Louis Moreau Gottschalk

If you thought you knew all the noted 19th-century piano virtuosi who were also composers, you may have overlooked one. Gottschalk, a Louisiana native, was considered to be the equal of Chopin and Listz. Sadly, he died young, but his music lingers on--a kind of monument to the Romantic era.

Dual biography: Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals and Queens

Audio link

This is a sort of book review and demo of audio software.

Sometimes, a biography doesn't focus on one subject, but rather on two. The contrast and juxtaposition make for interesting reading. I have always thought that a bio of this kind featuring Jackie O and her sister, Lee, would be interesting, even entertaining!

The relationship of Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart is simply too good to pass up. In Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals and Queens, Jane Dunn has brought her skills to bear on this regal duo.

I hope you enjoy the clarity of this blog item. I recorded it on my computer, not on the telephone, using a beta version of APH's Studio Recorder software. A tech friend, who once went by the cyber tag "Tyre," showed me how to handle this software. I kept telling myself, "You are not a dunce. You are not a dunce. We all have our strong points." But I wished there were a strong point broker where one could exchange one's unmarketable strong points for marketable ones. Alas. Talk about needing one's cerebrum rotated.

Text and audio by David Faucheux

HEAR David Faucheux's TEXT postings--via a new feed for your iTunes or other software

We're experimenting with the TalkR service. In a fairly natural-sounding female voice, TalkR will read you the texts that generally accompany David Faucheux's audio entries. You can still hear David himself by clicking on the usual icons from Audioblogger. Now, however, even if David simply posts text, you'll still be able to hear an audio.

Currently this wrinkle is available only via an experimental audio feed, rather than by clicking on the audio icons at the bottom of each post in David F's blog. We hope to fix that.

Here's the URL to copy into your iTunes or other software: https://www.talkr.com/app/cast_pods.app?feed_id=11187

The main TeleRead blog, focused on e-books, is also using the TalkR service. The feed for voice synthesized text is at https://www.talkr.com/app/cast_pods.app?feed_id=10812 and an explanation is at http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=4248

Richard Hauenstein: Part II

Interview with Richard Hauenstein, talking-book narrator: Part I

Listening as much as I have to talking books, I have often wondered about the narrators/readers who produce these books. Books come to life with the efforts skilled narrators bring to their craft.

Recently, I emailed Laura Resnick, author of The Destroyer Goddess, to say how much I enjoyed this book and the two prequels. I mentioned the narrator and she offered to e-mail him on my behalf. She did. He and I exchanged e-mails, and this interview resulted. I'll be happy to forward any e-mails to him that any blog listener has as I know he'd be glad to hear from you. Enjoy!

One More Time: A book review

"Will you still need me? Will you still please me, when I'm 64?" I thought of the Beatles lyrics while reading One More Time by Effie Leland Wilder. Her first book,Out to Pasture, was published in 1995 when she was 85. So there is hope for me yet! I liked that book and its sequels. They are all funny, warm and attempt to find the humor and the humanity in aging, a road we must all walk down on life's journey. Enjoy.

Noble House: A Novel of Contemporary Hong Kong: A book review

I first encountered Noble House in December of 1986 or thereabouts. While it was not strictly an historical novel, I chose to see it as one. Noble House was set in 1963, before I was born--therefore, history to me--and nearly 50 years have passed since then.

The novel covers less than a fortnight in time but sprawls over more than 1,000 pages. Clavell brings a microscopic (no, nanoscopic) eye to Hong Kong, its people, and their Byzantine ways.

I regret Clavell died in 1994 because I had hoped he might have considered writing one more novel in his Asian Series. The books were not written in chronological order but can be read this way: Shogun (1600 AD), Tai-pan (1841 AD), Gai-jin(1862 AD), King Rat (1945), Noble House (1963), and Whirlwind (1979). The dates in () indicate when the action occurred. Whirlwind garnered for Clavell the largest pre-publication advance in publishing history up to that time but did not earn back as the publishers thought it would. It was my least favorite.

There could have been one more novel set during the 1997 transfer of Hong Kong from British suzerainty to the ministrations of the Red Chinese. It would have been interesting to see what might have happened to the Noble House and the tai-pan who appeared in Whirlwind. Too bad the Clavell estate has not been able to have the book written! Alas. We may never know how the former Crown Colony would have fared in the fictional pages of this interesting author.

Correction of the audio: Linc's last name is Bartlett, not Burnet.