Letter #27: Playlists for Books

Classic pairings of songs with stories

Dear readers,

I hope everyone is having a lovely day! This was a rather long week for me, so I enjoyed writing this letter in fits and starts when I had time throughout the week.

I’ve had this kind of list bobbing around my brain for some time, so this is culmination of years of reading and listening to various songs to compile this list. it will also likely grow, so this may not be the last you see of my bookish and musical pairings.

My goal was to come up with one (or possibly more in some cases) song that really spoke to a piece of literature for me. I’ll explain my reasoning after each.

*Okay, I have full playlists for a few because I just love them so much and could not help it.

I Was Born For This by Alice Oseman

1. “Pop Star”- New Hollow

2. “Born For This”- The Score

This novel is a standalone in the Oseman-verse, alternatively told by Angel, a massive fan of a fictional boyband called The Ark, and Jimmy, frontman of The Ark. It’s a lovely, emotional story about friendship, anxiety, music, and discovering both yourself and what you want. As with everything Oseman has written, I laughed and cried.

“Pop Star” was the first song that made me think of this list because it instantly makes my mind go to this stunning book. Honestly, anything Alice Oseman touches turns to gold.

And when listening to “Born For This” the other night, it just felt perfect. Obviously, there’s the title, but that anthemic sound is close to what I picture The Ark’s songs sounding like in real life.

The Extraordinaries series by TJ Klune (The Extraordinaries, Flash Fire, and Heat Wave)

1. “Born For This”- The Score

2. “Inexplicable”- The Correspondents

3. “Mr. Radioactive”- Bear Hands

As with everything I’ve read from TJ Klune so far, I’ve enjoyed this whole series. (Though I haven’t finished the final installment, Heat Wave, quite yet. I just started it last week.)

We follow Nick on his journey through high school and heroism of the super variety. I won’t really say more than that because I don’t want to spoil it, but this is a tremendously awkward-funny, coming-of-age type of series told with Klune’s typical heart.

Note: People have noted some issues with the first book, which it seems Klune did his best to remedy in the next two books. If you’d like to read more about that, see Heather K’s review of the book on Goodreads here. (You’ll have to scroll down just a bit.)

While I don’t know too much about the situation outside of the book, it seems he was trying to address issues in the world with the first book, did not cover them as well as he could have, and then did his best to address them in the next two books. I just appreciate that it seems like he’s trying to be a good human! I can tell from the way he writes that he genuinely cares about humanity; there is so much hope and love and joy in his work, any flaws aside.

The Simon Snow Trilogy by Rainbow Rowell (Carry On, Wayward Son, and Any Way the Wind Blows)

I have an entire playlist for this, whoops!

The playlist title refers to Simon’s favorite food: sour cherry scones from the kitchens of Watford School of Magicks! 🍒

I may talk about this series a bit too much. But, with good reason. It’s beautifully written and the characters are all *chef’s kisses* and the plot, oh the plot─ okay, I need to stop before I go into full nerd mode.

The story is typically referred to as a modern Harry Potter, which I understand but also dislike. The two series are really only similar in that they feature a Chosen One main character who attends a magical boarding school in the U.K.

The original concept for Simon’s story comes from Rainbow Rowell’s novel, Fangirl, which featured a main character who wrote fanfiction about the fictional Simon Snow books, which were modeled after the Harry Potter series. Rowell then wrote Carry On, Wayward Son, and Any Way the Wind Blows as the way Simon, Baz, Penny, Agatha, et. al would have told the story instead of the fictional author, Gemma T. Leslie, who “wrote” the seven Simon Snow books in the Fangirl universe. So, this is an extremely meta series that is modeled after a series within another book that is modeled after a series in our modern world.

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

I have an entire playlist for this, whoops!

I know I already have a book from Alice Oseman here, but I can’t just ignore Heartstopper when I have an entire playlist made for it.

This is an absolutely heartwarming, lovely, and emotional series. It began as a webcomic, which I started reading right around when the pandemic began. The story was then was published as an official graphic novel (in multiple volumes), along with several connected novels and novellas. It also released as a renowned TV series on Netflix in April of this year! (Yes, it’s just as charming as the comic!)

Ooooh my gosh, I Googled “Heartstopper show” and the classic leaves float across the screen as soon as you land on the page! That’s so cute!

Photo credit: Screenshot I took of my screen.

I would also highly recommend the official playlist for the TV series, as it has been one of my go-to listens ever since it released. (I may be slightly biased, in that many of the songs on the list are what I tend to listen to anyway, and what I thought fit the story perfectly.)

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

I have an entire playlist for this, whoops!

As anyone who has spent really anytime around me probably knows by now, I love this book. Much to my husband’s annoyance, I can, and will, take every opportunity possible to talk about this book and show.

