Salieri

Salieri: Rival of Mozart

by Alexander Wheelock Thayer

Edited by Theodore Albrecht

c. 1989

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This biography of Antonio Salieri was written shortly after his death and edited after the arrival at the theater of Amadeus making Salieri a name newly known. With a foreward by F. Murray Abraham who portrayed Salieri in the movie, it shows just how much poetic license was taken with the character.

In the movie, Salieri is portrayed as an old man made bitter by the arrival of Mozart in Vienna who overshadowed him with his God-given talent, making him fade into obscurity. In reality, Salieri was the most celebrated composer of his time–perhaps more celebrated than Mozart. In the movie, Salieri had taken a vow of chastity. In reality, he was married with eight children. In the movie, both Mozart and Salieri live and work in Vienna. In reality, both moved about Europe–Salieri going twice to Paris where he was celebrated both in his own right and as a pupil of Gluck. In the movie, Emperor Joseph II was shown to be a musical illiterate who favored Mozart from the start. In reality, he was a talented musician who favored the Opera Buffa and cared little for Mozart’s work.

This is a good biography though a bit technical at times. The beginning is dull and boring with a seemingly endless list of productions of Emperor Joseph II’s family showing their musical prowess. Once the actual biography of Salieri starts, the book becomes more interesting though to say it is riveting or gripping would be a stretch. It was written in the 1800’s and, while Albrecht updated some of the language, it’s still in the style of the 1800’s.

Worth reading just to learn what the real Salieri was like. It is a short book and by no means a comprehensive biography of the composer who taught Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt. If all you know of Salieri is what you have seen in Amadeus, this will totally change your mind about the composer.

World Access

World Access: The Handbook For Citizens Of The Earth

by Kathryn and Ross Petras

c. 1996

Yes, some of us read encyclopedias for fun. Or at least read them.

This book was written primarily for teens and young adults and some other adults in the United States who don’t understand how the rest of the world works, who its authors and political leaders are or were or what the major religions of the world are. Basically, it’s a bare-bones introduction to the rest of the world for Americans who are more likely as the years go by to need to know about the rest of the world.

There’s not any information here about the United States or even Canada but the major focus is on Europe, Asia and Africa and how they relate to each other, themselves and what we need to know in order to not fall completely on our faces.

Even though the work is now dated, it still contains a lot of information that is timely. Perhaps the fall of Sadam Hussein is not in the book or the 9/11 incident but the rise of Sadam is along with guesses as to what terrorism might or might not be.

The book is not preachy but gives information as information. A few future guesses are made but very few. This book is still worth having and reading–as a book or as a reference work. Easy to understand, with black and white photographs.

Silas Marner

Silas Marner

by George Eliot

c. 18??

The classic work written in the 1800’s and set in Industrialised England.

This is two stories going on simultaneously–or maybe it’s three. Silas Marner is accused of robbery and condemned by lots. So, he leaves his hometown and every hope he had of happiness and moved to the country where he becomes a hermit and a weaver. He hoards his hard earned gold as his only friend in this tiny village till the day it is stolen from him, much like his life and happiness was stolen fifteen years before.

Meanwhile, two brothers hide secrets from their father and society. Dunstan Cass is the only one who knows about his elder brother’s marriage to a woman he no longer loves. Godfrey wishes he’d never married that woman now that he has found someone else more suitable whom he can never have. And he might have married her too but his brother holds him over a barrel with his secret. And in so doing, he steals money from Godfrey and also from their father. In order to repay the father, he convinces Godfrey to give him his prize horse to sell and then he kills the horse in a riding accident.

Walking home, penniless, to face his brother who must face their father in disgrace, Dunstan finds the door of Silas Marner’s home unlocked and steals his gold then disappears into the night.

It’s at this point that the story actually begins to get a little bit interesting and comes together as one story rather than random chapters placed side-by-side. The village begins to feel sorry for Marner and they dote over him. He, in turn, begins to come out of his shell a bit.

