BOOKS READ IN 2017

What did you read in 2017?

What were your favorite reads?

Please tell!

We'll talk about favorite reads on WOSU's All Sides Weekend: Books

I've listed books read below. 

A few left over from 2016, the rest from 2017.

* indicates I especially liked this book

** indicates I loved this book

+ indicates I was able to interview the author,.

These were my favorites read in 2017:

(in order of when read)

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

A harrowing  upbringing as a bi -racial child in South Africa

Lincoln in the Bardo Dan Saunders

Completely original, well at least since Edgar Allen Poe died. 

+No one Cares About Crazy People by Ron Powers

Non-fiction. Two adult sons with schizophrenia. One survives. The other doesn't. The parents find a way to live on.

+Stephen Florida by Gabe Habash

The unconventional life of a college wrestler

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Because as a white guy who was raised in a pricey suburb I had no idea.

Defending Jacob by William Landy

The teen age son of a  D.A. is accused of murder. A devastating twist near the end. Just as you were getting comfortable...

+Toscanini: Musician of Conscience by  Harvey Sachs

Mr. Sachs's second, greatly expanded biography of conductor Arturo Toscanini (1865-1957). An artist with a messy private life, a searing musical talent who stood up to Mussolini and Hitler.

The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen

Unconditional love.

The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne

A journey in Ireland with the Irish from 1945 to today. Infuriating and redemptive.

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Vietnam, being there and living with the repercussions. Required reading for anyone who lived through the 1960s but was too young-or clueless-to understand at the time.

2016

Middlemarch George Eliot

The Pickwick Papers Charles Dickens

The Idiot Fyodor Dostoevsky

I’ll Take You There Wally lamb

Moonglow Michael Chabon

Last Girl on the Freeway: Joan Rivers Leslie Bennett

Patient HM Luke Dittrich

The Heavenly Table Donald Ray Pollock

In the Darkroom Susan Faludi

Victoria by Daisy Goodwin

Evicted by Matthew Desmond

His Final Battle: FDR’s Last Year  Joseph Llelveyd

How to Survive a Plague David France

Eleanor and Hick by Susan Quinn

Conclave Robert Harris

When Paris Sizzled Mary McAuliffe

Eileen Otessa Mostfegh

The Reactive Masande Ntsghenga

Valiant Gentlemen Sabina Murray (Roger Casement)

2017

Do Not Say We Have Nothing  Madeleine Thien

Absolutely on Music conversations with Ozawa

*North Water Ian McAuliffe

The Sleepwalker Chris Bohjalian

*Commonwealth Ann Patchett

Victoria The Queen Julia Baird

Rasputin Douglas Smith

*Born a Crime Trevor Noah

Two by Two Nicholas Sparks

*Class Lucina Rosenfeld

Sandcastle Girls  Chris Bohjalian

Sweetbitter Stephanie Danler

Private Lives of the Tudors  Tracy Broman

The Paris Architect Charles Belfoure

God’s Kingdom Howard John Mosher  Kinneison family Vermont

*The Dry Jane Harper murder mystery Australia

Emma Alexander McCall Smith

Revolution in Color: John Singleton Copley Jane Kamensky

Robert Lowell: Setting the River of Fire Kay Redfield Jamison

The Bone Orchard Paul Doiron

*+The World Will be Saved by Beauty: An intimate portrait of my Grandmother, Dorothy Day  Kate Hennessy

Idaho Emily Ruskovich

Days Without End Sebastian Barry

The Long Loneliness Dorothy Day

Host Robin Cook

The Devil in Webster Jean Hanff Gorelitz

Home Harlan Coben

You Can’t Go Home Again Tom Wolfe

On the Edge of Gone Corinne Duyviss

*The Inheritance Nikki Kapsembellis Alzheimer’s DeMoe family

*Ill Will Dan Chaon

*Lincoln in the Bardo Dan Saunders

Elizabeth Bishop Miracle for Breakfast Megan Mullaly

Life with Judy Garland Sid Luft

Easy Essays Peter Maurin

Dorothy Day: A Radical Devotion Robert Coles

One of the Boys Daniel Margariel

The Book of American Martyrs Joyce Carol Oates

Stranger in the Woods: The Story of the Last True Hermit Michael Finkel

Loaves and Fishes Dorothy Day

*Tenth of December (stories) George Saunders

* No one cares about crazy people Ron Powers

Mockingbird Songs Wayne Flynt

Dr. Knox Peter Spiegelman

The Whistler John Grisham

Since We Fell Dennis Lehane

*House of Names Colm Toibin

*Anything is Possible Elizabeth Strout

Inga (Arvad) Scott Faris

Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Fact of a Body Alexandria Marzano Leznevich

Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign Jonathan Allen and Amie Parness

