Two New Book Reviews

Take Time for Paradise book coverTake Time for Paradise: Americans and Their Games by A. Barlett Giamatti.  New York: Bloomsbury, c1989, reissued 2011.

A book that makes my expensive liberal arts education seem worthwhile! 🙂

It seems a bit odd to be writing an “early review” of a book published in 1989, but I’m pleased that Bloomsbury chose to reissue this classic, originally a series of lectures, adding a foreword by Jon Meacham and a touching afterword by Marcus Giamatti (son of the author).

Take Time for Paradise explores leisure activity, including sports in general and baseball in particular, using the tools of philosophy, classics, and literature.  Giamatti invokes Shakespeare, Aristotle, and Homer in his explorations of “Self-Knowledge,” “Community,” and “Baseball as Narrative.”  If this description has you rolling your eyes and yawning, imagining an “ivory tower” analysis of your favorite activity, think again.  Giamatti was a scholar, but he was also a die-hard baseball fan—two characteristics which made him a good National League President and (briefly) Commissioner of Baseball; they also allow him to analyze baseball in interesting and thoughtful ways.

The first chapter/lecture, “Self-Knowledge,” sets the stage by examining the meaning and purposes of “leisure” as “not-work.”  Leisure is all about freedom; how we choose to spend our time when we are free to make that choice.  Leisure is how/when most of us seek fulfillment, aspiring to our vision of paradise.  To me, the most interesting passages in this chapter addressed the idea that sport is (like) religion.  Giamatti acknowledges the similarities in terms of sacred connections, rituals, and notions of paradise, but maintains that the self-transformation of leisure/sport need not be described in religious terms.

The second chapter/lecture, “Community,” explores sport as inherently connected to cities, rather than rural/garden/suburban contexts.  Here Giamatti addresses several sociological issues related to sports including drug/alcohol/steroid use, the danger of the cult of the young athlete, various forms of cheating, and the role of the spectator.  He also foreshadows many of the “modern developments” (e.g., giant scoreboards) and the need to accommodate both new and old fans.

“Baseball as Narrative,” the third chapter/lecture brings the themes of leisure, freedom, and community together in showing how baseball is about story.  The “plot” becomes a literal “plot of soil” in a whirlwind tour of the geometry and details of baseball fields.  The meditation on “home” manages to include family, Homer’s Odyssey and Romance.  Giamatti ties the series of lectures together by ending with a story of a hotel lobby during the World Series.

My favorite passage in the book provides an elegant response to those who view baseball as repetitious or boring:

“The game on the field is repetitious—pitch after pitch, swing after swing, player after player, out succeeding out, half inning making whole inning, top to bottom to top, the patterns accumulating and making organizing principles, all around and across those precise shapes in and on the earth.  Organized by the metric of the game, by the prosody of the play, is all the random, unpredictable, explosive energy of playing, crisscrossing the precise shapes in lines and curves, bounces and wild hops and parabolas and slashing arcs. There is a ferocity to a slide, a whispering, exploding sound to a fastball, a knife-edged danger to a ball smashed at a pitcher—there is a violence in the game at variance with its formal patterns, a hunger for speed at variance with its leisurely pace, a potential for irrational randomness at variance with its geometric shapes.” (p. 79)

In other words, all that repetition provides the framework for the quirky, unique story that is any particular baseball game.  Once you know that framework, and its rhythmic comforts, you can sit back (or on the edge of your seat) waiting for today’s story to unfold.  Giamatti goes on to compare this energy within rules to how the language of sonnets works: “The point being that freedom is the fulfillment of the promise of an energetic, complex order.” (p. 80).

I wept all the way through Marcus Giamatti’s afterword, a son’s tribute to and appreciation of both his father and the connection forged by a love of baseball.

If you find the most compelling thing about baseball to be statistics and fantasy teams, this probably is not the baseball book for you.  On the other hand, if you appreciate how scholarly analysis can combine with genuine enthusiasm to provide insightful musings on almost any activity, you will enjoy this book.


 

My Nine Lives book cover imageMy Nine Lives: A Memoir of Many Careers in Music by Leon Fleisher and Anne Midgette, New York: Doubleday, 2010

As a former musician currently struggling with a hand/arm/shoulder injury and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I found much to relate to in this memoir: the endless search for “cures;” the denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and (limited) acceptance of one’s “new” body/life.  (Unlike me) Fleisher was a child piano prodigy, student of Schnabel, and Outstanding Young American Pianist who later morphed into “the Bohemian” and “the young lion,” until “Catastrophe” (inability to use two fingers of his right hand) and its aftermath as conductor, teacher, left-handed pianist, and finally “renaissance man.”  And yes, those ten chapter titles capture the essence of Leon Fleisher’s story.  The joy and inspiration in what could have been a “woe is me” memoir come from the details and anecdotes that make up that arc of an 80-plus-year life.  Most of the stories are about music-making, but the personal stories (of famous musicians, of wives, children, god-children, students) reveal the truth of how one makes it through to the other side of a devastating “catastrophe” in life . . . “with a little [or a lot of] help from your friends.”

