My choice of book this week for my Friday meme combo is Imperfect Harmony: Finding Happiness Singing with Others by Stacy Horn. I just received this from Early Reviewers at LibraryThing and look froward to reading it soon. The following description is found at GoodReads:
Why do we sing? For Stacy Horn, singing in a community choir the Choral Society of Grace Church in New York is the one thing in her life that never fails to take her to a transcendent place and remind her that everything good is possible. She s not particularly religious and (she ll be the first to point out) her voice isn t exactly the stuff of legend, but like thousands of other amateur chorus members throughout this country and the world, singing with other people makes her happy. As Horn relates her funny and profound experiences as a choir member, she treats us to an eclectic history of group singing and the music that moves us, whether we re hearing it for the first time or the hundredth; the dramatic stories of conductors and composers; and discoveries from the new science of singing, including the remarkable physical benefits of song. Life can be hard, battles continue to rage all around us, and by midlife most of us have had our share of disappointments. Here is the unexpected story of one woman who nevertheless has found joy and strength in the weekly ritual of singing some of the greatest music humanity has ever produced.
Now for this week’s excerpts:
Book Beginnings is hosted by Gilion at Rose City Reader, who invites anyone to join in, saying: ‘Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author. Leave a link to your post. If you don’t have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.’
The beginning of Imperfect Harmony:
Anthracite is the most beautiful coal in the world. A coal car of anthracite emerging from the mines looks like a mountainful of dusty but sparkling diamonds. It is also the hardest, densest, rarest, and most expensive coal in the world. When it burns, it burns blue, and if it catches fire underground it’s almost impossible to put out. An anthracite fire that began in Centralia, Pennsylvania, in 1962 continues to burn today.
An interesting beginning, but I’m not sure what it has to do with singing with others. I guess I’ll have to read it to find out.
The Friday 56 is a book meme hosted by Freda’s Voice and the rules are as follows:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it) that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url.
It’s that simple.
From page 56 of Imperfect Harmony:
The one and only time I ever auditioned for anything was for a part in Bye Bye Birdie in high school. I showed up for the audition, stood at the piano, and panicked. My voice went immediately flat.
I’m not a big fan of auditions, so I can identify with this kind of thing happening. I think I’ll probably enjoy this book. I used to sing in a local community choir, so I’m interested in reading about the author’s experiences.
Two weeks from everywhere 