I don’t want to write a long review for When The World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson. Mainly because I fell in love with this. I knew I would within the first few pages of read that this was going to be a 5 star read and am so happy that I was proven right (I remember a few years I read another Jandy Nelson novel, I’ll Give You the Sun, and I gave it three stars but I think, if I reread it, I would change my thoughts on it).
But When the World Tips Over, I fell in love with. I think it helped that I didn’t rush reading this (the original plan was the read it over September, but it spilt into October [very similar to last year when I read Cassandra Clare’s Sword Catcher. I didn’t rush reading it and I need to do this more!) and I savoured.
Anyway, let me tell you a little about the book and this post as it’s different from my normal.
Title and Author: When The World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson
Publisher: Walker Books
Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Gifted by the UK publisher in exchange for an honest review/reaction
The Fall siblings live in the town of Paradise Springs, where you can get drunk on the air, the devil winds blow so hard that it can blow sense out of the head, and the Fall family is a family divided.
The eldest, Wynton, is a powerhouse on the violin and is on track for fame or self-destruction of himself and his family. His brother, Miles, is smart, beautiful, perfect, but he feels lost and alone, and not even his dog whispering gift can pull him out of his darkness. And the youngest, Dizzy, can see ghosts, bakes beautiful soufflés and wishes to be a lead in her own romance.
But when a mysterious girl with rainbow-coloured hair saves Dizzy from a car accident, the Fall family finds their world tipping over. Is the mystery girl an angel? A normal girl? Whoever she is, she becomes important to each of them and soon, her stories of family curses, betrayals, love stories within love stories within love stories might bring the Fall together.
This is a little early, I know (this isn't out till May, I believe), but I had read this (a good chunk of it while I was in line for rides at Thorpe Park) and I thought rather than write up a review that I can't really go deep into as this book, I think, works best when you go in blind. But I wanted to do something that would be a little fun at the same time.
And, of course, I went down my rabbit hole of music and thinking of songs that catch the vibe of the book without revealing anything. I remember Hot Key, the UK publishers, created a small playlist for when We Were Liars was first published (It took me ages to find it but I FOUND THE PLAYLIST). So I thought "Oh, a sound board would be fun and different. And I have songs that fit the mood of the book that aren't spoilers!"
And my music tastes are a little odd. Plus, this is a prequel to We Were Liars, so the songs I picked don't exactly fit the time when the book is set, but let's have some fun, shall we? Plus, how do I do this without spoilers...
I hope you like these songs choices and, once the book is released, I will be super curious over your song choices...
It's been a while since I've done a music-themed post linked to a book I've read or am desperate to be turned into a TV show/movie. But when I read Hideous Beauty by William Hussey earlier this year (review for that is here, in case you're curious), I had a strong reaction to it. I thought it would make a good UK TV version of 13 Reasons Why (I can see this on Netflix or BBC iPlayer/BBC Three) and, for the first time in a very long time, I started listening to music and going "Oooh, this fits" and "That song would be perfect for this moment here".
Which makes a weirdly mixed list of music. And, as today is Hideous Beauty's bookish birthday, I thought I would pick some for the music songs that I would use if I was in charge of the music playlist if this was turned into a TV series.
No, I'm not going to put spoilers in my reasons and I'm not going to put all songs on my list down (five, maybe? If there are a few songs I want to have an Honourable Mention, I will put at the bottom of the post. So, get your headphones and have a listen.
I actually liking doing this, though with my change of real-life situation over the past 6 or so months means I read a little less than I normally do, which means I listen to less music than normal. But, am not going to give this up yet, as I keep seeming to discover new artists and songs of late and they just click with what I'm reading.
So, do you listen to music while you read? If so, what? Am super intrigued! And I hope you like these song choices to what I read over the past few months...
