Category Archives: Music

What I’m Currently Reading!

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Hello folks, and sorry for the minor delay! Busy days, busy days. I have a couple book reviews I need to get written soon, and should have one for you next weekend. For today, here’s some of the books I’ve been reading lately. Plus a couple book playlists, because anyone who knows me knows I love a fun book-themed playlist!

So without further ado, what Amanda is currently reading:

The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings – this book is releasing in June, and I’m reading the arc right now. This book is EXCELLENT! It features a magical New Orleans where magic is performed through music, ghosts haunt the city, and graffiti has come to life and wanders the streets driving people mad if they walk through the paint. I have no idea how it’s going to end! You can definitely expect a review when I finish this book.

Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hanh – this is the last book that came out before Thich Nhat Hanh’s death in January, though it actually a collection of some previous talks, writings, interviews, etc that had been compiled by his students following his stroke a few years ago. I have a hardcover copy of this book, but I am  also listening to the audiobook right now, particularly while I work.

Book of Gothel by Mary McMyne – this is also an arc I’m reading, and the book will be out in July. It’s a feminist, semi-historically-grounded take on the Rapunzel fairytale. I’m not very far into yet, but it is very good so far and I’m curious to see how the author will twist the traditional elements of the tale.

Sisters of the Forsaken Stars by Lina Rather – I read and reviewed the first novella, Sisters of the Vast Black, last year and loved it. This novella is a direct continuation so, of course, I had to grab it! I haven’t actually started this one yet, it’s next on the pile as soon as I finish one of the above, lol.

Last Call at the Nightingale by Katharine Schellman – I actually JUST finished this one (another arc for a book releasing in June) and this will likely by the review I get written up for next week!

So that’s what I’m currently reading. You can likely expect reviews for most, if not all, of these (time depending, of course). In the meantime, here’s a couple of the book playlists I’ve put together lately, just for the fun of it!

Playlist for Nettle & Bone – here’s the playlist I made to go with Nettle & Bone, which I just reviewed a couple weeks ago. This book officially released last Tuesday, so if you haven’t bought it yet, GET THEE HENCE!

Playlist for Spindle Splintered – I didn’t actually write a review of Spindle Splintered by Alix Harrow because I read it last year when the blog was dead in the water. But the sequel is coming out soon, so I might read that and then review both together… possibly. In the meantime, have a playlist!

Playlist for King of Infinite Space – here’s another one for a book I read last year and didn’t review. King of Infinite Space by Lindsay Faye is a queer, modern-day, magical realist take on Hamlet, and it is EXCELLENT. I cried so bad at the end! I pulled this playlist together for it right after finishing the book. Enjoy!

Ok, that’s all from me for today! Expect a review next Saturday!

Song and Story: My Personal Playlists

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Over the last few years, especially as apps like Spotify have become more common, making playlists for all sorts of things has become more and more popular. Fans make playlists based on their favorite books, fanfics, ships, etc. Some authors have taken to releasing an official book playlist for each of their new release publications. And so on and so on.

As my best friends are aware, I have been making playlists for DECADES. Since way back-when, when they were still called MIXTAPES. I remember with great fondness, the labor of love that was: listening to the radio waiting for bated breath for your favorite songs to play, ready to press record the second those first few notes hit, and doing this over and over again until the cassette tape was full. And then, years later, the joy of burnable cds and the first version of itunes, allowing you to make endless combinations of music to suite every mood.

I make playlists for everything: specific themes, stories I am writing, stories I am reading, characters I love, for road-trips and for test-taking, etc. I mostly keep mine on “private,” though I have started curating a few of the official playlists for the book subscription box Fox & Wit, for whom I work.

The playlists I make for Fox & Wit are usually around 10-14 songs long, however, I usually start with MANY more songs than that and then cut down to the best songs that most fit the feel/tone/themes of the book.

But I thought it might be fun to share just a few of the playlists I’ve done for myself as well. So here we go:

First, this started as the official book playlist for Just Watch Me by Jeff Lindsay, curated for Fox & Wit, but I discovered I didn’t actually like the book that much, so this rapidly became more generally what I call “The Greatest Heist Playlist Ever.”

Next we have a playlist called “You Go Too Fast For Me” which is, of course, a playlist I made for Good Omens, and one of my favorite ships: Crowley and Aziraphale.

Then we have one of my more idiosyncratic playlists. I have an obsession for songs about trains. I have been adding to this playlist slowly for YEARS. I don’t have every single song ever written that mentions trains – there are dozens, possibly hundreds, of blues songs ALONE that mention trains – I mainly just keep the ones I like best. I call it “Runaway Train” (because of course I did).

I also have this playlist, “Icarus and Daedalus,” the title of which is probably self-explanatory. I am likewise obsessed with songs (and poems and art) about the myth of Icarus and Daedelus. Like the train playlist, I have been adding to this one slowly for years as well. I’m still tinkering with it a lot lately.

Then I have this playlist called “Songs to Conquer By” which I made specifically to help power me through studying for my PhD Comprehensive Exams – I made it through mostly unscathed.

On top of all that, I have playlists I make for the stories I am writing personally. Currently, I am working on a fanfiction for Camp Nanowrimo, so I made a playlist for that one: It’s called “Holes In Your Coffin” (which is the name of the fic) and it is for The Dresden Files (more the short-lived tv show than the book series) and for my Harry/Bob ship.