Jesus Sons (stories) Denis Johnson

Angels Denis Johnson

Anne Boleyn A King’s Obsession Alison Weir

*Rebel Mother Peter Andreas

*+How to Survive a Summer Nick White

When the world stopped to listen: Van Cliburn’s Cold War Triumph  and the Aftermath Stuart Isaacoff

The End of Eddy Edourard Louis

*Trajectory (stories) Richard Russo esp. “Voices”

Isadora Amelia Gray

*Saints for All Occasions J. Courtney Sullivan

The Child Fiona Barton

The One Man Andrew Gross

Prince Charles Sally Bedell Smith

We Could be Beautiful Swan Huntley

Sometimes Amazing Things Happen Elizabeth Ford, MD

*+Stephen Florida Gabe Habash

*+Toscanini Musician of Conscience Harvey Sachs

Al Franken Giant of the Senate

Modern Gods Nick Laird

You Should Have Left Daniel Kehlmann

He’s Got Rhythm: The Life and Career of Gene Kelly by Sara and Cynthia Brideson

Mighty Jack Ben Hatke

**The Hate U Give Angie Thomas

  T-H-U-G L-I-F-E

(They Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody)

We Were the Lucky Ones Georgia Hunter

The Hue and Cry at Our House Benjamin Taylor

*The Accusation Bandi

    ( short stories smuggled out of N. Korea)

Friedelind Wagner: Richard Wagner’s Rebellious Granddaughter Eva Rieger

The Game of Crowns: Elizabeth, Camilla, Kate Christopher Andersen

This is my face, try not to stare Gabourey Sidibe

There Your heart lies Mary Gordon

See What I Have Done (Lizzie Borden) Sarah Schmidt

Jackie’s Girl Kathy McKeon

*Mrs. Fletcher Tom Perrotta

Making Rent in Bed-Stuy Brandon Harris

Roots Alex Hailey

Less Andrew Sean Greer

*Defending Jacob William Landay

Dying Cory Taylor

The Last Place you Look Kristen Lepionka

What Happened Hillary Clinton

Camino Island John Grisham

The Last Tudor Phillippa Gregory

Mission Flats William Landay

Liner Notes Loudon Wainwright III

Wonder RJ Palacio

*Crimes of the Father Thomas Kenneally

Submission Michel Hollebecque

**The Return of the Prodigal Son Henri Nouwen

Growing up Kennedy Laurie Graham

Turtles all the Way Down John Green

Column of Fire Ken Follett

My Life with Bob Pamela Paul’

**The Heart’s Invisible Furies John Boyne

Love, Henri: Letters of Henri Nouwen

Adam Henri Nouwen

*The Ninth Hour Alice McDermott

Unbelievable My Front Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History  Katy Tur

Bed Stuy is Burning Brian Platzer

 Victoria and Abdul Sharbani Basu

Twenty-Six Seconds: A Personal history of the Zapruder Film Alexandra Zapruder

Prague Sonata Bradford Morrow

American Radical: Inside the World of an Undercover FBI Agent Tamer Elnoury

*The Things They Carried Tim O’Brien

 *A History of Loneliness John Boyne

Overweight Sensation:  The Life and Comedy of Allan Sherman Mark Cohen

*Little Fires Everywhere Celeste Ng

Our Mutual Friend Charles Dickens

Birdcage Walk Helen Dunsmore

Oriana Fallaci Cristina DiStefano

Broken Irish Edward J. Delaney

Priestdaddy Patricia Lockwood

Thomas Merton on Gandhi

"...Gandhi recognized, as no other world leader of our time has done, the necessity to be free from the pressures, the exorbitant and tyrannical demands of a society that is violent because it is essentially greedy, lustful and cruel. Therefore he fasted, observed days of silence, lived frequently in retreat, knew the value of solitude, as well as the totally generous expenditure of his time and energy in listening to others and communicating with them. He recognized the impossibility of being a peaceful and nonviolent man if one submits passively to the insatiable requirements of a society maddened by overstiumulation and obsessed with the demons of noise, voyeurism and speed."

A Tribute to Gandhi included in Seeds of Destruction by Thomas Merton, published in 1961.

James Levine

I spent a lot of my time between 1979 and 1991 at the Metropolitan Opera. Usually as a standee, when $2.00 admitted you to the top floor of the opera house. Hard to see, but oh my, you could hear the splendor. And splendor it was:  the final performances of Nilsson, Bergonzi, Price and Sutherland, Scotto a lot, Milnes, Pavaortti still in his prime. Domingo singing to break your heart.

The greatest splendor was the Met orchestra and chorus. They attained world class status on their own, regardless of the soloists on a given night. The reason for all of this magnificence was James Levine.

To my dying day I will never forget James Levine's conducting in the last five minutes of Pelleas et Melisande, as the orchestra expired shortly after the heroine. Levine made Parsifal so beautiful you would stand through five hours more. His opening of Die Walkure left the audience terrified as Siegmund literally ran for his life.