(Which is funny, because he’s the one who told me to read it.)

I adore everything about it and it’s the reason I started reading both Neil Gaiman and Sir Terry Pratchett’s work!

Beetle and the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne

1. “Shatter Us”- The Rocket Summer

2. “Enchanté”- Dirt Poor Robins

I had the pleasure of attending a Q&A and author signing for this book’s recent release! Aliza Layne was so sweet and drew a kelpie for me! Learning the history behind the characters was lovely, as well as just getting to meet the author of Demon Street, a webcomic I’d binged over quarantine. (I got into a lot of webcomics over quarantine, now that I think of it!)

“Shatter Us” makes me think of the two of the three main relationships in the book: that of Beetle and Blob Ghost, and that of Beetle and Kat. Beetle does her best to keep the friendships strong throughout the book, despite the world doing its darnedest to rip both relationships to shreds.

“Shatter Us” felt fitting for this story, given that the song is entirely about to not letting the world tear a relationship to bits. I added “Enchanté” afterwards because of the vibe at first, but the lyrics fit as well. The song discusses how mankind steals the singer’s childlike wonder, hope, and faith over time, with one line specifically referring to the adults taking that away. Many of the issues that come up in Beetle’s story are from grown-ups, as the story is geared towards a middle grade audience.

An aside: I was totally not singing “Enchanté” for about four hours as I wrote and drew this evening.

A further aside: Also, I’d give Dirt Poor Robins a listen. They’re my husband’s favorite band, and we played their song “When All Is Said and Done” for our first dance 😊 Also, the couple harmonizes like no one else, particularly in “Evergreen.” A lot of their music is hauntingly beautiful, but they absolutely range in styles. Just look at “Drinking a Drink of My Drink” or “Maximilian Von Spee.”

“Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor

1. “Hayloft”- Mother Mother

2. “Hayloft II (Burning Barn Acoustic)”- Mother Mother

This is a short story that has stuck with me since I read it in college. It’s a fascinating read that I’d recommend, but be warned: it does get a bit dark. I very much appreciate O’Conner’s craft; her storytelling is gorgeous and haunting. It’s the first and only piece I’ve read from her so far, I believe.

These two songs are also truly very dark, like a fair bit of Mother Mother’s very haunting music. It felt fitting, especially given the hayloft and barn being a prominent location in the story.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

1. “A Thousand Years”- Christina Perry

I know, I know, this pairing may seem like kind of a weird one. (Especially given that it was also on the soundtrack for one of the Twilight film soundtracks.) But, hear me out.

This is what I picture when I hear this song: The final chapter and scene with Jane finding the blind Rochester years later. She approaches slowly, and they embrace. They have waited for one another, they have pined.

A note: While the scene feels romantic, I don’t actually see the relationship being that romantic. Rochester’s treatment of Jane, and his previous wife, is well… not ideal. Particularly for the character Bertha.

There’s a retelling of the story/prequel from Bertha’s point of view I’d really like to read called Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. Let me know in the comments if you’ve read it!

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

1. “Cemetery”- COIN

Yup, another TJ Klune on here. I thought I had finished with the list this time around, but then this song came on my playlist and I had to write it down. The song really sums up the life Wallace lived before coming to Charon’s Crossing.

We don’t get any of the hope or love the book delves into in this song, but I haven’t quite found the right song to showcase the right vibe there.

If you’ve read the book, can you think of any suggestions?

I hope you enjoyed this book and music pairing like the pairing of a fine wine and cheese.

Let me know in the comments if there are any songs that remind you of books, or books that remind you of songs!

Have a wonderful week ahead!

Best wishes and happy reading!

P. S. Still singing “Enchanté.”

P. S. S. I went looking for quotes connecting books and music and found too many, so you can expect another quotes letter down the pike. In the meantime, please have this one:

“There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard.
There are not more than five primary colours, yet in combination
they produce more hues than can ever been seen.
There are not more than five cardinal tastes, yet combinations of
them yield more flavours than can ever be tasted.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Out of all the quotes I found, I chose this one because it hits the heart of both literature and music to me. Take the English alphabet for one: Writers take 26 letters of the alphabet and musicians take five musical notes** to make innumerable stories and songs. As usual, language and human creativity astounds me!

**As someone who doesn’t understand music theory or notes really, I found it interesting that someone on Reddit pointed out that there aren’t actually five musical notes. This discussion about the topic ensued. Based on my research, it looks like there are 12 notes in “Western” music. (I think?)

Either way, whether there are five or 12 or more or less notes, the heart of the quote remains. Those few notes make countless songs that touch the hearts of countless people!

Works Cited (MLA 9th Ed.)

“Music Quotes (5786 Quotes).” Goodreads, Goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/music?page=5.