And then a miracle happens–a golden haired toddler appears on Marner’s hearth. Her mother, we know, is Godfrey’s wife come to disgrace him for abandoning them. She freezes to death in the snow–a victim of opium addiction. And, so, Marner takes the child in place of his gold and begins to live again.

But, it’s not till part two that the story actually becomes not only interesting but almost gripping–for all secrets will in their just times be revealed.

An old book with old language and written in the vernacular. Still it is readable and gets better as the chapters go on. Or perhaps it would just be better to skip part one and go on to part two. A classic for its dramatization of real life, the human spirit and what true love really is.

Twelve Ordinary Men

Twelve Ordinary Men: How the Master Shaped His Disciples for Greatness, and What He Wants to Do with You

by John MacArthur

c. 2002

This is my second time through this work. It centers on the disciples–12 men–not church leaders, political figures or wealthy businessmen but just 12 men. Twelve ordinary, everyday men. At least four were fishermen, one a tax collector, another a zealous activist and another a thief. Eleven were Galilean.

But it’s not so much who they were or what personality they started out with or the views they had always had but who they became that is important. They were both hot-headed reactionaries and laid-back “prove it to me” men. But in the end, after all the time they spent with Jesus, they all, except two (John and Judas Iscariot) were martyred for the cause of Christ. All except Judas Iscariot spent the rest of their lives preaching the Gospel.

MacArthur asks the question repeatedly–are they so different from us? And then answers himself, no, they are not. What God did with these men, He can do with us–if we let Him. And that is the difference between the eleven and Judas. In the end, Judas made a choice–a choice Jesus was aware of since before the beginning of time–but a choice to reject the love of God.

Ordinary men–just as we are ordinary people. The similarities only start there.

Gutsy Girls

Gutsy Girls: Young Women Who Dare

by Tina Schwager, P.T.A., and Michele Schuerger

c. 2000

This could just as well be titled Gutsy Teens: Young People Who Dare except that all the featured teens and young adults are women. These young women didn’t stop at being who their mothers and sisters were but followed their hearts and climbed mountains, competed in extreme sports and gave back to the world what had been given to them by their births. This isn’t just about women who challenge their bodies but who also challenge their minds. They look for a way to help others as well as to follow their dreams.

One thing I found disconcerting but which is a symptom of our society was the lack of God in the lives of these women. Only one gave praise to God for what she was able to do and relied on God as part of her dreams.

After the biographies of 25 young women, there is a second section on how to find organizations to work with to further your own dreams. There is also a study section on being positive and reaching dreams including getting your body into shape which is a good reference for people of all ages. There is also a section of dates for when women achieved firsts in the world–some of them firsts for women but many of them firsts for all people.

Aardvarks to Zebras

Aardvarks to Zebras: A Menagerie of Facts, Fiction, and Fantasy About The Wonderful World of Animals

by Melissa S. Tulin

c. 1995

This is a book I’ve had for a long time. I bought it with the idea that the  boys could use it as reference material for school projects but it really isn’t arranged that way. It’s more of a trivia book than a reference work. There’s a lot of interesting information in the book and it could be used in school projects but more as introductory “grabbers” rather than as basic information.

The author is a believer in evolution so that’s a feature that I don’t appreciate but she also includes quizzes and information about animals in myths and religions which is highly valuable to have at your fingertips.

Well worth the time it takes to read though Christians who do not believe in evolution should guide their children through that part of the book.

No Wonder They Call Him The Savior

No Wonder They Call Him The Savior: Experiencing the Truth of the Cross

by Max Lucado

c. 1986, 2004

This was the second time through for me but no less powerful. This time I was reading it as a devotional rather than a study so I didn’t use the study guide in the back but there is a great one there.

This work focuses on Jesus walk to the Cross. It shows the humanity of the Savior as He went willingly to the cross for us. And it brings home the way He still leads us to the cross in our everyday lives. If we will only look around, we will see Him and His love everyday in the faces, voices, needs and gifts of all the people He has created and put into our lives.

