Here is Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto E Minor OP.64, performed by Hilary Hahn with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.
This is another book I read while on the plane to Virginia Beach, where my son was graduating a couple of Saturdays ago. I started the book about a year ago and couldn't get into it. This time, I gathered the author's style and intent and found the stories, if not riveting, rather interesting.
Lions, Harts, Leaping Does and Other Stories by J.F. PowersMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Interesting collection of stories centered around the day to day lives of priests. I am not Catholic but I found the personalities, thoughts, trials and mundane details of the various priests existence to be interesting. Some of the stories are depressing, but some are quite funny.
One priest feels stuck in a small parish where he has been the underling to a superior priest for years. He dreams and hopes of getting his own parish. Yet he seems to persist in a stubborn unawareness that his ambition is what keeps him back. As well as his carnal and decidedly un-spiritual view of life.
Another priest chaffs under the skin flinty and domineering ways of the priest over him. In fact more than a few stories are about subordinate priests suffering under the authorities of a narrow-minded, old-fashioned and cheapskate priest in charge.
A couple of stories are narrated by a parish cat that is both poignant and humorous.
The final story is about a young man who wanted to become a priest but was not accepted into the seminary. He partners up with a man who is a bit of a con man and sells Catholic supplies to various priests. In this story we go from feeling sorry for the young man to realizing he's a bit of a shyster himself because it appears he was actually trying to avoid the draft.
These stories provide a unique cultural perspective in a certain faith, in the mid-west in the thirties, forties and fifties of the last century.
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And briefly, a free download on my Kindle: a book on poetry...
Modern British Poetry by Louis UntermeyerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a collection of poets from the turn of the last century who were leaders in their genre. Untermeyer gives a brief biography and sketch of the development of each poet's craft followed by a couple of examples of their work. This book was written in 1911 so one has to realize that the word "modern" must be used inside that time frame.
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And here's a teaser:
Meet Lt. Foyle
But more about him next time...
5 comments:
Hi Sharon - I have never read anything by J.F. Powers.
It is interesting that the author would rite around the theme of priests, particularly subordinate priests. I find that when writers do stick to specific situations over various stories that the stories can still be worthwhile.It is kind of a symphony where an single theme is explored in its different variations.
Hi Brian. Very well put. Even though I am not Catholic, I found Powers' descriptions of their lives realistic, although a little depressing. I would like to read about priests and nuns now from someone with a little more "joie de vivre".
curious subject; it sounds like a rather hit/miss approach to the subject, somewhat like the author wasn't fully decided about what he was actually writing about? i played in an orchestra once when we did the Mendlessohn concerto; it was okay; kind of boring for the clarinets, but nice to listen to the violin...
My apologies for taking so long to answer. For some reason I did not get this in my e mail and I just found it in my comments section of the blog lay out. Weird.
You know, I played organ for a Catholic church (their Saturday mass) for a couple of years and so for that reason I must say I found the characters interesting. But I'd hate to be a priest. Not that that's ever going to be a problem...
I know what you mean. I got suckered into playing piano for a symphonic band one year. I mostly counted rests, hundreds of them. I was young back then. I didn't know I could say no.
Thanks for the suggestion, R.T. I'll look it up. And that would be an interesting post. What books have we read over and over again? You've got me thinking about it now...
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