SQUARED UP by Annabeth Albert
"I Hate Love Songs" by Kelsea Ballerini, "Thousand Miles" by Tove Lo and "The Fighter" by Keith Urban (featuring Carrie Underwood)
LORD OF SHADOWS by Cassandra Clare "I Can't Make Me" by Butterfly Boucher
LEAH ON THE OFFBEAT by Becky Ablertalli "Stop Me From Falling" by Kylie Minogue
As you guys know, I love listening to music while I read. Sometimes, that perfect song comes along that just click with the book in one form or other: the story, the characters (or one in particular). So, when I was asked if I wanted to be involved in the I Was Born For This blog tour, I jumped at the chance. Books and music! And I am a little obsessed with Alice's Heartstopper (if you haven't read it, YOU MUST). I mean, HOW COULD I REFUSE?! I don't want to say too much about I Was Born for This as I am playing to read this book sometime this month and I want to go in as blind as I can, but it has music, fandom, friendship and facing up to reality. And, to celebrate this book release, there's a blog tour where Alice picks a song that has a connection to I Was Born to This and we bloggers have to pick a song that links to reading, fandom or this book. I've gone with fandom and reading (why not). So, Alice's song choice is first and mine second... Before I throw you over to Alice, I wanna thank Alice for doing this and letting us snoop into her music (she's even created a Spotify playlist so, if you just can't wait, CHECK THIS OUT!!!) and Nina for organising this tour! It's been a blast to follow and discover new music and some old music I forgotten about. Now, onto the good stuff!
Welcome back to another Books And Their Theme Songs post. As you know, I love reading books with music, even the books I decided to DNF. But with me changing jobs recently and my sudden addiction to random podcasts (and no audiobooks! I WOULD KILL TO LISTEN TO A KICKASS AUDIOBOOK!), this post might be a tad shorter than I like. But ha, at least am discovering and trying new things out!
So, enough of my jibber-jabber (we all know where this is going), let's get onto the music!
THE LAST MRS PARRISH by Liv Constantine (DNF)
"Gained the World" by Morcheeba & "Snakes" by Deva Mahal
SMALL-TOWN WEDDING Novella within THE COMPLETE SOOKIE STACKHOUSE STORIES by Charlaine Harris "Whatever You Want" by P!nk
SHADOW OF NIGHT by Deborah Harkness "Feather Jesus" and "Ursa Minor" by Fassine
THE WITCH'S TEARS by Katharine and Elizabeth Corr "Cold Hard Truth" by Nelly Furtado
And before this blog goes on Christmas holiday, let me show you some music I listened while I did my reading for the past few months! Yes, it's another Books And Their Theme Songs time again!
I hope you like my music choices and if you guys know of music which you think I will like, please let me know. I always love discovering new music!
OH MY! WHAT'S THIS?! A BOOKS AND THEIR THEME SONGS POST! It's been so long!!!
After reading a ton of books and ebooks and no real music clicking with them for one reason or another, am back! This is why in my last Books and Their Theme Songs post that this might be changing style.
Anyway, am back and hopefully you'll like the song choices for these stories so, ONWARDS!!!
SONGS ABOUT US by Chris Russell
"What About Us" by P!nk
DR JEKYLL AND MR SEEK by Anthony O'Neill
"Monsters" by Ruelle and "Look At What You Made Me Do" by Taylor Swift
FOXGLOVE COPSE by Alex Beecroft "Wish You Were Here" by Florence And The Machine
ILLEGAL CONTACT by Santino Hassell "Wildest Dreams" and "I Know Places" by Taylor Swift and "Craving You" by Thomas Rhett (featuring Marine Morris)
EVERY HEART A DOORWAY by Seanan McGuire "Crybaby" by Paloma Faith
Am back from my holiday and my blog holiday! Did you miss me?
Well, it's so nice to have a few weeks off work/real life/blog life and just chill out. I went travelling (I will put a pic of where I went on Instagram in the coming few days once I got my work groove back (this week, they doing shifts and am working 6am till 2pm. meaning am awake at 5 and walking to work at half 5...).
