Daisy Talks About Reading and Music

I'm a big music lover and for me, it combines perfectly with my love for reading and I pretty much always have music playing in the background, whatever it is I'm doing. But the first edition of my book club's epic readathon sleepover made me realise that not everyone does this. Two of my book club friends cannot tolerate noise while they're reading, while I get distracted when it's quiet cause then I hear EVERYTHING and music is an expected noise that adds to my reading pleasure. But I'm also one of those people who tended to sing along to the music while doing homework, so I can combine most of any mental activity with music. It also actually helps me remember everything better and I have a lot of memories that are linked to songs.

So, how about you? Do you listen to music while you're reading or do you prefer a more quiet environment? Let me know!

Also, I'll leave you with this song that I adore and that I rediscovered two days ago:

8 Songs About Love That I Wish Were Novels

If you read my (Jamie's) personal book blog (The Perpetual Page-Turner),  you know that I'm obsessed with music. I don't know that obsessed is even the right word for it. I think I live because of music. I'm always amazed at how a song can make me feel anything -- exuberance, deep despair, nostalgia, love, etc. I feel it deeply.  With my whole being. I think a lot of good songs tell a story that can affect you just as profoundly as words in the pages of books can.

So, in honor of Valentine's Day tomorrow, here are 8 songs about love that I wish were books because I want the whole story. Love is a complex and the stories in these songs reflect how messy love can be. SO sorry..most of these aren't cute love songs. haha. But love is so complicated and messy and crazy. 

1. Explosions by Ellie Goulding

 This was actually the song that made me think about this. Funny because it's about a breakup (I think) but it speaks to how deep down love affects us and the power of that loss on us. I want to know this story so bad. I want a story about a breakup that really makes me feel how devastating a break up can be that shakes me like this song.

2. Dust To Dust by The Civil Wars

I just want to know the story of the two in this song. The breaking down of the walls we construct because of the past. The loneliness we feel because of those walls. I want to know the past and the pain that led them to this part. I think the bringing down of those walls would be a beautiful story.

3. Let Me Hold You by Josh Krajcik

This song kind of reminds me of Fault Line by Christa Desir actually but I want this song to be a novel of its own. I want to meet the guy that would be in this story and I equally want to know the girl he's trying to save and why. I just love this song and the lyrics and the feel behind it.

4.  Shape of Love by Passenger (ft. Boy & Bear)

This would be a great start to a story. I want to know what he observes about this stranger in the coffee shop that makes him think she's the shape of love. Do they talk? Do they leave together? I NEED TO KNOW.

5. Across The Ocean by Azure Ray

 THIS SONG. Everything about it. It would make a great story. A love that is no longer -- are they broken up? Where has she traveled? How long has she been gone? Could it ever be again? It's just, to me, about those people who linger deeply within you even after it may be over/there's distance/etc.

6. Your Ex Lover Is Dead by Stars

I can see this one so clearly. Meeting up with someone that you used to love. That nostalgia -- remembering the good and bad of the relationship. "Not sorry that I met you, not sorry it's over, I'm not sorry there's nothing to save." I like the image of these ex lovers sharing this taxi together and all the memories and feelings that must be running through their head. 

7. The Summer by Josh Pyke

 

I love summer love stories and this song is just amazing and I need to know the story. Young love, the idea of how life is fleeting...I don't know but this song is just perfection. So many ideas for stories because of this song.

8.  Blood Bank by Bon Iver

 

Pretty much I need novels out of every single one of his songs because he is an amazing storyteller and his songs just always haunt me.Who knows what this song is really about but I love the story told and I want something similar to it. Finding love in an ordinary place...a chance meeting. And just the getting stuck in the car during the snow and spending all that time together getting to know one another. I NEED THIS NOW. 

SIGH I could go on and on about songs that I want to be books (um Sufjan Stevens songs FOR SURE) but I'm just going to give these ones. I just love how some songwriters/bands can really tell a story that makes me FEEEEL and want to know more. 

Are there ever any songs that you hear and think would make amazing books or is that just a me thing? I know lots of people hear a song and relate it to a story (myself included) but there are some songs that just warrant this NEED for me to know more and wish there was a book version. haha.

