Recommended Gifts For Reading During the Holiday Season

John Fleming of the St. Petersburg Times offers up two operatically tinged books that would make great gifts this holiday season: "The Wagner books continue to get churned out. The most recent to offer something new is Wagner and the Erotic Impulse by Laurence Dreyfus (Harvard University Press, 266 pages, $27.95). 'What is it in the notes and sounds -- in their melodies, harmony, orchestration, rhythm and texture -- that arouse thoughts of sexual desire?' asks Dreyfus of Wagner's music. Another notable opera book is Garry Wills' meditation on two masters of the stage, Verdi's Shakespeare: Men of the Theater (Viking, 225 pages, $25.95)." [Source]