we're not allowing them to be kids.She also had a lot to say about how she was making choices thanks to the freedom of living in America. But she also realized that if she lived somewhere else that had socialized healthcare, socialized childcare, and reasonable parental leave, she would have been free to make more choices. Her points were so spot on.

But I disliked her writing style. The frame was the true story of her arrest experience of leaving her kid in the car and the after effects of that. So she'd tell a part of the story and then present an argument. Many of the arguments were presented but no conclusion was made which was frustrating. And in general, this author is a very anxious parent. While reading the book, I felt my own anxiety rising which was beyond frustrating because I'm not anxious. In fact, I found myself more anxious about other parents than I am about my kid.

In general, the information is good. I think the human aspect of her experience makes this a bit more accessible than some of the other books warning the same things, but it is rather difficult if you already have anxiety issues.

Years of Grace by Margaret A. Barnes

Title: Years of Grace

Author: Margaret Ayer Barnes

Pages: 581

Finished: March 17, 2019

First Sentence: Little Jane Ward sat at her father's left hand at the family breakfast table, her sleek, brown pigtailed head bent discreetly over her plate.

Summary: Years of Grace follows the life of Jane Ward as she grows from a teenager to a middle aged woman in Chicago during the late Victorian era through to the 1920s. Summarizing this is more than a bit difficult as really the book is a life story and reflection of Jane set agains the backdrop of Chicago. Suffice it to say, she grows, she loves, and she lives to be disappointed.

Thoughts: The novel started strong for me. I spent a good deal of time googling various places mentioned to try and get a sense of where Jane Ward was as she talked about places. It was neat to see Chicago from a historical sense. And I liked the story. Of course it was fairly easy going. Upper class people with upper class problems.

The book slowed for me when it became clear that Jane was going to have an affair. Of course, it'd been foreshadowed in the first and second parts when she talked about Flora's mother, but I didn't want her to. And I guess, in a way, she didn't really.

The fourth part got into this massive discussion of the differences in generations as Jane realized she was different from her kids and she would never understand the next generation.

I found Jane to be rather blah to be honest. She seemed to be either completely unaware of things she should be aware of, or willfully ignoring them. Particularly Jimmy and then Cicily and Albert. I don't think she handled many situations as well as she could have. And in the end, she seemed rather melancholy. It seemed she lived her whole life with this expectation that ended up being completely and totally wrong.

For me, the best part of this novel was the Chicago landmarks. I never realize just how much Chicago pride I have until I see it in books or movies. I really enjoyed looking up the street Jane lived on as a child and finding out it's now Michigan Ave. I don't think I'd say this book is something I'll ever read again, but it wasn't odious. I just wasn't as into it as I wanted to be.

Read for Back to the Classics as a book set somewhere I live.

The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani

Title: The Night Diary

Author: Veera Hiranandani

Pages: 258

Finished: March 15, 2019

First Sentence: Dear Mama, I know you know what happened today at 6:00 a.m., twelve years ago. 

Summary: Nisha lives with her father, brother, and grandmother in the city of Mirpur Khas. But change is coming. India will be independent from British rule, and with that independence, a new country is formed. Pakistan. A country for the Muslims. And Nisha and her family are Hindu. Nisha writes to her Muslim mother, who died in child birth, about their experience as their life is turned upside down. Suddenly, people begin turning on each other based off their religion. And Nisha and her family must travel to the New India, a journey fraught with danger and ugliness.

Thoughts: Every year, we ready books from the Caudill List at work. The new list just dropped, and I picked this book up primarily because I had recently seen a Doctor Who episode set in the same time frame.

This was sad. I don't know if it'll be as sad for middle schoolers as it was for me, but it was sad. Seeing people go from being friends to being enemies. Watching mob rule. Reading the fear and seeing how it's the same forever and ever. The ending in particular was rough. I think it was supposed to be hopeful, but somehow, there was this deep sadness there that I picked up on. I don't know. I don't know how to recommend this to. It's an important story, but I don't know who to recommend it to.

The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands

Title: The Blackthorn Key

Author: Kevin Sands

Pages: 371

Finished: March 9, 2019

First Sentence: I found it. 

Summary: Christopher is an apprentice to the apothecary Benedict Blackthorn during the mid 1600s. Unfortunately, someone is murdering apothecaries in order to find a devastating secret. It's up to Christopher to figure out what the secret is and how to stop the murders.