In Which Jamie Shares 2 Christmas Playlists With You - Holiday Shenanigans

Welcome to our week of holiday shenanigans posts! We will be posting fun things like gift guides, talking about the holidays and more!! Here's to getting in the holiday spirit!!


I'm sorry if you hate Christmas music because this post is all about Christmas music. So much of my (Jamie's) Christmas memories involve the music -- singing loud in the backseat of the car every Christmas Eve as we drove home from my grandparents, the 24/7 Christmas radio station, Christmas concerts at school, my mom playing some of her favorite Christmas records, the Christmas music in the background while decorating the tree, the stores playing Christmas music while I shop, caroling in our neighborhood on the coldest night of the year, being appalled and secretly happy that my mother went out and bought the Hanson Christmas album, baking Christmas cookies with my stepmom and listening to her favorite country Christmas music, etc.

So to start out our Holiday Shenanigans week, I'm sharing two playlists with you --



My Indie Christmas playlist: I hate classifying music but this would be more of the indie/alternative artists and bands that I love -- more modern takes on classics and a few not typical Christmas songs. I love this playlist to death! (You can find this playlist here on Spotify! Oh and follow me (username: itsahitinsweden) if you also have Spotify! Also, you have to hover over the playlist to see the scroll bar -- there's 36 songs)

My "classics" list (90's and earlier): These are the songs that have always been in rotation in my house when I was a teenager. I will seriously never forget how much my mom played the Hanson Snowed In cd or how she was obsessed with Grandma Got Run Over by A Reindeer and we'd play that record so many times. These songs are my childhood basically. (Here's the link to this playlist)

Enjoy!! I'd love to hear some of your favorite Christmas memories involving music! Some of your favorite songs from my list and ones that I don't have on here! I have a HUUUUUGE playlist with a zillion songs Christmas songs here!

Blog Tour: Tahleen reviews "War and Watermelon" by Rich Wallace

Thanks for joining me today at The Broke and the Bookish for the blog tour of Rich Wallace's War and Watermelon!

Title: War and Watermelon

Author: Rich Wallace

Publisher: Viking Juvenile, 2011
Where I got it: I received this book from the publisher via TLC Book Tours. (Thank you!)

Rating: ★★★½

It's the tail end of the summer of 1969, right after the moon landing and before Woodstock, during the Vietnam War and while the Mets started getting hot on their way to the World Series. Twelve-year-old Brody is growing up in New Jersey at this time, anticipating the jump from elementary school to junior high, playing on the football team, and trying to figure out girls—while also trying to come to terms with the bigger issues of the time. Joining his older brother Ryan at Woodstock starts him thinking about peace, love and rock and roll, and how his brother might not always be there—especially once he turns 18.

I enjoyed this story. I mean, once Woodstock was mentioned, I was all over it—I have this great fascination with that insane and incredible concert (I own one of the two CD sets of the concert's recording). There were a lot of music references, including periodic top tens listed by Brody, and very brief descriptions of Joan Baez during Brody's experience at Woodstock.

The setting is so important in this book. We see not only New Jersey during 1969, but also the attitudes of the time—racism is slipped into the dialogue like a whisper, and opinions about the Vietnam War are often vocalized by Brody's father in response to Ryan.

I did have a few minor quibbles with this book. I loved all the music references because of my love for the music of the time, but I wish there was some sort of appendix or something in the back with a little bit of info on all the musicians mentioned. A lot of kids probably won't know who Joan Baez is, or what the songs mentioned sound like (I know I didn't recognize all of them and was too lazy to look them up at the time). I also got pretty bored with the long descriptions of Brody's football games; they seemed unnecessary. I did, however, like the football game in which Brody's female classmate played touch football and did a nice job at beating the other team.

This book would make a really nice companion to a school unit about America in the late '60s. There are themes that are for more mature audiences (there are a lot of references to marijuana and partial nudity), but the language is simple and easy to understand. It's a great way to give younger teens a look at what life was probably like for their parents. I'd recommend it to lovers of the '60s, music lovers, or sports fans looking for a good read.