Book Playlist - Song Recommendations for each Book!

Now and then, I get bored of listening to the same songs over and over again! So I came up with some song recommendations for some popular books!

SHATTER ME (TAHEREH MAFI) - MISS AMERICANA AND THE HEARTBREAK PRINCE (TAYLOR SWIFT)

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Lover by Taylor Swift, the album in which Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince is in

Shatter Me is one of my all time FAVORITE books! The second I finished reading this book, I instantly found parallels to Swift's Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince. Sure, the two works have completely different settings, Mafi's Shatter Me takes place in a sort of futuristic, dystopian world while Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince takes place in a high school. However, I couldn't help but notice that there were certain parallels with the lyrics of the song and the plot of the book itself.

For instance, Swift sings "I counted days, I counted miles", and Juliette is seen counting the number of days she has been imprisoned at the start of the book (264 days to be exact!) before she meets Adam. Likewise, Swift sings "Voted most likely to run away with you", and in the book, Juliette runs away with Adam from the base (shortly after she learns Warner can touch her and not be killed). Another parallel that I found that may have been a bit harder to notice is when Swift sings, "They whisper in the hallway, 'she's a bad bad girl'". In the book, the people at the base are seen to be talking about Juliette behind her back, and seem to be scared of her supernatural ability, hence, "she's a bad bad girl".

CINDER (MARISSA MEYER) - REDEMPTION SONG (BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS) & IMAGINE (JOHN LENNON)

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Uprising by Bob Marley, the album in which Redemption Song is in

Imagine by John Lennon

Cinder by Marissa Meyer is a spin-off to the disney fairytale Cinderella. Instantly after reading the book I got the feeling that the books has multiple themes of prejudice (discrimination, such as against cyborgs like Cinder) and hope for a better world (New Beijing is struck with a deadly plague, which ultimately kills her sister). I thought of the songs "Redemption Song" by Bob Marley and "Imagine". Both these songs have hopes for a much better world, one without discrimintation, and Redemption Song in general talks about discrimintation. That is why I thought they match perfectly with the themes of Cinder.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (CHARLES DICKENS) - WHAT I'VE DONE (LINKIN PARK)

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

What I've Done by Linkin Park

A Christmas Carol is a Dickens classic! While it leans more to the spirit of Christmas, it exhibits themes of redemption and learning from your past mistakes. That is why I chose the song What I've Done by Linkin Park, which talks about his mistakes and hoping to be a better person in the future. It parallels with Scrooge meeting the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and future, showing his past mistakes and the bad future that awaits him if he continues to be miserable and very greedy. Ultimately, both talk about how important redemption is and to make yourself a better person.

These songs are all great to listen to, especially if you like the themes of these books or simply just like parallels to lyrics! Whatever your reason may be to listen, I hope you enjoy discovering new music!