The Met during my years WAS James Levine James Levine James Levine. Good.

I heard the rumors. You couldn't be within a mile of Lincoln Center or anywhere he conducted  (Vienna, Munich, Bayreuth, Chicago, Ravinia, Boston, Tanglewood) and not hear the rumors. They long predated my time in New York. James Levine liked to have sex with teen age boys. The Met engaged an African American tenor-who was at least an adult and presumably willing-to keep the conductor away from kids. Better not stand with your back to him if you are a young man. People made jokes. Adults, well placed professionals made jokes, not just idiotic kids like me.

Nobody knew anything.

It was all rumor. You can't prosecute a rumor. You can't take a rumor to court. There was never any proof offered and there were no specific accusations. You know why not? Because, the rumor mill insisted, there were huge amounts of payola, from the Met, and from Levine's management, (run by a now deceased titan long thought to have controlled all aspects of the classical music business). There were stories of divas and or their husbands coming up with alibis or bail.

Now men are coming forward claiming James Levine abused them sexually when they were young music students. I believe the men. How does coming forward benefit them? What their bravery has done is finally put a stop to the abuse. Levine is a 75 year old man in a wheel chair who I suspect has conducted his last performance. (The Verdi Requiem last Saturday. I sat listening in my car in a parking lot not caring if I was late for a commitment, the performance was so thrilling) I'm not sure what the system can do to Levine other than destroy his reputation and career. I loved his work, but after what I've read, he's getting off easy.

What troubles me-not quite as much as the abuse suffered by his victims*-are the gossip and the jokes I heard and indulged in those many years ago. I'm ashamed. I share the fury being directed toward the highest levels of Met management who are smugly "taking these accusations very seriously." Denials of any cover ups are flying out of Lincoln Center but I don't believe them.
Rumors of child abuse should have been enough to remove Levine and those  protecting him. Take all of your august financial resources and try to prove the rumors. If you really can't then they remain rumors. But was any powerful effort made to find the truth thirty years ago? Or were people too afraid of Mr. Wilford and busy CYA. A lot of the abuse currently reported took place in the late 1960s, before Levine was ever at the Met. How was this not known? How far back does the company's complicity go? To Rudolf Bing? Certainly in later years its ridiculous to suggest that no one in authority, the people who raised the money and signed the checks knew nothing about this-that they lacked facts.

That Levine's criminal activities and the cover ups at the highest levels of music management combined will destroy the Metropolitan Opera is a possibility. Who will give them money now? Who will join a board that may be corporately responsible for covering up criminal behavior?
It's grossly unfair to the hundreds of people who work for the Metropolitan Opera. People who go to work every day in whatever capacity, who depend upon the Met for a paycheck, who did nothing wrong and should not have to forfeit their livelihoods. Decision makers, if complicit, should pay. They were the people who had the authority to make the abuse stop. They chose to pay, deny and look the other way. For of the rest of us, in the audience, on the bus, walking past Lincoln Center, who traded gossip and made jokes, we'll have to try to forgive ourselves and hope all of these men get the best justice possible.

I'm relieved not to be in a position of deciding whether of not Levine's recordings should be played on the air. Since last week I've been listening to a Levine conducted 1987 performance of Nozze di Figaro with Van Dam, Battle,von Stade and the wonderful Elisabeth Soderstrom. I've put it away. It's not less wonderful since the news broke. But I am. The Met was a home to a lot of us, even those of us from humble circumstances. Now that home is no longer a safe place.

*I dislike the term victim but if it was ever appropriate.....

BUCKET LIST

Approaching another birthday, and with the years advancing and the returns diminishing, it's time to look at a Bucket List. I do so publicly to give myself a bit more impetus to make things happen.
Have a swimmer's body? Eat whatever I want with no concern? Never need to excersise? Those boats sailed long ago. I look my age. I've earned it.

STAGE TWO OPERAS:

Four Saints in Three Acts by Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein 

I've always loved the elegance and craziness of Stein's text and her love for "Saints and Avila" combined with Virgil Thomson's Southern Baptist hymnal influenced music.

Stein and Thompson stressed clarity (!) You might not understand the text, but the worlds are clearly set. This is a witty and strangely moving opera. I would love to immerse myself in Thomson and Stein's worlds. 

Four Saints in Three Acts is worth knowing better.  I don't understand why this isn't done more often, certainly its perfect for colleges.

All I need is a venue, a cast, an orchestra and money. Who's talking to me?



Transformations by Anne Sexton and Conrad Susa

Anne Sexton's take on Grimm's fairy tales became an opera in the 1970s. Renee Fleming, in her excellent book, The Inner Voice, the Making of a Singer (should be required reading for any young musician) describes of production of this work in which she sang very early on.. She maintains this was one of he great events of her career.

There's a wonderful production of Transformations, set in a mental hospital. I've seen the video and I can't imagine a better staging. What a wonderful challenge this would be!

