A Beautiful Noise

Saturday, January 3rd, Frank and I went to a matinee performance of the Neil Diamond Musical A Beautiful Noise. We had our usual season ticket holder seats in Row12, a bit off to the side. The pre-show staging (a solid colored curtain) was underwhelming but the show itself way more made up for that blah-ness while waiting for the show to begin.

I do not view myself as an avid Neil Diamond fan but I was familiar with his name. The song list in the program included many songs I did not recognize but those I did, I really knew. The ones that hit most for me are highlighted in yellow. I'm a Believer and Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow were big hits with The Monkees and I was a big fan of them at their peak. The audience sang along to Sweet Caroline. Sweet Caroline was also made famous by baseball games held in Fenway Park in Boston, home of the Boston Red Sox. Begun in 1997, the tradition of singing along to that song at the bottom of the eight inning, officially became a fan ritual in 2002.

One particular song, Forever In Blue Jeans, highlighted in blue (of course) was not familiar to me but the performer who danced it was phenomenal and had a fantastic figure to go with the jeans. She was a real knockout with a curvaceous trim figure certainly worthy of a "10". Watching her was awesome, even with me not being a guy. The lyrics to this song also have a sweet sentiment.

Money talks

But it don't sing and dance and it don't walk

And long as I can have you here with me

I'd much rather be forever in blue jeans

Frank and I learned of the humble beginnings of Neil Diamond and his rise to stardom. He truly, truly loved touring; it gave him confidence and a sense of well being that was instrumental in helping him overcome his innate shyness as a child, adolescent, and early adulthood. A Letter from Neil in the program stated:

The singing and dancing of the musical was energetic. Frank and I had a great time and are glad we went. Our limited knowledge of Neil Diamond and his songs did not matter at all.

The Black Wolf

My first read of 2026, The Black Wolf ©2025 by Louise Penny, was unfortunately a real loser for me. Goodreads rated this novel 4.2 stars (23,1776 ratings) and Amazon readers rated it 4.4 stars (13,076 ratings), so I expected my enjoyment to be commensurate. Nevertheless, I rate The Black Wolf a dismal one star. What a bummer of a way to start the new year!

Louise Penny has been a favorite author of mine and I have read all her novels. I revel in the serenity and the characters in the secluded village of Three Pines. Although these characters did make cameo appearances and lead detective Armand Gamache seemed to work remotely from the village as much as possible, the local people and setting seemed to be only a feeble homage to satisfy readers' desire for these features. This was not a murder mystery with precisely developed characters, motives, clues, and alibis but rather a huge, impersonal, international plot of a politically motivated power grab.

There were too many people with titles and political positions for me to follow. Even if I had created a chart or list as I progressed through the book, none of these persons were assigned a personality in depth. Each identity was not sufficient enough for me to align myself with either rooting for them or loathing them. Also the plot was too expansive and disjointed. I do admit I was very biased by my present disgust of the Trump administration's tactics in promoting domestic and international turmoil. This novel, rather than engage me, upset me, and was the opposite extreme of providing an enjoyable reading experience. I completed The Black Wolf but I rate it only one star.

★☆☆☆☆ Awful but I read most or maybe even all of it

I am rethinking my intention of reading all of Louise Penny's books. I realize an author needs to grow and not churn out the same story over and over. But I am also learning that I prefer a "whodunnit" with quirky characters and a plot I can follow. If that makes me an immature, politically ignorant reader, so be it. Reading should be for pleasure. I still prefer dessert over the main course. I suspect this author is "growing" in a direction that diverges from my preferences. Here is a quick review of my rating of her past books. Near the end of my 1/28/25 post on The Grey Wolf  are the blog post links for my review of each of these novels.