Two Book Reviews and a stroll through my life in records

It's been a while since I've written any book reviews. I gambol through books (on average one a week) and never seem to find time to write about them. However, this time I want to mention the last two I've read.

Dark Twists is an anthology of short stories written by LiterEight, a group of  eight female writers from Ayrshire. I picked up this little book (84 pages in all) when I was at Swanwick Writer's Summer School back in August. They always have a great book room (that's where all money goes!) Anyway, I really enjoyed these stories. Here you will find crime, supernatural, mystery and sci-fi. The stories are amusing, sad and some have endings I really didn't see coming. There is a good spread of revenge stories (some go right, others wrong), some spooky and some unexpected. All of them were great reads and it is a handy little book to take around with you. I read most of the stories on train journeys into and out of London. Nice reads and good contrasts.

The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce is a book I got lost in. I have loved all the books from this author and this one was particularly 'me' because it is about music (though essentially it is a book about love and friendship). It is set in 1988 as it starts and Frank runs his music store selling only vinyl. The shop is on a run down street which is being targeted by developers. Those left in the street are a motley crew and all  have been helped by Frank. He has a natural gift for knowing exactly which record a customer needs for that moment in their life. He then meets Isla and even though Frank is drawn to her he gave up on love years ago, but he agrees to give Isla music lessons. They meet once a week when Frank gives her  four albums and explains the best track and how to understand it. The descriptions are truly wonderful and I love this part. As a music lover myself and still passionate about vinyl this story resonated with me.

I cannot give too much away about the novel. Things go wrong between the two and everything comes to a head with a yet more devastating blow to Frank. How ever will there be happy ending?

This book comes with a playlist on Spotify (yes, I've listened to it). I loved everything about this book. And then something strange happened. The other day I decided to play some of my vinyl records and my record deck wouldn't work. I've had my Sony deck over thirty years and it was serious blow.  Hubby and I took it a local shop where they do repairs as well as sell VERY expensive hi-fi (and they also sell vinyl!). Unfortunately my deck was beyond repair but the guy found me a nice Pioneer deck which we rigged up and this morning I was playing a Paul Simon album!

When so many of my friends have sold their old records I still have all of mine and while we are here I guess it's a good time to have a walk through my life in vinyl.

The Locomotion - Little Eva (1962) . This was the first proper record I owned, bought for me by mum and dad. I was seven. We had a disc jockey record player in red and cream. You could see the valves through the speaker grill as it warmed up. It had a distinctive warm smell.

Jupiter (from The Planet Suite) - Gustav Holst. I first heard this in Junior School and  it was probably my first introduction to classical music. I loved it and it is still one of my favourite pieces .(Part of it was made into a hymn - I Vow to Thee My Country and the hymn brings tears to my eyes).

Mr Tambourine Man - The Byrds (1965). This reminds me of that summer, playing with my brother in the garden. We had a sheet tent  and a play tea set, kettle and a plastic flask! There was a lot of water, mud and grass!

God Only Knows - The Beach Boys  (1966) (From the outstanding Pet Sounds Album). I only have to hear the first bars of this song and my heart and stomach does that weird dropping feeling. I came to this later than it's release year but it is up there as an all time favourite.

Music - John Miles (1976) This is my life's anthem. It is a terrific song and the lyrics say everything I could ever say about music and how it affects me. It speaks to my heart. I recently attended a concert by The Friary Guildford Band (brass band) and they played this and wow! what a great performance. It hit me emotionally and I was fighting back the tears.

Tango In the Night - Fleetwood Mac  (1987) (album) This album was playing the whole time at the hotel where my hubby and I were on honeymoon in 1988. I came home and bought it on cassette!

Eternal Flame - The Bangles (1989). This song is the one that was playing in the nursery when I was in hospital after the birth of eldest son. Dawn was breaking and this just felt so right.

Stay - Shakespeare's Sister (1992) This belongs to my second son. It was Number one when he was born.

Adagio for Strings ( by the composer Samuel Barber) - William Orbit  - from the album Pieces in the Modern Style (1995) I first heard this as a trance mix and found that it was taken from an album by William Orbit. I had to ask for help  in HMV Records as I didn't know the section his music came under. It 's dance/electronic. I bought the album. This track is beautiful and I have it in many versions - various trance mixes, classical and classical with words. It was also the trance mix that got me interested in trance music as a whole and now I play it all the time, especially when writing. I think my love of trance stems from the 80's electronic pop I so adore. I have this album on CD.

After the above there are loads of songs that hold memories, especially when my brother used to tape the top 20 on his reel to reel tape recorder. Remember those? We would play it back in my bedroom. Songs that remind me of that  time include Blackberry Way - The Move, Do It Again - The Beach Boys. Then there were 45's I borrowed from my brother - Afternoon Delight, Good Morning Starshine, and the Everly Brothers album.

Then there are the people who introduced me to other singers/bands. An early short-lived boyfriend played me Machine Head by Deep Purple and it's still one of my favourite albums (I then explored more music in this genre). I also discovered two bands before they made it big - Dire Straits and Big Country.

My parents hooked me into classical - my parents liked Your Hundred Best Tunes  (on radio as well as vinyl) and my father was a bit of a rebel as he also liked some country music (Don Williams) as well as a bit of Del Shannon and Bert Kaempfert. I was never into the choral music they loved (they sang in a choir.....hah! so do I now but not choral).

All these influences, mainly on vinyl, are in bedded into me. They are part of my life and part of me. I have files of lyrics in my head. I have up music when I'm down, music to dance to, and music to relax by as well as to write to. Music has the ability to take you back to a certain day and event in your life and all the memories come flooding back. It is a mood maker and I cannot imagine my life without it.

The range of music I listen to keeps extending. I keep learning and exploring. My kids got me into things - a little hip hop and bands like Evanescence and The Kaiser Chiefs. My elder son and I share music sometimes while the younger one used to hate it when I walked into his room and asked 'what's that?' in case I liked it!

I guess reading the book The Music Shop really made me focus on how music has influenced my life and still does. I apologise for waffling on. I'm afraid talking about music does that to me. As John Miles sings - Music was my first love, and it will be my last, music of the future, music of the past.....

Do you have a piece or pieces of music that mean a lot to you? Why not share?

My new record deck