Imagining books and music in quirky and creative ways
Classical Music Stories is a series that connects music to your favorite books and characters. Since listening to classical music can be like hearing a story, imagining specific stories that match the music can make it that much more fun and accessible!
Spoilers ahead for Charles Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cities! Continue reading “Classical Music Stories: Mozart and Sydney Carton (A Tale of Two Cities)”
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi has been out for a while now, but for some of us we’re still thinking about it. Flooded with determination, adventure, courage, and empowerment, there’s nothing quite like this book.
So here you go! A list of music for when you want to recapture those feelings (and for when you just don’t have time to reread all 544 pages…): Continue reading “Music Recommendations for Children of Blood and Bone”
It’s Hobbit Day! I stumbled upon this fact thanks to Holly’s blog over at The Nut Free Nerd, so I thought what better way to celebrate than with our beloved Bilbo Baggins and some short but hobbit-y classical music?
Classical Music Stories is a series that connects music to your favorite books and characters. Since listening to classical music can be like hearing a story, imagining specific stories that match the music can make it that much more fun and accessible! Continue reading “Classical Music Stories: Bilbo Baggins and His Search for Adventure”
Rubblebucket is an alternative rock group who recently came out with a song with major Catherine Earnshaw vibes. “If U C My Enemies” has a lot in common with her frenzied, mentally unstable state just before her death in Emily Brontë’s classic novel, Wuthering Heights.
Continue reading “Songs for Every Book: Rubblebucket and Catherine Earnshaw from Wuthering Heights”
Some are quirky; some are funny; some are both. Some are even inspired by books and movies!
Back in Music Mash-Ups: Rock + Chopin, Rock + Opera, I talked about how retellings of fairy tales and books like Jane Eyre (Jane Steele/Jane Slayre) are a lot like mash-ups between different genres of music–and how amazing they both are. But lately I’ve come across some new mash-ups, as well as some looser “adaptations” of music where it’s less about two genres coming together and more about importing a song into a new context (like in the Pride and Prejudice movie with Keira Knightley).
The best part is that depending on the song and style, adaptations can be hilarious, moving, or just plain quirky! So without further ado, here are ten song adaptations to brighten your day: Continue reading “Top 10 Song Adaptations: The Quirky, the Funny, and the Intriguing”
There’s a frantic undercurrent in this music that reminds me a lot of Anna Karenina’s mental struggles, complete with lush orchestral textures and a solo flute!
Classical Music Stories is a series that connects music to your favorite books and characters. Since listening to classical music can be like hearing a story, imagining specific stories that match the music can make it that much more fun and accessible!
WARNING: As fitting the novel, the story I describe at the end of this music is dark. Please do not enter into the mind of a depressed/suicidal character if this is a trigger for you. Make sure you are comfortable and safe. Continue reading “Classical Music Stories: Anna Karenina’s Mental Illness”
This short 3 minute piano piece reveals a facade of beauty that is the perfect match for a birds-eye view of Boo Radley’s town. Both the music and novel invite us to reconsider our perspectives by presenting a world that is both otherworldly and hauntingly similar to our own.
Classical Music Stories is a series that connects music to your favorite books and characters. Since listening to classical music can be like hearing a story, imagining specific stories that match the music can make it that much more fun and accessible! Continue reading “Classical Music Stories: To Kill a Mockingbird”
(No spoilers here.) In Paula Hawkins’ thriller Into the Water, characters aren’t simply “good” or “bad.” While Sean is called a “good man” over and over again he’s done some terrible things, and while Nel is loved by some she’s hated by others (even by the same people at different times). And then there are Lena, Jules, and Louise…
This is part of what makes a thriller work. We can’t figure out “who dun it” because literally everyone has some kind of nasty history that suggests they might be capable of murder (what a terrifying thought)!
And yet, by writing the book through these characters’ perspectives, Hawkins forces us to empathize with them and understand their motivation. This doesn’t make their actions any less screwed up or horrific, but in experiencing the story in this way we are basically forced to view these people as human, and not as demons who hurt and kill people because they’re twisted and like it. Honestly, in a way that would be a lot more comforting–it would make us feel safer from the possibility of committing such horrific deeds ourselves.
And then there are Buzzfeed quizzes. Continue reading “What “Into the Water,” Buzzfeed Quizzes, and Musical Taste Have in Common”
If Mermaids Wore Suspenders is officially BACK after a two-month-long, mini hiatus. If you’re new ’round these parts, welcome! If you’re a long-time follower, welcome back! I hope you’ll find these music and literature mash-ups to be as fun and engaging as I have–and that you’ll find this to be a space where you can share your own ideas about books and music, as well!
SO, what better way to kick things back off than with a Dumbledore/Bach mash-up?? Continue reading “Classical Music Stories: Dumbledore and J.S. Bach”
We’re back with more classical music stories! Today we’re looking at some more music that may inspire thoughts of Peter Pan, and Wendy in particular.
Classical Music Stories is a series that connects music to your favorite books and characters. Since listening to classical music can be like hearing a story (albeit an abstract one), imagining specific stories that match the music can make it that much more fun and accessible! Continue reading “Classical Music Stories: Peter Pan and Following the Leader”
If Mermaids Wore Suspenders 