The extraordinary career of Franz Liszt (18118211;86) as a composer, conductor, and virtuoso pianist8212;whose incomparable skill and personal charisma dazzled audiences all over Europe, from London and Paris to Berlin, Moscow, and even Constantinople8212;made him the nineteenth-century equivalent of a modern international pop star. In the spirit of Liszt8217;s own innovative compositions and sparkling piano transcriptions of other composers8217; work, John Spurling here takes up the ambitious task of writing a fictionalized biography of Liszt8217;s life. 160; Liszt himself once said, 8220;My biography is more to be invented than written after the fact,8221; and Spurling8217;s fifteen self-contained chapters8212;themselves virtuoso performances in a variety of styles from a variety of viewpoints8212;capture precisely this notion of innovation and creativity. Spurling tells of Liszt8217;s mesmeric effect on audiences, his notorious love affairs with remarkable women, and his fraught friendship with Richard Wagner, who deeply offended Liszt by seducing and eventually marrying his daughter Cosima. 160; Inspired by Spurling8217;s own fascination with Liszt8217;s music, A Book of Liszts is a highly original, imaginative, and multifaceted portrait of a humorous, romantic, and passionate genius whose work and life is still not as well known as it deserves to be.