Both works have large casts and make no horrendous demand on young-or not young-voices. These could be two "community" projects.

I'D LIKE TO GO TO ITALY

Never been. I'd like to sit in San Marco in Venice where Monteverdi was maestro di capella. I'd like to go to Milan and say a prayer at Verdi's grave in the Casa di riposo. I'd like to take a day off form sobriety and have a grappa. I'll settle for a gelato. I'd like to wander through the Sistine Chapel. Can you wander there?

I'd like to see the faded image of Leonardo's Last Supper at the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Just to stand in front of it for a minute:

I'D LIKE TO WRITE A NOVEL

Yeah, I know. Yadda yadda yadda.

I'D LIKE TO START A CHOIR made up of autistic children who don't have language. Music is a path to language. I'm inspired by the story of a fine singer who had a devastating stroke that robbed her of spoken language. Her voice was unimpaired. Not only could she sing beautifully, but she could sing the words she had always sung. Having a day to day conversation became challenging, but she could sing Mahler or Strauss to knock you on your ass.

I heard about this and thought, Bingo! Use music to cultivate underperforming areas of the brain! And spend your time with kids. What's not to love?

....and I'm still working on this list!

Finally, I listened to a few recordings: DiDonato, Spyres, Yoncheva and Florez

The stack of new CD releases has been eyeing me with something like contempt for moths. I have scanned the walls of my office and am beginning to despair. What will I do with these shelves of recordings, many of which I've loved and cherished for years, when I'm no longer here? The days don't get longer when you reach 60, boys and girls.

But disposing of my collection is a problem for tomorrow.

For today, I want to talk a bit about a few recent releases.

Lately I've been listening to Scriabin.  The two poems, both divine and ecstatic. I'm enjoying the Boston Symphony's newly published complete Brahms symphonies with Andris Nelsons. I'm trying and not always succeeding in listening to artists who are still alive!

That's my rule for this post. For once, you can't be dead.

JOYCE DiDONATO: IN WAR AND PEACE
Arias by Handel, Purcell, Leo, Jomelli and Monteverdi

What a beautiful artist! Joyce DiDonato, like the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson leaves her own ego outside the stage door or the recording studio and subsumes herself into text and music. I couldn't keep my eyes off DiDonato during the recent Metropolitan Opera live-in HD Norma. Her Adalgisa listened and reacted in character to everything going on around her. Especially moving was her onstage support to Norma herself in the first act, long before Adalgisa has anything so sing.

This recording  gives us warriors and peace makers. There's Dido's lament and Handel's exquisite Lascia ch'io pianga. The warrior Sesto sings himself into avenging his father's murder. Monteverdi's Penelope cherishes the long awaited return of her husband Ulisse in Illustratevi o cieli. DiDonato uses a touch of chest voice which never interferes with the ability to float a gorgeous phrase. Listen to Purcell's They tell us that you mighty powers above for its shapely sweetness. For me the high point of the album is the aria from Jomelli's Attilio Regolo. DiDonato's brio and fearless coloratura remind me, of all people, of Beverly Sills.

MICHAEL SPYRES: Espoir

Michael Spyres is a young American tenor enjoying quite a busy career, primarily in Europe. He already has an impressive discography complete with the robust tenor roles of Rossini that require a great deal of flexibility. I've enjoyed his work in Rossini's Otello, Guillaume Tell, and Le siege de Corinthe. In the latter he sings a role done in Italian versions (L'assedio di corinto) en travesti by  Shirley Verrett and astoundingly, Marilyn Horne.

Espoir is Spyres's tribute to Gilbert Duprez (1806-1896) supposedly the tenor who developed the High C delivered from the chest. The manly, squillante sound (ring) is greatly prized, and rare,  today.

Spyres sings arias by Rossini, Donizetti, Auber and Berlioz. Of special interest are two selections by Halevy, known today only for La juive, and that just barely. To all these he brings not only the aforementioned squillante, but a warm and attractive voice that combines sweetness with power. It's a wining combination and this disc is a winner.

SONYA YONCHEVA: Paris mon amour

If you'll be attending this season's live in HD presentations by the Metropolitan  Opera, you'll be seeing and hearing Sonya Yoncheva in Tosca, La boheme and Luisa Miller. So here's hoping that we'll all fall in love with Sonya, as the Met it seems expects us to do.

Paris mon amour pays tribute to the city of light, with selections from operas set in the French capital, many written during the belle epoque of the late 19th century. She sings arias by Massenet, Offenbach, Puccini, Verdi, Gounod, Messager and Lecocq

I appreciate the programming. Messager's Madame Chrysantheme lost its audience once Puccini wrote Madama Butterfly. Charles  Lecocq found himself competing with Offenbach in the light opera sweepstakes. The gentle waltz from Les cent vierges is captivating. yo gotta love a guy who writes an opera called The One Hundred Virgins.

