Pianolady wrote:


You can be sure, that I shall not tell it here!



As a real german cowboy I´m hauling my weapons faster than you!

Hi Monica,
I have looked for recapitulations of the novels of William Sleator and I have found some here:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/william-sleator/
But it seems, that no other of his novels has something to do with piano or even music. So, we would have to look for another author. But I have to admit, that I`m quite helpless in this point, because I don´t know the American and English literature of today.
I would be glad, if you or Nathan could find a nice and piano related new novel for us.

Ok, Hi again, Andreas. I have had no time today to look for books but I will do so very soon. I know there are many books relating to music, so I know we will find one.

Hi Andreas,

I think I have found a book possibility. Here is the information: The title is just plain, "Piano".


Piano : a novel / Jean Echenoz ; translated from the French by Mark Polizzotti.

Max Delmarc, age 50, is a famous concert pianist with two problems: the first is a paralyzing stage fright for which the second, alcohol, is the only treatment. In this unparalleled comedy from the Prix Concourt-winning French novelist Jean Echenoz, we journey with Max, from the trials of his everyday life, through his untimely death, and on into the afterlife.

After a brief stay in purgatory—part luxury hotel, part minimum security prison, under the supervision of deceased celebrities—Max is cast into an alarmingly familiar partition of hell, "the urban zone," a dark and cloudy city much like his native Paris on an eternally bad day. Unable to play his beloved piano or stomach his needed drink, Max engages in a hapless struggle to piece his former life back together while searching in vain for the woman he once loved.

An acclaimed bestseller with 50,000 copies sold in France, Piano is a sly, sardonic evocation of Dante and Sartre for the present day, the playful, daring masterpiece of a novelist at the top of his form.

Author Biography: Jean Echenoz won France's prestigious Prix Goncourt for I'm Gone. He is the author of four previous novels in English translation, including Big Blondes and Cherokee, winner of the Prix Medicis. He lives in Paris. Translator Mark Polizzotti is publications director at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Formerly the editorial director of David R. Godine, Publisher, he has translated works by André Breton, Patrick Chamoiseau, and Marguerite Duras.

*******************************************

Sounds a bit different, doesn't it? But I like books with unusual and quirky plots and settings. And Andreas - this book is also in French, and I know French is easier for you than English and so maybe you'd like to read it in French and I will read it in English? But I also know you are trying to improve your English so then of course you would want the English version like what I will read.

Anyway, does this interest you? It's okay if it does not. I can keep looking.

Hi Monica,
thank you for your research. I also would like to read this book. It´s interesting, I have found an English version and a German version, but not one in French.
I have ordered both, the English and the German book and I´ll read both. I think, it will be very interesting and instructional to compare the English translation with the German one. That´s a very nice reading for my holidays, I think. (My other one will be a book about "Maria Stuart - might and passion" by Reay Tannahill, I don´t know, if the title is original, it´s a word-by-word-translation of the German title "Macht und Leidenschaft", but the author is an English-man. I have to teach "Maria Stuart" by Friedrich Schiller in the next school-year and I wanted to increase my background-knowledge by a historic biography.)

I found the following English recapitulation:
Max Delmarc, age 50, is a famous concert pianist with two problems: the first is a paralyzing stage fright for which the second, alcohol, is the only treatment. In this unparalleled comedy from the Prix Concourt-winning French novelist Jean Echenoz, we journey with Max, from the trials of his everyday life, through his untimely death, and on into the afterlife. After a brief stay in purgatory - part luxury hotel, part minimum security prison, under the supervision of deceased celebrities - Max is cast into an alarmingly familiar partition of hell, "the urban zone," a dark and cloudy city much like his native Paris on an eternally bad day. Unable to play his beloved piano or stomach his needed drink, Max engages in a hapless struggle to piece his former life back together while searching in vain for the woman he once loved. An acclaimed bestseller with 50,000 copies sold in France, Piano is a sly, sardonic evocation of Dante and Sartre for the present day, the playful, daring masterpiece of a novelist at the top of his form.

