Do you associate certain love stories with specific songs or movie sound tracks? I know I do. Pictured here is John Cusack in his 1989 role as "Lloyd Dobler", famously holding the boom box over his head while it played "In Your Eyes", by Peter Gabriel. He was standing outside "Diane Court's", (Ione Skye) house after she broke up with him and shattered his heart. Whenever I hear the Peter Gabriel song I think of the movie "Say Anything", and in particular that scene.
Another song that automatically makes me think of a movie is the Celine Dion song "My Heart Will Go On", which of course is from "Titanic".
As for books, one of my favorites that I read many years ago, has a scene where the rakish hero Rupert Campbell Black watches Taggie, the woman who becomes his great love dance to the song "Lady In Red" by Chris de Burgh. The book is "Rivals" by Jilly Cooper, and the scene was so perfect because Taggie has long dark hair and is wearing a beautiful red gown which clings to her body and moves as she dances. Whenever I hear that song I think of that book and scene.
Not all authors listen to music while writing of course but some of those who do are publishing their playlists on their websites. Megan Hart for one, and it was through her that I found Joshua Radin's music, which I love. Ms. Hart and Lauren Dane have co-authored a couple of novels, the first one "Taking Care of Business" introduced me to "Crash Into Me", by the Dave Matthews Band. Whenever I play the song I automatically think of that book because the melody emulates the tone of the book so well. Ms. Dane like Ms. Hart publishes the playlists for all her novels at her site so you can actually look the music up and listen to snippets on iTunes or whichever music medium you use, and download if you so choose.
I've also noticed authors offering a prize of the iTune tracklists they used for inspiration while writing a book instead of copies of the novels for various contest giveaways for some time now. I think it gives readers a taste of the tone, or feel of the book. You can can then read the synopsis and excerpts provided to see if the story might be to your liking.
This brings me to my next question. Do you ever listen to a song or the tracklist of songs an author has listened to while writing a book and then want to read it? This happened to me recently. A nice lady on Twitter posted the link to the YouTube video below for "Rain", by Patti Griffin. The song was one of the tracks author Josh Lanyon listened to while writing "The Dark Tide", the 5th book in his Adrien English Mystery series. I immediately fell in love with the song, downloaded it and haven't stopped listening to it since. Moreover, the song and the entire tracklist he listened to while penning the novel made me want to read Mr. Lanyon's series of stories.
Thanks to Chris I found out which book by Mr. Lanyon the song was associated with as he published the track list on his Live Journal Entry. Chris mentioned that author Charles de Lint, often notes the music he listens to while writing, and DIK's own LB Gregg has been mentioning music that is inspiring her while she writes as well.
Tori and I are going to kick back on a beach chair and I'm going to enjoy a strawberry margarita, my book, and my usual eclectic tracklist of music playing on my iPod. Yes I do listen to music while I'm reading, do you?
Tori and I will be back on the Island tomorrow talking about the importance of an author's voice to readers.
