Martha's "My Awesome Literary Mix CD"
I'm consistently surprised and in awe of The Booksmith staff's creativity. There are several "end-cap" display areas in the bookstore where interesting themed book selections are put up.
Beyond the usual fare of Pulitzer-Award winners and New Short Story collections, there have been some real gems including: Odd-ball Histories, Tribute to Bruno Shultz, Proust is not dead! and Myths Re-Invented.
The latest display was created by our 24-year old staffer, Martha Pettit, and I just had to blog about it: "My Awesome Literary Mix CD" has got to be one of the coolest things I've ever seen.
I'll date myself here by saying that my experience in high school was creating mix cassette tapes for my friends to play on their walkmans, and of course with the advances in technology the formats have changed to CDs and MP3 players but the concept is the same.
Like Rob Sheffield's recent memoir "Love Is A Mix Tape" helps us re-discover -- it's a time-consuming but fully rewarding activity to create a unique compilation. I still listen to old mix tapes given to me on birthdays and by old boyfriends when nostalgia strikes.
Book people will certainly appreciate this latest playlist Martha compiled for us to enjoy; "I was inspired by the song Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush; Todd (also a Booksmith staffer) and I were discussing what a great song it is and I relayed the story of a friend who also loved the song but had no clue that it was a reference to Emile Bronte's novel" says Martha.
How hard was it to assemble? "Between my boyfriend and me, we came up with about 2/3 of the songs. The rest I did a little internet research, googling songs with literary references. And, most of the books I've read too -- I'd say 90% of them."
Beside Kate Bush's song, I really enjoyed the memories conjured from the Smiths' "Girlfriend in a Coma" -- says Martha "I could have picked just about any Douglas Coupland book since his books have a ton of song references."
Here is the full playlist for your listening and reading pleasure:
MY AWESOME LITERARY MIX CD
by Martha Pettit, The Booksmith
1.”Killing an Arab” –The Cure (The Stranger by Albert Camus)
2. “Tear in Your Hand”-Tori Amos (Sandman series by Neil Gaiman)
3.”Wuthering Heights”-Kate Bush (Wuthering Heights by Emile Bronte)
4.“Ghost of Tom Joad”-Bruce Springsteen (Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck)
5.”Paranoid Android”-Radiohead (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams)
6.”Mr.Tambourine Man”-Bob Dylan (Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson)*
7.”Satellite of Love”-Lou Reed (Ghostwritten by David Mitchell)*
8.”The River”-P.J. Harvey (The River by Flannery O’Connor)
9.”Myla Goldberg”-The Decemberists (Bee Season by Myla Goldberg)
10.”Ground Beneath Her Feet”-U2 (Ground Beneath Her Feet by Salman Rushdie)
11.”Norwegian Wood”-The Beatles (Norwegian Wood by Hakuri Murakami)*
12.”Disorder”-Joy Division (Crash by J.G. Ballard)
13.”Girlfriend in a Coma”-The Smiths (Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland)*
14.”La Pastie de la Bourgeoisie”-Belle & Sebastian (Catcher in the Rye by J.G. Salinger)
15.”Holland 1945”-Neutral Milk Hotel (Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank)
16.”Alice”-Tom Waits (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll)
17.”Little Green”-Joni Mitchell (Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? by Lorrie Moore)*
18.”My Vien Ilin”-Ted Leo & the Pharmacists (The Odyssey by Homer)