ANYWAY, I thought to celebrate me coming back to the blog world (and me VERY SLOWLY AND VERY LEISURELY reading La Belle Sauvage), I thought I would put some songs up that my other half and I had on our holiday driving playlist as we have quite different taste in music.
So, sit back and relax/dance and see you tomorrow for my first "true" post back!
It's about time I changed the name of this to reflect the months I read/listen to music. Plus, it gives me a bit of flexibility. So, instead of doing this every two months, I can change it up, depend on how many books and how much music I listen to. Plus, I can add a gif or two, just to make it more fun!
Now I got those gifs out of my system, let's get on with the music, shall we? Let's listen and dance it out together!!!
THE SLEEPING PRINCE by Melinda Salisbury
"High Hopes" by Quails
THE SCARECROW QUEEN by Melinda Salisbury
"Right Where I Want You" by Selah Sue
NOAH CAN'T EVEN by Simon James Green "Crazy Fool" by Girls Aloud
THE WITCH'S KISS by Katharine and Elizabeth Corr "The Ghost of You" by Caro Emerald with "The Huntsman" & "This Boy Will Be Your Undoing" by Mark Isman
RELEASE by Patrick Ness "The Rain That Never Came" by Apache Sun and "Serious Love" by Anya Marina
And that's it. Hopefully, I will have more songs and books in the coming months. If there is any songs/bands/albums I MUST listen to, leave a comment or tweet me! I'm always on the hunt for new songs!
HOW IS IT THE END OF FEBRUARY ALREADY?! What is happening, everyone?!
Anyway, it's that time on the blog again where I show you some of the music I was listening to while reading or a song that made a strong reaction while reading a book/ebook or listening to an audiobook!
Anyway, I hope you like the pics and if there is any music I should check out, leave a comment down below and I'll check them out!
CARVE THE MARK by Veronica Roth
"Renaissance Moon" by Laura Mvula
THE SIN EATER'S DAUGHTER by Melinda Salisbury "People" by Laura Mvula (featuring Wretch 32)
RED QUEEN by Victoria Aveyard (Still Listening to Audiobook) "Lethargy" by Bastille
Because of the last few months and their oddness, I decided quite late in the game to merge 4 months worth of reading/music listening into one blog post. I have listened to a lot of audiobooks which has kinda messed up my music-listening while reading and, because I went to New York, took a RSM break and then had a possible reading slump right before my ALM (oh, joy!), it's kinda threw my reading out of the loop!
But here is some music I listened to while reading. Hope you guys liked the music choices!
GOLDENHAND by Garth Nix
"The Walk" (Instrumental) and "Half-Life" (Instrumental) by Imogen Heap [Not Available]
HEARTLESS by Marissa Meyer (DNFed) "Shape" by Sugababies
A BOY CALLED CHRISTMAS by Matt Haig "It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas" by Perry Como & Michael Buble
THE GIRL WHO SAVED CHRISTMAS by Matt Haig (DNFed) "Carol of the Bells" & "The Holly and the Ivy"
It's the end of the summer. Are we sad? Are we crying? Did we even get a day of sunshine (if not, am so happy as I dislike heat. I like to be cool)?
But it's that time again. Music I was listening to while I was reading the past 2 months! And I hope it's a real mix of music genres! I hope you guys like and, if you have songs/artists I should discover, leave me a comment and let me know!
And now, onto the music!
I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN by Jandy Nelson
"Strange Enough" by Vérité
TO THE BRIGHT EDGE OF THE WORLD by Eowyn Ivey
"Tearing Me Up" by Bob Moses
SONGS ABOUT A GIRL by Chris Russell "Encore" by Delta Goodrem
Two months of reading - one full of crime and the other of easy, fun reads. Including a big ass book or two. Now the end of these two months is over, which means one thing on this blog - READING MUSIC TIME!!! I hope you guys like and if you like any song, please support the artist and go buy it!
