As a musician who is also a writer, Ned Rorem claims that some years ago the IRS, at a loss as to how to pigeonhole him for their purposes, settled on the designation of "Other Entertainment" when noting the source of his livelihood. Thus the title of this fourteenth book by a composer who has been universally acclaimed for his prose, and a writer who has won a Pulitzer Prize for his music. He goes beyond music in this collection, however, reaching...