This is one of three books in the Chronicles of the Cross series. All are well worth the time it takes to read them. With more than 30 chapters each, a month is still almost too long to take in the power and wisdom found in each.

The Jerusalem Scroll

the answer lies in The Jerusalem Scroll: A Prophetic Novel

by Mike Evans and Robert Wise

c. 1999

This is an interesting concept piece and I’m going to have trouble reviewing it without giving most of it away.  But here goes:

Old Salah who found the Dead Sea Scrolls as a boy has kept a secret all these years. The scrolls weren’t found where he led the archeologists to but in another cave instead and that cave holds another jar with another scroll–a gold scroll. Not golden–but gold. He has kept it this long as a gift to his son Musa who went to college in America to become an archeologist. Musa thinks this must be the ancient “donation of Melchizedek” that will tell the true ownership of Jerusalem.

Musa and his father take the scroll and its accompanying medallion to David and Leah Rosenburg, a husband and wife team of lawyers who specialize in archeological ownership suits. David, a non-practicing Jew was a boyhood friend of the Muslim Musa Saleh. Because of space, David asks another friend, Avraham Halevy who works for the Israeli goverment in the espionage department.

Halevy gives the scroll package to a friend who works under him to put in his safe while David and Leah contact a mutual friend Father Michael Kelly to help Leah and Musa (both ancient linguists) to translate the scroll.

And that’s when it all goes wrong. Musa’s father brags to his brother and is overheard by a couple of boys who inform the Palestinians who decide this is a major threat to their security which leads to…..well, that would spoil the book.

Meanwhile, the three translators find they must reconcile not only the language but their own hearts as well, not just to the project but to each other and God and that leads to……

This is a well-written work by two men who live and work in Israel. The concept is intriguing and the intrigue is captivating. If such a thing as the Donation of Melchizedek actually exists, it just might say what Evans and Wise said it says. And it more than likely would cause what they decided it would cause.

We can only hope that it would turn out the way they ended the book.

But, wait! There’s a sequel! Or will be.

What-the-dickens

What-the-dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy

by Gregory Maguire

c. 2007

What-the-dickens was born an orphan in a tuna can and greeted by a cat named McCavity. He then went on an adventure to discover who and what he was–a skibberee–known to humans as the tooth fairy. Or one of them. Along the way he meets an old woman who doesn’t want to die, a tiger with a bad tooth, a grisset who wants to make him a meal for her chicks, and Pepper, a skibberee who wants to be an agent of change.

But What-the-dickens isn’t the whole story. What-the-dickens is only a story a young English teacher is telling his younger cousins through the night of a hurricane as a distraction from the fact that their parents are gone and so is the food.

Or is it just a story? Who really is What-the-dickens and what happens to him in the end?

Starting out as an assignment a teacher gave to his class then did himself, this has the makings of classic literature. A good read with well thought out and well developed and researched characters. This isn’t fluff and nonsense but sticking together and thinking of others. Worth reading several times.

Jesus, Life Coach

Jesus, Life Coach

by Laurie Beth Jones

c. 2004

In a time when everyone seems to be hiring their own personal coach or trainer, Laurie Beth Jones brings us the best and only true coach–Jesus Christ. Jesus staked His life on us and seeks only to make the best of us and our lives so, of course, He will give us the best coaching and advice–and already has in the Bible.

Sixty short stories and devotionals seek to bring a life and destination with Jesus into a clearer focus with clearer and cleaner motivation toward what each of us should be doing to further the Kingdom of God–not everything but the best things we are to do because He seeks for us to do those things. No man or woman is to be the only one to do ministry nor are we to try to do all ministry–but we are to seek out the ministry that is ours for today and do it.

A wonderful devotional. Worth reading several times. For anyone needing a coach–even if they are not athletic.