Yoncheva's lovely voice suffers in comparison only to people like Scotto in an earlier time, whose recorded arias form La boheme, Le villi and La traviata broke your heart. Yoncheva does everything right. She's a light soprano, not a "juicy lyric" and she brings grace and style to a lot of this repertoire. What's missing is the dramatic tension and sense of the words that can elevate Massenet and Gounod. The arias from Sapho and Le cid  require more voice than Yoncheva can summon. This falcon repertoire is not the Yoncheva voice. Listen to Marilyn Horne or Grace Bumbry in the arias from Sapho and Le cid and you'll hear what I mean.
There's a lot of beautiful signing here but,  I don't hear the vocal chops for Tosca or Luisa Miller

JUAN DIEGO FLOREZ  
MOZART

Where's he been? Juan Diego Florez, our finest tenore di grazia was a fixture in New York. In recent years he's preferred to sing in Europe (where he continues to be very busy). He's expanding his repertoire away from the young man Rossini to Verdi's Duke of Mantua and Massenet's Werther. I hope he sings them in the States.






I was surprised to read that Mozart has never figured large in Florez's career. For a while he sang Donizetti and Rossini operas few others could or would. Mozart was well traveled. This new album of Mozart arias is a delight.  Florez's voice lacks the last bit of snap of Alfredo Kraus,  but he has all the flexibility and lovely tone necessary for this music.

 Idomeno's Fuor del mar opens this disc. Power? Check. Coloratura? Yes. It's fearless. I especially loved the selections from Cosi fan tutte  and Abduction From the Seraglio. The great concert aria,  Misero! O sogno K. 431 shows us that Florez is not leaving of a young man's charm in his singing, but adding the pathos and life experience of a mature artist. 

The Hate U Give

My daughter Kerry's take on the magnificent new novel The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

See Kerry's blog 

The Hate U Give I was up all last night reading "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas, recommended to me by my father. All I can say is, I am impressed by her writing. This book is told through the eyes of a young black girl who witnesses the fatal shooting of her best friend, a young black man, by a cop on their way home from a party. This leads to outrage from her poor black "ghetto" community and demands for justice. The neighborhood quickly turns into a war zone and riots break out and the militarized police are sent in. Excuses are made for the officer who pulled the trigger, who insisted that the boy was a drug dealer and a gangbanger, and that he was only attempting to protect himself. Chaos ensues when the officer is dropped of all charges, repeating that he was simply fearing for his own safety. I don't want to give too much away, all I want to say is that this book is highly recommended. And it's sad, but true, and shows how much farther we still have to go. Had it been a white kid that the officer had shot, he most certainly would have done time. I can hardly understand the feeling. I am a young woman with pale white skin of Celtic and Nordic descent. No, I don't know what it's like to fear for my life every time I walk out of my house. I can walk, run, or drive down the street without fear of getting shot by a cop. However, I most certainly have heard black men as being quoted as saying that "they fear for their lives every time they walk outside." Literally. And it wasn't that long ago that black men were actually hung simply for sport. There is a sickening picture in my Homeland Security textbook taken not too long before my parents were born...of a crowd laughing and cheering at the hanging of two black men. Like at a basketball game today. There are couples on dates in that picture. Our professor-who is white as well as military, law enforcement, and government, mind you-said that it made him sick and we still have such a long way to go. I also wanted to point out that, as a Criminal Justice major, I still of course believe that "Blue Lives Matter." It's corrupted officers like this who give all police a bad name. I believe that at police academies, more in-depth training should be done to weed out the ones who are more likely to "shoot first, ask questions later." It may take some thinking to figure out how to do it, but something should be done. http://www.advocacystoriesnstuff.blogspot.com

.   

Children's Books, What's Your Favorite?

RECENTLY I put a call out on Facebook, asking my 'friends" to name their favorite children's books. This was in preparation for an ALL SIDES WEEKEND/BOOKS broadcast.

My guests were WOSU's wonderful book critic Kassie Rose, Ryan Buley, Youth Services Manager at the New Albany branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, and Melia Wolf, owner of the Cover to Cover bookstore.

Author Ben Hatke joined us on the phone. his latest graphic novel is a re-telling of Jack and the Bean Stalk: Might Jack



WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE CHILDREN'S BOOKS?  LEAVE A NOTE HERE ON THIS POST!

You can find the show archived at http://radio.wosu.org/post/all-sides-weekend-books-17

I had over two hundred replies!
Here's the list of people's favorite children's books.

* = multiple votes

I'm delighted that so many titles I loved 50+ years ago are still loved and read today.
I also found several titles I forgot I had loved.
It was like being re introduced to beloved old friends after a long time.

Such are the gifts and emotional ties of books!

__________

Favorite Children’s Books

For an ALL SIDES WEEKEND broadcast (August 18, 2017) on children’s books, I asked my Facebook friends to share their favorite titles.