Thoughts: Had to read this one for work as it's on the 2020 Caudill list. I was... less than enthused about it. It sounded like it was a fantasy book based off the description (not the description I gave.) I like Middle Grade fantasy. But this was more adventure/mystery/historical fiction. But with modern sounding language and narration. Basically, for kids who want and adventure, this is right up their alley. If someone wants hardcore historical fiction or mystery, this won't fit the bill quite as much.

Beginning is a bit slow, but once Master Benedict is murdered, things pick up quickly. The main character is you standard good natured troublemaker. He'll appeal to middle school boys.

As for me, it wasn't quite my taste. 

Year of Wonder - February

There were some absolutely stunning pieces this month! My favorites:

'Il cavalier di Spagna' - 'A Spanish Knight' from La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Ancina by Francesca Caccini. - This is an opera written by a woman in the early 1600s. And it's really fun!

Fantasie nègre by Florence Price - Price is the first Afircan-American woman symphonist and the first African-American woman who's music was considered worth being preformed by a major orchestra. This piece is inspired by the spiritual "Sinner, please don't let this harvest pass." The tune is very familiar and really perfect.

Overture from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - The Mastersingers of Nuremberg by Richard Wagner - I always forget how much I enjoy the sounds in Wagnerian music. I don't listen to him often, but when I do, I always enjoy it.

Miserere by Gregorio Allegri - I know I've heard the base melody somewhere. This was stunningly haunting. 

'The Spheres' from Sunrise Mass by Ola Gjeilo - a modern piece that was incredibly interesting. I definitely need to listen to the rest of this album.

Handel in the Strand by Percy Grainger - I love me some Percy Grainger. His music is always so different but pleasing.

Spiegel im Spiegel by Arvo Pärt - An Estonian piece, this was incredibly perfect the day I heard it. I'd had a very stressful day that concluded with me coming home and being too upset to eat dinner. I put on a meditation, and then listened to this and felt my mind quiet and the tension melt away.

String Quartet no. 2 in D major, 3: Nocturne: Andante by Alexander Borodin - this guy sounds really cool. He was both a musician and a physicist. Also a huge advocate of women's rights in Russia during hte 19th Century.

Petite messe solennelle 1: Kyrie by Gioachino Rossini - I was so wholly unprepared for this setting of the Kyrie that I listened to this piece at least three times. I then proceeded to hum it for the rest of the day.

Lord of the Rings Challenge February Update

** Reminder this is all part of my reading the Lord of the Rings in chronological order as found here. There may be spoilers to either The Hobbit or the Trilogy in these posts. Read at your own peril.

I began this month with reading about how the Stewards of Gondor came to be, how they became friends with the Éothéod (later the Rohirrim), and how they ceded the Calenardhon (later Rohan) to the Éothéod in gratitude for their help in a battle against Sauron's minions. The Éothéod are men who stayed in the East rather than traveling west to Beleriand. However, these men did not become loyal to Sauron. Some consider them "Middle Men." 

Following that, we begin to learn something of the Hobbits! Really just that they didn't keep good histories of themselves, nor did any of the other races. But they started out somewhere near Mirkwood by the River Anduin and traveled West. They settled first in Bree, and then in the Shire. 

We learn that darkness is coming to Dol Goldur in the Greenwood, now called Mirkwood. Also, a race called the Dunlendings has taken over the Ring of Isen near the Entwood. Once they're ousted by the Rohirrim, Saruman takes over Orthanc at Isenguard where he acts as a friend even though he has his own agenda.

The White Council is called regarding the darkness in Mirkwood. Gandalf suggests it's Sauron, but Saruman says it can't be a The Ring is gone

Enter the Dwarves. We learn of the downfall of Moria, the quest to Erebor, and then the downfall of Erebor. Durin tries to go back to Moria and is slain by Azog so now all Dwarves hate him. Dwarves are ousted from Erebor, so they travel back to the Blue mountains. They fight Azog and kill him. In this battle, Thorin uses a oak tree branch as a shield which earns him the name Thorin Oakenshield.

Gandalf visits the dwarves and convinces them to go back to Erebor. By the way, they should take a thief. He thinks he knows just the one. Though he doesn't tell them, he thinks that Sauron might make use of the dragon.

From here, we go into the Hobbit and I'm a couple chapters in there.

We're now getting to familiar stories which makes the whole thing much more enjoyable to read. It was cool seeing how much Gandalf had a part in getting the Dwarves together for the Quest to Erebor. I also liked reading about the Wizards and the beginnings of the story of the Ring as most of us are familiar with.

Next month will be mostly Hobbit reading. I'm very excited about that!