I love books and I love music. That being said, it should not be a surprise to learn that I am a big fan of crossovers between the two.
The Hub is no stranger to this fantastic pairing, either: every Wednesday Diane Colson shares with us a book-and-song match in her Jukebooks series, Jennifer Rummel recently used country music as the basis for a booklist, and I referenced my love of book-themed playlists in a previous post.
While scanning through a list of new YA releases recently, I couldn’t help noticing that many of the titles seemed awfully familiar: quite a few of them share (or are very similar to) titles of songs. They may not be similar topically as the pairings in Diane’s posts, but there is no denying that some of these will have you humming the second you see the covers:
Since You’ve Been Gone
When you hear the title of this contemporary story of best friends, summer vacation, and list completion from author Morgan Matson, you may immediately think of Kelly Clarkson’s 2004 chart-topper, “Since U Been Gone.”
(Don’t You) Forget About Me
This new release from Kate Karyus Quinn is a near-match for the Simple Minds classic “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” but that is where the similarities end between this suspense-filled mystery and The Breakfast Club’s theme. Additionally, Quinn’s debut Another Little Piece immediately resulted in Janis Joplin singing “Piece of My Heart” in my head.
Toxic
This is the fifteenth installment of Sara Shepard’s Pretty Little Liars series. The title of this scandalous novels cries out for you to sing along to Britney Spears’ 2003 hit of the same name.
Take Me On
So, are you all humming the intro to a-ha’s “Take On Me” right now? In case you are not familiar, Kate McGarry’s newest release in the Pushing the Limits series shares its name with a very well-known lyric: “Take on me / Take me on / I’ll be gone / In a day or two”
Go ahead about hit those high notes as you sing along:
#scandal
Hashtags may be a recent trend, but we’re head back to the eighties for this title share. Do you think author Sarah Ockler listened to this Queen song while writing?
A few more to check out:
Wicked Games by Sean Olin / “Wicked Game” by Chris Isaak
In the End by Demitria Lunetta / “In the End” by Linkin Park
Wanted: Dead or in Love by Kym Brunner / “Wanted: Dead or Alive” by Bon Jovi
Push by Eve Silver / “Push” by Matchbox 20
Shimmer by Paula Weston / “Shimmer” by Fuel
Bonus:
The title of this post is a reference to a song by The Smiths and a similarly-titled 2008 YA book by David Yoo!
– Jessica Lind, currently reading Graceling by Kristin Cashore