THE LEAVING by Tara Altebrando
"Sunlight" by Natalie Imbruglia and "Fear" by All Saints (Not unavailable at time of writing this post)
LYING ABOUT LAST SUMMER by Sue Wallman
"The Heroine" by Unwoman, "Clipping" by MuteMath and "Hurricane" by Natalie Imbruglia
CHASING THE STARS by Malorie Blackman "Under the Stars" by Morning Parade
That's it! See you in August for another "Books and their Theme Songs" post!
So, is this post of Books and Their Theme Songs gonna be longer than the last post back in February? Well, scroll down and have a look/listen to find out!
KINDRED SPIRITS by Rainbow Rowell "I Do What I Like" by The Corrs
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE by Juno Dawson "One Strike" by All Saints
FRAIL HUMAN HEART by Zoe Marriott "Tidal" by Imogen Heap & "Minds Without Fear" by Imogen Heap & Vishal/Shekhar
HALF LOST by Sally Green "Scars" by Tove Lo
THE CROWN AND THE ARROW by Renne Ahdieh "The Sky Is Calling" by Kim Boekbinder
LEAP YEAR!!! And this is gonna be a busy few days on the blog. So, let's get this week off with a bang and share some of my reading music for January and February. And yes, there isn't that many as was listening to audiobook so... yeah... moving on!
REBEL OF THE SANDS by Alwyn Hamilton "Devil Side" by Foxes
THE SERPENT KING by Jeff Zenter "Heal" by Ellie Goulding
I did warn you that there wasn't that many songs these last 2 months...
It's very close to Christmas, and because of that, I will be going on a tiny Christmas blog break. But I couldn't leave you without some music. Well, the music I have been listening to while reading the past two months.
So, let's get started! I hope you like...
CARRY ON by Rainbow Rowell "You Picked Me" by A Fine Frenzy
HALF TRUTH by Sally Green "Forget" and "I'm A Ruin" by Marina and the Diamonds
YEAR OF YES by Shonda Rhimes "Where Did The Good Go" by Sara and Tegan & "Cosy in The Rocket" by Psapp
Because I took July off (and I listened to very little music while reading throughout that month and August), I decided to merge the 2 Books And Their Theme Songs posts (end of August and end of October) together to, hopefully, create one huge blog post of music!
Well... that was the plan... *hands you the music and hopes you love them* THE SECRET FIRE by CJ Daugherty and Carina Rozenfeld "Shoot And Run" by Josef Salvat
THE NEXT TOGETHER by Lauren James "Thousand Miles" by Tove Lo
FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell "Cool for the Summer" by Demi Lovato
MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN by Ransom Riggs "Various Storms and Saints" and "Queen of Peace" by Florence and the Machine & "Endless Dream" by God is An Astronaut
And in case you're curious over the music used in my Worrying about Failing blog post, the songs used are "Save Me" by Nicki Minaj, "Don't Be So Hard on Yourself" by Jess Glynne and "Wings" by Delta Goodrem.
I am thrilled to welcome Claire McFall to the blog today. Claire has published two books - Ferryman and Bombmaker - and her latest, Black Cairn Point, has just come out! To celebrate this release, Claire has written this lovely post about the music she listened to while writing Black Cairn Point.
I want to thank Claire for taking time out for writing this post and thank you for introducing new music to me. I'm always on the hunt for new music. Anyway, now, am handing it over to Claire!
I don’t know what it is about music, but it seems to be hard-wired straight into our emotional core. Without the soundtrack I reckon I could get all the way through Titanic without crying, but as it is, every single time Rose goes down in the boat and she’s looking up at Jack, knowing she’ll never see him again… and the strings cut in and BAM. I’m greetin’. [greetin’ (Scots): wailing like a big pansy). And then there’s that bit in Star Trek (the first film of the new series) where Spock tells the stuffy old fogies at the Vulcan Science Academy to “live long and prosper” (i.e eff off) and then the funky riff starts – I tried to find the exact song but apparently JJ Abrams made it specially for the movie – and it just makes the moment so AWESOME.
