From Little Acorns

I was once adept at corporate-speak and could cram all the buzz words into a report with the best of them, but a character in this book has me beat to glory. Fortunately for all of us, other characters translate for us nicely and the humor rolls on. Written for a British audience, the language and spelling and, occasionally, the vocabulary, required me to take advantage of Wikipedia on the fly, one of the benefits of e-reading. Trust me, it is well worth that time because this is even funnier when you understand some of the more obscure-to-non-Britons descriptions. This, the second of author Isabel Rogers' stories about a small local orchestra with more than its share of drama and funny business (bad pun fully intended), stands alone quite nicely but you will do yourself a favor if you look up book one. (And I am listening to Mussorgsky--one of the pieces performed by the orchestra--as I write.)

A great series of light reading books covering the trials of an amateur orchestra, this time doing outreach to 2 very different schools. Perfect, light summer reading.

A light hearted, musical mystery was the perfect way to start the summer holidays. I'd not read the first in this series but it didn't impact my enjoyment of this one. Particularly enjoyable were the sections describing the orchestra at work and I the pub scenes also seemed to ring very true to life :D
Will definitely go back and read the first one now.

I am pleased to say that I liked Bold As Brass a lot more than its predecessor, Life, Death and Cellos. It’s still pretty fluffy nonsense, but it’s much better done and an enjoyable read.

This time, the Stockwell Park Orchestra embarks on a “community outreach scheme” which means getting students (invariably referred to as “kids” - hmm) from two local schools to participate in the orchestra. One is a rough state school struggling to emerge from Special Measures, the other a posh minor public school, steeped in wealth, history and entitlement. Rivalries, skulduggery and a minor mystery ensue, with friendly DCI Noel Osmar on hand to help to sort things out.

Once again, the real strength of the book is Isabel Rogers’s writing about music and musicians which she does with real insight, fondness and wit. The plot itself is...well, it’s Enid Blyton for grown-ups, really, with some almost pantomimic stereotypes and the dastardly rotters eventually being thoroughly routed by the jolly nice people. It’s a lot of fun, though, and Rogers has tightened things up greatly, so that the whole thing is well focussed and skips along nicely. Although it’s pretty plain what is going to happen, I wanted to keep reading and enjoyed it a lot; I have the sense that she might be hitting her stride with this series.

So, overall, a light, fun read with some genuinely interesting stuff about music and performance, and which is well written and enjoyable. Recommended.

(My thanks to Farrago for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Second in the series this is a wonderful entertaining series about the world of a band. the characters come alive already looking forward to next book in the series.#netgalley. #farrago

Bold as Brass is a good book with a interesting storyline. The characters are well developed. A quick read..