S13:Ep262 - The Fire Concerto with Guest Sarah Landenwich + Our Summer in Books

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You can find Sarah Landenwich on her website SarahLandenwich.com or on IG @sarahlandenwich

 

Our guest this week, novelist Sarah Landenwich, has turned her own experience as a talented pianist who lost her passion into a compelling, many-layered book about music, competition, history, and legacy. THE FIRE CONCERTO is about a woman named Clara who left a career as a classical pianist following a devastating fire that left her hands painfully scarred. She also left behind a tortured relationship with her former piano teacher. But when that instructor dies and leaves Clara a 19th century metronome, it sends her down a path of mystery about who the metronome belonged to and how that connects to Clara.

In our book recommendation segment of the show, we complete that old chestnut of a back to school assignment: the "What Did You Do This Summer?" essay. But we do it in the form of books. Carrie gives us some German authors she read while preparing for her family trip to Germany in June. And Amy highlights some books based on her Amsterdam and Wisconsin vacation spots, while also recommending a book by an author she saw at the Columbus Book Festival.

 

Books Mentioned in this Episode

1- A Home for Friendless Women by Kelly E. Hill 

2- The Fire Concerto by Sarah Landenwich 

3- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi 

4- Possession by AS Byatt 

5- Plainsong (trilogy) by Kent Haruf

6- Old Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

7- The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich

8- How to Be Well: Navigating Our Self Care Epidemic One Dubious Cure at a Time by Amy LaRocca 

9- Say Everything by Ione Skye 

10- The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

11- A Five Star Read recommended by fellow Book Lover Cathleen @wovenfromwords - Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray 

12- Sleepless by Romy Hausmann

13- What Happens in Amsterdam by Rachel Lynn Solomon 

14- The Murder Farm by Andrea Maria Schenkel 

15- A Death in Door County (Monster Hunter series) by Annelise Ryan 

16- Death in the Dark Woods (Monster Hunter series) by Annelise Ryan

17- Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home by Nora Krug

18- The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb

 

Media Mentioned:

 

1- Speed Museum Glass Art exhibit - https://www.speedmuseum.org/the-adele-and-leonard-leight-glass-art-award-victoria-ahmadizadeh-melendez/

2- Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

3- The Naked Gun (2025)