OK, so there’s no music in books, but authors use music to get them in the right mood… and hopefully that emotion gets woven into the descriptions and the dialogue. At least, that’s the idea. So here’s my “soundtrack” for Black Cairn Point.
Itchycoo Park by The Small Faces
I had no idea that’s what this song was called – I thought it was called It’s all too Beautiful but Google tells me I’m wrong. This is the song that Heather and her friends are listening to on their road trip down to Black Cairn Point. Initially the lyrics of the song started off chapter too… but then my publisher told me how much song lyric rights cost (and that I’d have to pay them) and, yeah, they got dropped. But it’s a cool song. It’s catchy and easy to sing along too. And it’s one of those songs that everyone can belt out the chorus to but as soon as the verse starts, suddenly there’s a lot of mumbling along with the tune. It’s a proper oldie (1967!!!) but it’s good.
I’m Not Okay (I Promise) by My Chemical Romance
This is one of my FAVOURITE songs anyway. I listened to it a lot when I was writing the Dr Petersen sessions in the book. He’s the psychologist who’s responsible for locking Heather up and she has to pretend to be all sane and calm and not psycho when inside she’s screaming and she wants to pound his stupid head off the shiny mahogany desk. Not that I’ve ever had that feeling or anything…
Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer
I’ve never really thought of myself as a romance writer, and Black Cairn Point is a horror, but, as my agent pointed out, I always manage to work a little bit of smoochiness in there somewhere. But the little romance between Heather and Dougie is a shy thing. I think it’s because I was shy and timid at school and the thought of brazenly flirting with a guy I liked…. Gah! I’d have to find a place to hide and then die. Kiss Me is a really sweet little love song and it just seemed to fit the mood of Heather’s feelings for Dougie.
By the way, the book really is a horror-thriller. I promise.
All Alone by Fun.
This is a sad song. It’s about (I think) the singer’s mum dying and him feeling abandoned and, well, alone. Unable to cope without her strength to lean on. I listened to it a lot towards the end of the book, when people are a) missing b) going loco AND c) getting sick… and Heather’s pretty much the only one left standing. The one who’s left to make all the decisions. It’s a cool song – on a cool album. If you’ve never listened to the Some Nights album I’d recommend giving it a go.
Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing by Chris Isaak
This song goes with the ending… but I’m saying no more. You’ll have to read it for yourself!
So there you have it. It’s kind of an eclectic mix… but these are the songs that helped me get in the “zone” for Black Cairn Point. I’m ALWAYS on the hunt for new music, so if there are songs that you think go well with the book, I’d love to hear about them! And thank-you thank-you to the fabulous Pewter Wolf for having me on his blog and tasking me with such an awesome topic.
30 BLOGPOSTS LINKED TO MUSIC I LISTEN TO WHILE I READ! 30!!! The same number as my age (say nothing! I AM STILL YOUNG ON THE INSIDE!!!)
Anyway, before I take my RSM, I am going to share my reading music for the past two months. I hope you like and I feel the urge to apologise for these choices. I'm not sure why I'm apologise, but I feel I should...
Anyway, let's get the music playing, shall we?
THE HEIR by Kiera Cass "How To Be A Heartbreaker" by Marina and the Diamonds
SPEAKING IN BONES by Kathy Reichs "Can't Deny My Love" by Brandon Flowers
ONE by Sarah Crossan "Breath (2am)" by Anna Nalick (& cover of song by Kelly Clarkson), "A Cold Wind Will Blow Through Your Door" by Bill Ricchini (Also, Dolly Parton - if you've read the book, you understand why...)
THOR: THE GODDESS OF THUNDER "White Lightening" by Rogue Traders
THE ART OF BEING NORMAL by Lisa Williamson "War Paint" by Kelly Clarkson (As side songs, "The Outsider" by Marina and the Diamonds & "1000 Stars" by Natalie Bassingthwaighte)