The writing style is very accessible (most musical concepts are clarified in everyday language so even non-musicians can follow along).  I particularly appreciated Fleisher’s ability to look back on some of his less-than-admirable times/behaviors with both wisdom and wit.  The photos at the beginning of each chapter and in a separate center section provide the reader with a glance into the full span of the author’s life.  My only criticism would be that there is some repetition of points and stories, which seemed unnecessary as I was reading the book cover-to-cover, but in this age of reading excerpts and single chapters, I suppose they will be helpful to some readers.

I would recommend this book to anyone struggling with a career ending/changing injury as well as to any up-and-coming young musicians out there.  The five “Master Class” sections inserted amongst the ten chapters are also helpful and interesting.  Each is a brief (almost too brief) but insightful commentary revealing one musician’s way of thinking about a particular piece: Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor; Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58; Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D Major; Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 in C Major, K. 503; Schubert’s Sonata in B-flat Major.

I only wish I had read the book before Fleisher came to town a few weeks ago.  I would have made sure to get a ticket.  Instead I will have to make due with listening to some of his many recordings (a selected Discography is included at the back of the book).

A Song to Sing, A Life to Live

A Song to Sing, A Life to Live (cover image)

A Song to Sing, A Life to Live: Reflections on Music as Spiritual Practice by Don Saliers and Emily Saliers (2005) San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Book review by Lucinda DeWitt

An inspiring book about music and its ability to stir our souls. Beginning with their own stories as musicians (Emily as half of the folk-duo the Indigo Girls, Don as a well known church musician and theologian), the father-daughter Saliers explore music as a spiritual practice. Their discussion/conversation includes: the bodily and sensory experience of music, music across the lifespan, how music can bring us together as well as divide us, how music shapes our identity, music’s role in grieving, and music’s role in work for social justice. The spiritual aspect of music is woven throughout these topics; different perspectives on spirituality are included.

I truly enjoyed this book. It reminded me why I still consider myself a musician (though I rarely play anymore). I’m inspired to rediscover my own “songline,” the story of who I am as revealed through the music I love.

My only criticism is that sometimes the flow of the writing is uneven, but that is to be expected when two rather different perspectives and voices try to join together. Each individual voice is strong, but together their differences sometimes impinge on the harmony. Still, all in all, the underlying message of the song comes through.

My favorite quotation from the book: “whenever music touches us deeply, the potential for transformation exists. What we think and what we perceive about the world and about ourselves can change. What music calls to your restless heart? Where in music does your soul encounter an aspect of reality that shatters your complacency or your fear?” (p. 174-175)

Strongly recommended.

Copyright © 2010 Lucinda DeWitt

Read-a-thon Preparation

I’m printing out my list of “Currently Reading” books from my LibraryThing Catalog.  My goal tomorrow is to reduce the size of this list (currently at 15 books).  I’ll start my day at 7am with tea and the Morning Prayer service (which I read from a downloaded pdf file) and Daniel Berrigan’s Uncommon prayer: a book of Psalms.  Later in the day I’ll be working on reading/reviewing a new book by Elaine Aron called The Undervalued Self (received through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program).  Patricia Cornwell’s Scarpetta will spice things up when I need a change.  Also have the latest chapter from The Woman in White which I’m reading in weekly installments from womaninwhite.co.uk.

I may download an audio book just in case my eyes get tired, probably something by Willa Cather from gutenberg.org or librivox.org.

Another little twist: I have three books on Jazz Violin that actually include music as well as essays, so I may do a little playing (which will count as reading, because “sight reading” music is reading 🙂

Enough of a preview for now.  Keep checking back.

Post-Lent Review

Apologies for the falloff in my Lenten posts.   (Not sure what happened, though some health issues intervened to disrupt my Lenten plans.  Much to my relief, the issues were not as serious as I first feared, but still required doctor visits and tests to rule out the worst.)

Giving up Facebook for Lent did provide me with time to pursue other projects (as described in my March 5 post, these included Music, Cooking, Sewing, and Reading, with a bit of Spring Training on the radio thrown in).  Unfortunately, by the end of  Lent these disciplines had left me “wandering in the wilderness”, rather than “journeying to Jerusalem”.  Still pondering why that is and will try to post more if I find any insightful answers.

Reading

I did manage to finish all 430 pages of Lactantius’ Divine Institutes for my Lenten Reading Group.  By the end I was pretty sure that if what he was arguing for was what Christians should believe than I probably wasn’t one. In fact, his main point, that “religio” (the worship of God) and “sapientia” (wisdom) cannot exist separately from each other, became my main sticking point.  The difficulty was in part his description of what “worship of God” looks like (heavily stressing obedience to God as a way to gain immortality) and in part my disgust over current practices passing for “religio“.  Seems to me most Christian Churches are so far removed from God as not to be worshiping God at all.  And don’t even get me started on the mess in the Catholic church and why a strict hierarchical church structure is a recipe for abuse of many kinds!

