Oh! I'd forgotten to tell you, then: I did read The Memory of Whiteness, off your recommendation. I didn't like it as much as The Years of Rice and Salt, but I think it might be because I know history, but not the technical aspects of music at all, so that I was lost in the more detailed descriptions of the instruments and songs. I did quite like a lot of it, though, particularly the world-building, the way each of the planets and moons were so different, and the scenes of Earth were beautifully described.