I got lots of responses-thank you!-that is a good problem to have.

Here we go!

*Charlotte’s Web 

Emil and the Detectives

Goodbye Mister Chips

*The Secret Garden

Goodnight Moon

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

The Giving Tree

*The Phantom Toll Booth

Winnie the Pooh and the A.A. Milne books

The Wind in the Willows (my favorite)         

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes

*A Wrinkle in Time

The Little Engine That Could

*The Hardy Boys series

*Nancy Drew series

*Johnny Tremaine

Heidi

*Where the While Things Are and all Maurice Sendak

*Dr. Seuss

Curious George series

Pipi Longstocking series

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

James and the Giant Peach

The Snowy Day

Harriet the Spy

We Shook the Family Tree

The Wizard of Oz

The Velveteen Rabbit

Good Dog Carl

Brave Cowboy Bill

*The Boxcar Children (Margaret Warner)

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret (Judy Blume)

Momo and the Yellow Umbrella

*Alice in Wonderland

Prince Caspian

*Narnia Series

*The Black Stallion

Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry

Jan Brett books

The Castle of Grumpy Grouch

The Stinky Cheese Man

Honey Bunch Series

*The Little Prince

Stand Back Said the Elephant, I’m going to Sneeze!

Black and Blue Magic

The Treasure of Alphoneus T. Winterborn

Betsy Tacy Series ( Maude Hart Lovelace)

*All of a Kind Family series

*Five Little Peppers and How They Grew

Beverly Cleary books: Henry Huggins, Ramona

*Make Way for Ducklings

Marjorie Morningstar

Grimm Fairy Tales

Geraldine Belinda

Treasure Island

Robin Hood

*Black Beauty

The Happy Hollisters  

The Way Things Work

Bambi

The Princess and Curdie

Ginger Pye

John Henry

Lad, a Dog

The Monster at the End of This Book (with Grover)

The Pokey Little Puppy

Harold and the Purple Crayon

Ferdinand the Bull

In Beyond Zebra (Seuss)

Huckleberry Finn

Cheaper by the Dozen

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

The Puschcart War

The Red Balloon

Alexander and the Magic Mouse

Danny Dunn series

Little Women

The Little Princess

Mr. Bear Squash You all Flat

Bartholomew and the Oobleck

A Series of Unfortunate Events

My Father’s Dragon

Peter Rabbit

..

MEETING MUSLIM NEIGHBORS

St. James Episcopal Church

Six meetings were held at St. James Episcopal Church in Columbus, from late February until last night, called Interfaith Meeting with Muslim Neighbors and St. James.

The goal was to build bridges, to get beyond the nosiy political rhetoric, to meet and know PEOPLE.
Speaking for myself, I learned a lot and indeed, met some wonderful people.
Contact info is included here. Go build a bridge.




Here are some of the people we met:

Last night MAY 4

ZERQA ABID-  http://zerqaabid.blogspot.com/   http://www.myprojectusa.org/team

MYProject USA runs a food pantry and thrift shop on Sullivant Ave. Zerqa spoke to us  of her concerns regarding Somali children being lost to gangs, on the dangers of addiction, human trafficking,  and the difficulties plaguing the poor and displaced.

Her immediate need is for $5,000.00 to expand a door way in her shelter building facilitating easier-and more-food delivery. Does anyone know a company that would do this work  gratis or at a reduced rate? $5,000.00 could feed and clothe a lot of people. I’ll be looking around. Maybe you will , too?

One of our members from St. James asked if all of our speakers “asked for something”. They did not. He then said, “Well, it makes it easier to know who to help!”

Zerqa and her programs need our help.

FEB 16 OSU MUSLIM STUDENT’S ASSOCIATION   http://www.msaohiostate.com/ 

NABEEL ALAUDDIN  Alauddin.1@osu.edu

JERI MILBURN, CAIR Ohio  jmilburn@cair.com

  Jeri converted to Islam. She offered a very personal view of a Christian’s women’s conversion.

Nabeel Alauddin was my first meeting when I began setting up these talks. He came to our first session and recited to us from the Qur’an. He also gave a wonderful presentation on the Qur’an , particularly enlightening for those of us with no knowledge at all.

Note that the Muslim Student’s Association at OSU provide bag lunches for the homeless being served In the Garden at Trinity Church in downtown Columbus. Zerqa last night also spoke to us of the MSA’s help on Sullivant avenue.

MARCH 2 WOMEN AND ISLAM  NAHLA AL-HURAIBI    nahla_Huraibi@outlook.com

Nahla is a college professor and sociologist. Her research covers the role of Muslim women now living in this country. She spoke to us of the cultural challenges these women encounter. The point was made that Islam insists on the dignity of women. The Qur’an does not prohibit women working outside the home and does not mandate the veil. The latter remains a personal choice. The point was made that Muslim men, now living in this country can admit to needing help supporting the family. Thus, women leave the home and go to work. A step for them toward equality.