And one in German (just for the case, you like to compare the English recapitulation with the German one):

"Max Delmarc, der erfolgreiche 50-jährige Pianist, hat noch 22 Tage zu leben. Aber für jeden großen Künstler gibt es ein Leben nach dem Tod, und war das Leben von Max nicht eher die Hölle? Die tägliche Angst vor dem gefräßigen Rachen des Pianos war ohnehin nur im Alkohol zu ertränken, und auf die Bühne musste er förmlich gestoßen werden, bevor er sein Publikum verzauberte. Ein Leben, ganz der Kunst gewidmet, ist wie eine Schattenexistenz, in der Frauen, beispielsweise, nur als Phantome auftreten ... Nach einem nächtlichen Überfall landet Max im Purgatorium, das einem großstädtischen Krankenhaus zum Verwechseln ähnelt, und das Urteil wird gesprochen: Entlassung in ein neues Leben in einer paradiesischen Parklandschaft oder - wie für Max - in der "städtischen Zone", die Paris sein könnte und die wir Lebenden auch Hölle nennen ..."

O.k., I think, that´s an interesting choice and I have ordered the book in English and in German.

Ok, great. I will put up a new thread about book number 3 shortly.

And Andreas, approximately when do you expect to receive your books? Also, are you taking a laptop computer with you when you go on vacation?

btw - I've read and seen a lot of movies about Mary Stuart's cousin, Queen Elizabeth, but I don't know so much about Mary herself. I like learning about those times, so maybe one day we can find a book that deals with both keyboard music (harpsichord?) and the life of royals or any old body in the fifteen or sixteen hundreds. Or 1700 or 1800 for that matter. I love all that historical stuff.

That´s the problem. The German book I will have within 3 or 4 days, the English version has a delivery time of 2 - 4 weeks, like our novel "Fingers" had had for me. So, I fear we can´t read it commonly in the time of my vacations. I have no laptop-computer, but I´ll write you a pm concerning this matter.



Yes, would be interesting to find such a novel. Friedrich der Große was a great flute-player, but I don´t know any king or monarch of the 15th-18th century, who was also a good piano- respective harpsichord-player. Do you know one?

No, I don't. But it might make a nice little research project so I will look into sometime.

And I have something personal to say too so I'm going over to the pm's now.

Ok, it's three hours later and I had some time to look into our next next book. All I'm doing today is baking cakes and smoking my butt for my son's birthday party tomorrow. I have a lot of waiting around time right now.

I did not find much in the way of 15th or 16th century historical novels involving keyboard music. There are some novels about Mozart, 1. Marrying Mozart - I read that one a long time ago, but would not mind reading it again. 2. Mozart's Sister - about Nanerl.

I'll keep looking....

Hi Monica,
first, could you send me a piece of the birthday-cake? (Hoo, "to smoke my butt", I don´t dare to translate that into good German. )

Yes, I think, nearly every biography of composers of the 15th to 18th century would be possible to read, too, and I think, this would be very interesting, but I thought, you would like to combine the story of a person of nobility and something piano respective music related. That´s not so easy, I think. Mozart f.ex. was not a person of nobility.

It's not my butt I am smoking. It's a pig's.

I should have worded that differently. I was talking about a pork roast. I put a large pork butt (roast) in the smoker and cook it for about 10 hours. The meat becomes so tender that you can pull it apart with a fork. We call it "pulled pork". I am making barbecued pulled-pork sandwiches for the party tomorrow. I know you won't eat it, so I will send you just the cake (chocolate).

And yes - I would be interested in reading biographies of composers. But I also really like historical novels. Well, we can just wait until after our current book read before we have to pick out another one.

Oh, sorry, first I thought you wanted to say something vulgar like "I´m working my butt off". But surely you wouldn´t say things like that, right?!
"To smoke" I knew only in expressions like "to smoke a cigarette" or something like that. So, this was really a missunderstanding because of my imperfect English.



I agree. First let us read "Piano", then we could have a look for a nice historical novel or a composer-biography.