Toot My Horn

observations about music, electronics, and life

The Piano Mover (And other silly titles for novels)

Douglas becomes Books

May|12|2009

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When I go browsing for books, I often see the latest bestsellers stacked up at the front of the bookstore. Their fancy cover art adorning nice hardback editions. I can’t help but wonder though, why the authors keep romantisizing musicians in their titles.

I compiled a list by release date:

2000 – The trend really began here with Katharine Weber’s The Music Lesson, and Wladyslaw Szpilman’s The Pianist. The latter book was made into a movie that earned three academy awards.

2002-2003 – We get a few more books, including El Guitarrista by Luis Landero, and my favorite title by far, The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason. Having never read the book, I can only speculate what makes a cranky old guy who carries a wrench in a briefcase interesting.

2007 – The Violinist by Robert Kahn and The Piano Lesson by August Wilson. Even though The Piano Lesson was written in 1936, Toni Morrison is anticipating the spate of music novels that will be released the following year.  If things had stopped here, all would be fine.

2008 – The Long Beat of the Metronome by Bruce Adam, The Musician’s Daughter by Susanne Dunlap, The Soloist by Steve Lopez. (There are several other books titled The Soloist, although this one is a movie now)

2009 – The Piano Teacher by Janice Y. K. Lee (again, several other books with this title, including one about a psychotic killer) The Music Teacher by Barbara Hall.

Now I don’t fault any of these books individually, but taken as a whole, they seem more like marketing hype than literary genius. The stark title is what sets these books off as being somehow more important. This is similar to the trend in restaurant names. Names like Rye, Baoguette, Spice, Orange, Eve, and … you get the idea.

This is type of fiction that makes me both admire and hate books like The English Patient. The historical trappings, exotic locales, and belief that nostalgia can elevate any mediocre work to greatness.

I am announcing my own novel to be published later this year. It will be titled The Sousaphone Repairer.



3 Responses

  1. Daily News About The Soloist : A few links about The Soloist - Tuesday, 12 May 2009 11:08

    12|May|2009

    [...] The Piano Mover (And other silly titles for novels) [...]

  2. Katharine Weber

    12|May|2009

    My title was taken from the Vermeer of that title belonging to Queen Elizabeth. It’s a novel about a stolen painting, not about a literal music lesson.

    You omitted the 1990 Dennis McFarland novel, The Music Room. And before that, the 1987 story collection by Ellen Hunnicutt, In the Music Library.

    But……..so?

  3. Douglas

    12|May|2009

    Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I am aware of those older titles but I was focusing on what I felt was a recent trend. As a professional musician and teacher, I see the humor in how musicians are portrayed in both books and movies, many of which I also happen to enjoy. Seeing all the books with similar names made me think of how this could be taken to its logical conclusion as the titles became more and more absurd. A superficial observation perhaps, but one I felt was amusing nonetheless.