Reading a book isn’t enough anymore. If you are really obsessed with a book, then you need to be fusing it with your life through music! Have you ever listened to a song years later and felt that time of your life rush back to you? Well, it’s time to do that with your favourite books. Then, not only will you be transporting yourself back into the past, but into a fictional world. This is escapism at its finest and is much-needed during this time of year marked by deadline stress, winter frost, and early sunsets. So, here are three pairings of books with songs to inspire you. Perhaps you may even make an entire playlist…
‘Wuthering Heights’ was written by Emily Brontë. It is one of my favourite books. For anyone who hasn’t read it, it is about two families, whose lives are disturbed by an adoptive child, for two generations. The book is very emotionally intense and will have you feeling all seven stages of grief – that’s how I felt, at least! Some find it difficult to connect with because the characters are so awful. This is when I realised that the songs you pair with a book really depend on your own interpretations of it. Some see ‘Wuthering Heights’ as a romance, others, a very disturbing story. So, to cater to both extremes, I recommend anything from ‘Ultraviolence’ by Lana Del Rey.
I know that this recommendation is insane, ‘Ultraviolence’ is a concerning album. I don’t know to what extent it is a personal album for Del Rey, yet I think there is definitely a lot of romantic and sweeping emotion relevant for ‘Wuthering Heights’. The events that actually take place are awful, but Brontë’s writing is so beautiful that I did not feel as disgusted by the characters as I probably should have. However, if you really want to immerse yourself within the psyche of both Catherine and Heathcliff, then you have to embrace delusion…and this album is definitely the way to go.
Also, ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Kate Bush is another, but obvious, pairing. It was inspired by the book and is sung from the perspective of Catherine as a ghost. I think Bush really captures the delusion and intensity of the characters in this book, particularly through her high singing voice, making it the perfect pairing.
‘Daisy Jones and the Six’ was written by Taylor Jenkins Reid. She also wrote ‘The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo’! For anyone who hasn’t read it (although I doubt it, as this book was so popular and even adapted for television), it is about a band, whose members recount the events leading up to their breakup. I read this book a few years ago and there is now an entire soundtrack for the adaptation of it. So, that’s a perfect place to start. However, if you want to dig a little deeper than that then there are an abundance of Fleetwood Mac songs waiting for you. As Jenkins Reid revealed, the story was inspired by the relationship between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. She said:
“I wanted to write a story about that, about how the lines between real life and performance can get blurred, about how singing about old wounds might keep them fresh.”
I feel like Jenkins Reid is calling out my article hereby encouraging us to relive old memories and books through music. So, ‘Daisy Jones and the Six’ is the perfect book to dwell on the past!
‘Normal People’ was written by Sally Rooney and is another book which gained so much attention, as it also has its own adaptation. For anyone who hasn’t read it, it is about a complicated relationship between two people who are apart, then together, then apart again. I think ‘evermore’ by Taylor Swift is a beautiful album to accompany this book, as it is an album that reminisces, that wishes things were easier. In the song, ‘‘tis the damn season’, a person returns to her hometown and longs to relive the past. Also, ‘cardigan’ from ‘evermore’’s sister album, ‘folklore’, is another song which resonates, as it is about a person who reflects on lost love. These songs will have you longing for something too, so are perfect for immersing yourself in the pain of Marianne and Connell. But honestly, it really depends on whatever they are going through at a given moment. I could not keep up with those two!
Exploring your favourite books through music is not only fun but a way to feel more personally connected to what you are reading. Also, years later, you can refer back to your playlists to re-experience the feelings and emotions you associated with the book. With that said, I hope my book and song suggestions help you get started. Happy escapism!