Imagining books and music in quirky and creative ways
Have you ever thought about the strangeness of the words “once upon a time?”
I recently finished reading Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” and it was amazing. If Continue reading “Shakespeare’s Use of “Once Upon a Time””
Classical Music Stories is a series that connects music to your favorite books.
You’ve almost definitely heard the opening of this piece before in commercials or something. But it’s honestly one of my favorites! The peacefulness and expansiveness of Bach on cello seems to open doors into a new world you can explore, one Continue reading “Classical Music Stories: Anna Karenina and a Bach Cello Suite”
I started this post thinking I would list books that matched each color on the American flag: red for books involving “hardiness” and “valor,” white for “purity” and “innocence,” and blue for “vigilance,” “perseverance,” and “justice” (according to the meanings of the colors provided by usflag.org). I figured I’d end with a list of books that present Continue reading ““Red,” “White,” and “Blue” Books (In Meaning, Not Color)”
It’s a tricky question.
Peter Pan has fought off Captain Hook time and time again, even Continue reading “Who Would Win in a Sword Fight: Peter Pan or Romeo?”
“Songs for Every Book” is a series bringing you songs that could have been sung by (or about) your favorite book characters.
I’ve recently come to the fascinating and exciting discovery that Adele’s hit “When We Were Young” has a lot in common with The Great Gatsby. More specifically, it sounds like the singer could be Daisy Buchanan herself! But let’s go to the lyrics: Continue reading “Songs for Every Book: The Great Gatsby and Adele”
I read an article about a piece of music the other day where each section started with a direction, like “to be whispered like an incantation.” Not being the sharpest knife in the drawer, it took me a while to figure out what these directions actually were. Continue reading “If Authors Told You How to Read Their Books…As Inspired by Music”
“The players all played at once without waiting for turns, quarrelling all the while, and fighting for the hedgehogs; and in a very short time the Queen was in a furious passion, and went stamping about, and shouting `Off with his head!’ or `Off with her head!’ about once in a minute.” —Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
A man wearing a top hat in a crowded Continue reading “Hyperbole in Literature…and Classical Music!”
“There are no facts, only interpretations.” So said the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Each person sees the world from a slightly (or extremely) different point of view, so every time you read a story (or listen to music for that matter) it’s like you’re walking a mile in someone else’s shoes. Continue reading “Different Perspectives in Books…and Music!”
I mean, surely they had favorite colors, but we’re never told what they are (as far as I can remember). Since people seem to believe that our favorite colors say something about us, I thought I’d try to enter into some characters’ minds and imagine what theirs might be… Continue reading “If The Great Gatsby Characters Had Favorite Colors”
A while back I posted a brief, 30 second piece and talked about how it reminded me of Tinker Bell (Classical Music Stories: Tinker Bell (Plus Flash Fiction Challenge!)). But little did you know I had more Peter Pan stories for the other bajillion movements in the piece! (Mwah ha ha!)
Here are just a couple of them: Continue reading “Classical Music Stories: Peter Pan”
If Mermaids Wore Suspenders 