In addition, I have a playlist for the only novel I have written a FULL draft of, called “Midnight’s Knife.”

And finally, I have a playlist for my half-started novel “They Shall Have Fire.”

So there are just a few of my playlists, all available on Spotify. I have others on Spotify that I will probably keep to myself. And I have even more in older formats, like on burned CDs.

If you like to make playlists and feel like sharing, I would love to see/hear them! I am also always looking for new music. I am a VORACIOUS music omnivore, so please send me any recommendations you have!

5 Things to Know Me By

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If you are remotely active on Twitter, you might have seen one of the newer memes floating around, in which people list the 5 (or 7 or 10) albums (or tv shows, movies, etc) to listen to in order to understand them.

Tweets like this:

And this:

And this:

I have no idea who started it (who EVER knows where these things start???) but it’s a pretty fun way to share some of your favorite things.

I RT’d and responded to a few on Twitter, but I thought it might be fun to share a few such lists here on my still-new blog. So without further ado, 5 things to know me by:

5 Music Albums:

  1. Let Live and Let Ghosts by Jukebox the Ghost (just fyi: Jukebox the Ghost is my favorite band of all time and I have seen them live 4 times – the last time for free as a person on their official guest list!)
  2. Abbey Road by The Beatles (I grew up on the Beatles – my mother raised me well – and I struggled with picking one for a long time, but I think this is my favorite of their studio albums)
  3. The Cowboy Bebop Movie OST (I love anime, and I love anime music, and the Cowboy Bebop soundtracks are some of the best ever made. The movie soundtrack in particular is pure MAGIC)
  4. Break the Cycle by Staind (this album was SO IMPORTANT to me during my particularly emo moments of high school)
  5. The Essential Barbra Streisand (look, I cannot stress the importance of this singer and this album enough. During many very very long road trips, my mother and I would keep ourselves awake by singing along to this album – on cassette tape no less – at the very top of our lungs… and it also began my lifelong love for showtunes and Broadway, starting from like the age of 7 or something like that)

(Honorable Mention goes to Phoenix by The Classic Crime, which has been so important for me emo moments of the last 10 years)

5 Movies:

  1. The Labyrinth (magic, portal fantasy, fantastic music, amazing puppets and artistry, and David Bowie… need I say more???) (Also, The Dark Crystal, because DUH)
  2. The Neverending Story (Also DUH. Those 80s fantasy movies are SO VITAL to my development as a reader, a writer, and a person)
  3. Robin Hood (the Disney animated version)
  4. The Fall (the 2006 Tarsem Singh film – if you haven’t seen it, YOU NEED TO NOW)
  5. The Last Emperor (by Bernardo Bertolucci – the extended four hour version, I cry EVERY SINGLE TIME)

(Honorable mention goes to My Neighbor Totoro, which I watch a lot at night when I am depressed and/or insomniac)

5 Books:

  1. Watership Down by Richard Adams (I love this book so much I am planning to get a tattoo with a quote from it)
  2. The Neverending Story by Michael Ende (ditto this one, on the tattoo thing)
  3. Dune by Frank Herbert (I read the first book in 6th grade and worked my way through the whole series by the end of 8th grade)
  4. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (I’m cheating sort of but whatever) (In 4th grade my elementary school librarian noticed that I was reading far above my grade level and gave me these books to read, and life has never been the same since then. They are an integral part of who I am and the reason I first decided I wanted to be a writer)
  5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (I read this book in 5th grade and adored it, and have since taken 2 college courses on Jane Austen and written several papers on the various aspects of the books)

(With an honorable mention to Neuromancer by William Gibson and The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien)

5 Musicals:

  1. Les Miserables
  2. Phantom of the Opera
  3. Rent
  4. Wicked
  5. Company

(Yes, I tend to prefer the Standards, over newer musicals… though I did really enjoy Hamilton and Hadestown!)

5 TV Shows (live action):

  1. Star Trek (all of them, don’t make me just pick one!)
  2. Doctor Who (Whovian forever!)
  3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (yeah man!)
  4. Law & Order (I watched every season of the original series with my mother from the age of 9 or 10 or so, and I have had an obsession with crime dramas and murder mystery shows ever since)
  5. M*A*S*H* (still the best comedy show ever made ever)

5 Animes:

  1. Robotech (the one that started it all for me!)
  2. Sailor Moon (MOON PRISM POWER!)
  3. Dragon Ball Z (KAMEHAMEHA!)
  4. Cowboy Bebop (You’re gonna carry that weight…)
  5. Neon Genesis Evangelion (can you tell how important the CLASSICS are to me???)

(Honorable mention goes to Fairy Tail – I am currently working my way straight thru the whole series – all 328 episodes – for the third time! And also My Hero Academia, which I’m really enjoying so far, though I’m a season behind…)

5 Western Animation Shows:

  1. DuckTales (the original mostly – DISNEY AFTERNOON RULES FOREVER!, but also the new version)
  2. Futurama (god I love this show so much!)
  3. Star vs the Forces of Evil (this Disney show was SO GOOD GUYS!)
  4. Adventure Time (obviously)
  5. Over the Garden Wall (this was a 10 ep mini-series and I adore it and it is my best “comfort” watch – I watch it almost every night to fall asleep to)

So, what kinds of things would show up on YOUR “5 Things” lists??? Please share! I’d love to hear about it!