In addition to Lactantius, I finished four other books: Alexander’s Bridge and O, Pioneers! by Willa Cather, Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell, and The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.  Also started a few others, including some Mexican and Ethiopian cookbooks which I won’t be reading cover-to-cover.  Most of these can be found in my LibraryThing catalog

Music

I checked out (from the library) a bunch of CDs and books on Jazz Violin and have been trying to immerse myself in the sound and history of the violin as a jazz instrument.  Still not very good at implementing the concept on my own instrument, but “playing around” at it nonetheless.

Also checked out some Chopin piano music (to supplement the books I already had) and really enjoyed the month-long celebrations of Chopin’s 200th birthday.

Sewing

Totally dropped the ball on this one.  No progress on any of my sewing projects since my post on Feb 24th.

Cooking

Did pretty good at simplifying my cooking and eating during Lent, though I’m not sure I saved much money.  Lots of Black & White Burritos, Brown Rice w/ Veggies, Pasta . . . Tried to use up stuff in my pantry.  Managed to avoid baking goodies (though as soon as Lent was over I baked two loaves of bread, a lemon cake, and cornbread).  Lost a few pounds and have already gained a few back.  I’ll try to find time and energy to calculate any monetary savings and post more on that later.

Baseball

I’m suffering a bit of baseball withdrawal (yes, I know the season just started) due to no longer having cable TV.  The Twins are usually on over-the-air TV on Sunday afternoons, and I’ve been able to listen to several Cubs and Twins games over the radio, but my annual Opening Day ritual involving 14-hours of non-stop baseball was missing this year.  So I’m feeling a bit sorry for myself, though I know I’m better off not having the cable (so I can afford to eat 🙂 . . . And with any luck I’ll get a few more summer projects done this year than in the past few years.

Other

Both my yoga practice and my walking suffered a decline during Lent, which might explain why I feel so out-of-sorts.  Will try to get back to those very soon.

Not a very uplifting post-Lent post, but such it is . . .

Lent & Spring Training

Lent has continued to be more exhausting than my usual “Lenten Retreat.” Week 2 included more music, less cooking, some minor sewing, ongoing reading, and (most important) the start of the 2010 Baseball Spring Training Season!

Music

I hadn’t been to Jazz Ensemble practice in almost a month (due to snow, vacation days, etc.). This week my violin and I finally got there. And now we have to come up with a 14-bar SOLO for “Play that Funky Music.” This should be interesting 😉

Over the weekend I attended a performance by the Mary Louise Knutson Trio, with special guest violinist Randy Sabien. Picked up one of his CDs to help me with my jazz violin studies.

This week was also the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Chopin. MPR carried some great concert segments celebrating the event. And of course I had to pull out my books of Chopin’s piano music (and even ordered some more from the library).

Quite the musical week!

Cooking

I’ve decided one way to spend less money on food during Lent is to clear out my rather extensive pantry and freezer collections. So this week I roasted some chicken leg quarters (from the freezer) and had them with some beets (from the freezer) and sautéed kale and brown rice (from the pantry). Then ate the leftover baked rigatoni from a couple of weeks ago (from the freezer).  Next I’ll be whipping up a curry from a combination of fresh and frozen veggies in the frig. That should last a while!

Sewing

Never got back to the big sewing projects started last week, but did manage to do some mending and patching this week.  I guess that is in the Lenten spirit of “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”.

Lactantius

Made it through Book IV of Lactantius’ Divine Institutes (see previous post).  Still not wild about his style of argument.  Also not sure many of his arguments have the Biblical support he claims for them.  But the group is still interesting, so I will plod on.

BASEBALL!!!

Spring Training has begun.  Listened to part of yesterday’s Twins/Red Sox game.  Another game is on this afternoon.  Probably should take it slow.  Don’t want to wear myself out before the season even starts 🙂  I tried not to pay too much attention during the off season.  The Twins actually made some impressive acquisitions (Orlando Hudson, J.J.Hardy).  Maybe now that Daddy Pohlad is gone, the wallet will open enough to produce a winning team.  Not as sure about the Cubs . . . no cable means it will be harder for me to follow them (except when the radio reception from Chicago is good), but that might not be such a bad thing.

Other

Temps were in the 40s most of this week, so I tried to go for a few short (10-15 minutes) walks.  I tend to get post-exertional malaise and/or excessive fatigue and/or post-exertional headache from even the briefest attempt at exercise (other than yoga), but I needed the fresh air.  Also added “take your daily vitamins” to my list of lenten disciplines (along with flossing and drinking more milk).