Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel's Messiah

Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel's Messiah by Charles King

Handel's Messiah has become one of the most famous classical works. It's Irish debut at a charity function was very well received. After that, it faded in popularity before it boomed again. The book focuses mostly on the background of the time and characters involved. Handel had leaned into playing for his audience. He took elements of popular opera, but made them accessible in English. Scriptural stories were also understood. Oratorios were an alternative to the high production costs of opera. The book also delves into the history of one of the early stars of his opera. She was a popular actress, but then had a scandalous personal life due to an affair and distance from her playboy husband. Years after things calmed down she was ready to make a comeback with Handel.

Hamlet: A BBC Radio Production

Hamlet: A BBC Radio Production by William Shakespeare

This production of Hamlet tries to hard to be different. Key soliloquies like "To be or not to be" or intentionally understated. I think I got the most from the opening commentary. The story deals with madness and revenge. Were the feigning madness or actually mad? It can be hard to tell. People accidentally die before the main combatants die. It is ridiculously famous, but hard to understand.

The Golden Notebook

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing

Rather than a novel, this reads like a long notebook of anecdotes lumped together. There are different parts of the author's life that are explored. She is communist during the time of the red scare. That provides a big part of her identity. However, she is losing faith in it. The bad actions of people like Stalin as well as some of the drivel that gets published have caused issues. She also explores her sex life. There seems to be many cases of having affairs with sexually frustrated married men. What is the place of women in the world and. how can she live an appropriately fulfilling life? The life of a novelist ties much of this together. Her novel explores areas that are verboten. Her status as a communist also makes it challenging. The book goes on and on and seems to repeat the same things told from a somewhat different angle.

Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

This is better than the Jane Austen books, but it is long. Jane is a governess. She falls for the much older Rochester and is upset that he is going to get married. He offers to marry her, but this falls apart when it is found he was already married. At the end, he becomes an invalid and they are able to marry. There is a lot of detail and conversation in between, with family history and wealth all tied together. 

Northanger Abbey

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

This is a Jane Austen novel combined a bit with a gothic/horror novel. The characters are interested in getting in relationships and all concerned about manners. However, they need to go to a house where every creek seems to be the same of some scary event, only to be a person walking up. It is a lighter, better Jane Austen, and almost feels like she is starting to do a "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" treatment. (But she doesn't quite get that far.)

To the Lighthouse

A bunch of British people are going on a vacation near a Lighthouse. Most of the novel is spent exploring the inner thoughts of the characters. That would be great if I could relate to the characters. Alas, I had trouble caring much about them and could not focus well on the book.

Hedda Gabler

Hedda Gabler married someone a man in hopes of a well-to-do future. They discover that there financial future is not as good as optimistic as hoped. She meets up with an old friend that has left her husband. Later she ends up involved with another man and some manuscripts. A few people die by gun shot (including self-inflicted) and it ends miserably ever after.