Members of the Muslim Student’s Association returned for this meeting. It was great having them! The talk covered  relationships and we learned about one of several APPS that facilitate Muslim dating!

MARCH 16 SHAR’IA LAW   Prof. ALIM PAYIND   payind.1@osu.edu   https://mesc.osu.edu/people/payind.1

Professor Payind is Director of the Middle Eastern Studies Center at OSU. For many of us, Shar’ia law mans the horrors we see on CNN. Professor Payind gave us context.

MARCH 30  HORSED NOAH    

ABUBAKAR ASIDDIQ ISLAMIC CENTER

Director · Columbus, Ohio

www.masjidabubakar.org

Horsed Noah brought some young  people with him. He shared with us his own journey in coming to this country with his family.  He directs an Islamic Center on the West Side and my impression is that he is a very gifted mentor/father figure. His perspective for us was one of teacher and leader.

AAIC is a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-lingual, non-sectarian, diverse, and open community committed to full and equal participation and involvement

APRIL 20  from the NOOR ISLAMIC CENTER

FAROUKI MAJEED fkimajeed@yahoo.com  NOORGUL DADA kamawaal@yahoo.com

Nicol Ghazi from the Noor Islamic Ctr sent us two of their board members, Faouki Majeed and Noorgul Dada. People had asked to learn more about the depiction of Jesus and Mary in the Qu'ran.

Noorgul recited from the Qur’an. More than one person told me later they could have listened to him all night. Me too. In the Qur’an Jesus is named Isa and Mary is Maryam.

From Wikipedia:

Mary (Arabic: مريم‎, translit. Maryam‎), the mother of Jesus (Isa), holds a singularly exalted place in Islam as the only woman named in the Qur’an, which refers to her seventy times and explicitly identifies her as the greatest of all women,[2][3][4] stating, with reference to the angelic saluation during the annunciation, "O Mary, God has chosen you, and purified you; He has chosen you above all the women of creation."[5] In the Quran, her story is related in three Meccan chapters (19, 21, 23) and four Medinan chapters (3, 4, 5, 66), and the nineteenth chapter of the scripture, the Chapter of Mary (Surat Maryam), is named after her. The Quran refers to Mary more than the entire New Testament.[6]

According to the Qur’an, divine grace surrounded Mary from birth,[7] and, as a young woman, she received a message from God through the archangel Gabriel that God had chosen her, purified her, and had preferred her above all "the women of the worlds."[7] This event, according to the same narrative, was followed by the annunciation of a child who was to be miraculously conceived by her through the intervention of the divine spirit while she was still virgin, whose name would be Jesus and who would be the "anointed one," the Promised Messiah.[7] As such, orthodox Islamic belief "has upheld the tenet of the virgin birth of Jesus,"[7] and although the classical Islamic thinkers never dwelt on the question of the perpetual virginity of Mary at any great length,[7] it was generally agreed in traditional Islam that Mary remained virgin through the entirety of her life, with the Qur’an's mention of Mary's purification “from the touch of men” implying perpetual virginity in the minds of many of the most prominent Islamic fathers.[8]

The Quran refers to Mary more than the entire New Testament. According to the Qur'an, divine grace surrounded Mary from birth, and, as a young woman, she received a message from God through the archangel Gabriel that God had chosen her, purified her, and had preferred her above all "the women of the worlds."

Thanks to NICOL HAZI Outreach director at Noor Islamic Ctr.,  nicol ghazi nic.3@live.com  She is a great resource for anyone wanting to know more.

That’s it. For now. Let’s build bridges and keep the dialogue going. Again, thank you.

And thank you particularly to our Muslim speakers and guests.

Thank you Emily Wendel for the refreshments.

Thank you St. James Episcopal Church for the use of the hall!

Christopher Purdy

C'est Thais! Really?

As I continue my rush into decrepitude, I enjoy looking back and using opera recordings to cite benchmarks in my life.

I can find no such benchmark for the RCA Red Seal production of  Massenet's Thais, recorded in London in 1973 and published as a three LP set a year later.

What I do remember is the exhaustive PR campaign surrounding this release and the incredulity once the recording was released.

Thais has a luscious high calorie score by French composer, bon vivant and amour des femmes  Jules Massenet (1842-1912). It's based on a novel by the same title Anatole
France, published in 1890.

Thais is lovely Catholic porn, yummy to the abbes and their friends running around between holy orders in the Parisian Cafes. Even Notre Dame closed at night.  Le coupole never did.

A grande horizontale, a courtesan in first century C.E. Alexandria is rescued from her life of debauchery and spirited away to a convent in the desert by a crazed holy man called Athanael. There she dies peacefully, with vision of the deity and his/her angels while Athanael orgiastic ally confesses his own lust for her. Curtain.

