Off My Rocker:

Recommendations from a Book Nut

Music for a While
(September 2008)

My all time favorite composer is Henry Purcell who wrote a fair amount of lovely music intended to be performed by amateurs.

The words from one of his finest pieces go thus "Music for a while shall all your cares beguile/Wond'ring how your pains were eas'd." (From Act III, Scene 1 of Oedipus and Man.)

If you’re looking for some books to beguile your cares for a while, try these novels about music.

FIFTH QUARTER, by Tanya Huff

Who knew music could be so powerful? Well…anyone who listens or performs actually. In the second book of Huff's Quarter series, Song is literally magic as used by Bards and generally benign. But someone is using Song to evil ends, causing terror among both humans and spirits of the Four Quarters.

When first the Emperor’s infant grandson dies and then his young son is "disappeared," Karlene, the Bard who was with the prince when he was kidnapped, must find the prince and destroy the perverter of Song and deal with a sister/brother team of highly trained assassins who are after the prince as well.

ACORN WINTER, by Elizabeth Webster

Beth, a young widow, has suffered one blow too many with the recent death of her little boy. Slightly mad with grief, she returns to the seaside resort which she and her small family had enjoyed. She spends her days staring out at the water, expecting her dead husband and child to return at any moment.

Stephanie, who has a secret sorrow of her own, understands Beth's grief and befriends her, leading her back from the edge by bringing her into her own family, and finding her a job in a school where the inhabitants, the peaceful surroundings, and the chance to help troubled children through music therapy help Beth to heal.

When further tragedy strikes, Beth finds herself in the role of healer.

THE AMAZING MAURICE AND HIS EDUCATED RODENTS by Terry Pratchett

I’d forgotten how much I like Terry Pratchett's mad British humor until I picked this book up. In the midst of this laugh-out-loud tale of a cat running a Pied-Piper scam along with a bunch of intelligent rats and the "stupid-looking-kid," Pratchett takes the opportunity to slip in big questions like what is intelligence and what is the thing that remains when our bodies are done and where does it go, what makes a good leader, what are the natures of conscience and evil, where do they come from?

Perhaps the funniest and most touching part of all is when Maurice, the consummate con-artist (given that he is the cat running the scam) argues with his conscience about ethics…and loses.