What's not to love? We have Massenet with his velvet jackets, sophisticated tunes and atelier complete with sopranos Sybil Sanderson (from Sacramento, California) and Mary Garden (Aberdeen out of Chicopee, Massachusetts). Sybil became a celebrated Manon and created Massenet's Esclarmonde.

Sybil Sanderson as Thais

Thais was also a vehicle for La Sanderson, known for her dazzling upper range. F above high C was her party note. She was a beauty, and Thais fit with her reputation for gambling, booze and morphine. Sybil succumbed to all of these at the age of 38. Mary Garden, who thought Massenet made love like a slob, lived into her 90s.

Mary Garden as Thais

Today, Thais is best known for its lovely Meditation for violin and orchestra, played to the curtain between scenes 1 and 2 of the second act. The rest of the opera is every bit as beautiful. This ain't exactly Cosi fan Tutte or Carmen, but Thais has a rich orchestration, some colorful choral orgies (literally) and a superb final duet for soprano and baritone. In every way, Thais is stage worthy.

In my youth this was an onstage vehicle for Beverly Sills in late career.  It was a mistake.  The lady retained her stunning coloratura but by the late 1970s the long, elegant lines Massenet required were a memory.

Beverly got there second. Thais had lived on the edge of the repertoire and no closer for a generation leading up to the 1970s. It was then that RCA decided Anatole France's whore-nun was the perfect vehicle for American soprano Anna Moffo.

To be fair, Anna Moffo (1932-2006) had been a star for RCA Red Seal since the late 1950s. Check out her recordings of Rigoletto, La traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, Luisa Miller and La rondine and you'll hear lots to enjoy. She was a gorgeous woman. That's not much help on records, but Moffo recorded sexy. Her physical charms and dramatic gifts made her an audience favorite. Anna Moffo was the real deal.

In the late 1960s there was a high profile divorce and a very high profile courtship and marriage to Robert Sarnoff of the RCA family. Wags suggested that this marriage was responsible for the spate of Moffo recordings dating from this period, as her voice rapidly eroded.

(The Sarnoffs were happily married for 25 years until his death in 1996)

RCAs production of Thais meant to be a spectacular come back for a much loved diva in distress. How could this lose? If the lady needed careful editing, she'd get it. The rest of the cast was magnificent. The French baritone Gabriel Bacquier lent authenticity and a fine voice. Jose Carreras had a supporting role in this, this first major recording. The golden honey of that voice was a joy. Justino Diaz, still quite young but no slouch himself was cast along with an authoritative conductor,  Julius Rudel. The maestro's production of Massenet's Manon with Beverly Sills remained a top tourist attraction in New York into the 1970s.

What happened? Magazines, newspapers and billboards everywhere carried a full length portrait of Anna Moffo in harem pants and Cleopatra wig hailing l'essence de Thais! RCA had her on the Merv Griffin-Mike Douglas talk show circuit. She flashed her engagement ring with its Volkswagen sized diamond. She was still lovely and everyone still loved her. There was little talk about Thais, or Massenet, or music, or opera (that's a shame, Anna Moffo was a Curtis trained musician) There were plenty of cheesecake photos, with a somewhat jowl-y lady. It wasn't even camp. It was tragic. And it was everywhere.

After the exhaustive and ridiculous PR campaign, RCA's recording of Thais, starring Anna Moffo, Gabriel Bacquier, Jose Carreras and Justino Diaz, conducted by Julius Rudel, was published with lurid cover art intact (To be fair the back of the  LP box had Miss Moffo costumed as a nun).

Eventually you had to listen to the records. The press was unmerciful. The PR assaults couldn't save a recording with a heroine whose performance was pieced together in bits of tape and over dubs. She crooned, she sighed and she shrieked. She rarely sang. The men were wonderful. But Thais with no soprano was like kissing your sister. This recording was not going to get you laid. Callas could get you laid. Tebaldi and Corelli could get you laid.  RCA's tug rag art stimulated no one.. 

Now in 2017, eleven years after her death, Anna Moffo's recording of Thais has been digitized for the first time and is back in circulation. The RCA catalog has reverted to SONY. I suspect no one at SONY has any idea of the history, controversy and sorrow of this recording. I'm sure its been digitally remastered and sounds better than ever. We can only hope the labored, desperate singing does not sound better than ever. Amazon calls this Moffo's "controversial" recording and adds, "Perhaps its time for a reassessment?"

I'm going to buy this. Even after all "that". I began to understand show business and fun house mirrors when this LP was new. The men sound great. Rudel was a wonderful conductor. I like Thais.
I've always loved Anna Moffo, a crush of my callow young manhood. Mowing lawn money bought me her recording of Madama Butterfly. She's in heaven now, hopefully forgiving us all for listening to Thais, and for even enjoying it.