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September 20, 2012
Book Notes - George Minot "om love"
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Bret Easton Ellis, Kate Christensen, Kevin Brockmeier, George Pelecanos, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, David Peace, Myla Goldberg, Heidi Julavits, Hari Kunzru, and many others.
George Minot's novel om love tells its nontraditional love story in intriguing syntax, and is an ambitious book that often reads like free verse poetry.
Stream a Spotify playlist of these tunes. If you don't have Spotify yet, sign up for the free service.
In his own words, here is George Minot's Book Notes music playlist for his novel, om love:
1. "Intergalactic" – Beastie Boys
Inner outer-space travel of the whole yoga experience adumbrated in the beginning. Amanda's Beastie Boys tee shirt with the space ship on it. Downtown kinda guys
2. "One Love" – Bob Marley
The title of the song is practically the title of the book. And the message and the vibe are close in spirit. And the juice bar where they get Reggae Rumbas often plays Bob Marley…
3. "Moondance" – Van Morrison
"Wavelength" – Van Morrison
Mystic man Van Morrison is one of the yoga center's presiding rock deities. Billy's mother swimming in the moonlight summons "Moondance". And Amanda slow dances to "Moondance with her dad.
4. "Make Love (With Affection) – Joan Armatrading
Because love! Not just sex, but making love. Not just making love, but…
5. "Series of Dreams" - Bob Dylan
"My Heart's in the Highlands" - Bob Dylan
"Sad-eyed Lady of the Lowlands" - Bob Dylan
#1 rock guru of the yoga center and reigning cool man sage genius. Billy's head's in the art realm/love dimension – sees and tells their story more as a series of dreams than as a straight story. And the last chapter arrives and delivers into that realm. After the highs and lows of love and the searching spirit.
6. "Harvest Moon" – Neil Young
"Harvest" – Neil Young
"Southern Man" – Neil Young
Because I'm still in love with you. Did she wake you up to tell you that it was only a change of plans? Dream up, dream up, let me fill your cup with the promise of a man…"
In "Southern Man" passionate weaving guitars take you off into what Billy calls the dimension.
7. "The Crying of Lot G" – Yo La Tengo
"Tears Are In Your Eyes" – Yo La Tengo
"Night Falls on Hoboken" – Yo La Tengo
In which the guy addresses his girlfriend (wife) and talks about their relationship, sort of shrugging at what's she's saying about their problems, though he's thinking about them, says maybe she's right, maybe she knows something I don't know, or maybe it's just that you don't listen and I can't shut up.
The whole album is like a music version of this book, a couple into each other and working it out – tender moments walking along and dense layers of mounting meaningful sound. In the last song she addresses him. And the song goes on and on, building beautifully. They're husband and wife in real life. The title of the album is a sentence, like a sentence from a novel, like a sentence from this novel: And then nothing turned itself inside-out.
8. "Precious Tiny" – Lotion
"God Bless Whiskey" – Lotion
Knowing your apartment and your friends won't be the same way that you left them.
Guitars here, too, build into the dimension. (The book, the prose, Billy's runaway voice, do the same.) "Whiskey" – sweet sad slow song for the dad figure…
Also – for a piece of literary/music arcana – Thomas Pynchon stepped out of hiding in a sense for a second and wrote glowingly in Esquire magazine about Lotion, their exquisite layered sound. His accountant was the mother of one of the guys in the band; she handed Pynchon one of their albums…
9. "White Wedding" – Iggy Pop
Nice day for whire wedding. Nice day to start again!
In the book the imagined wedding and funeral scenes merge. Will they work it out – start again?
Iggy lives practically across the street from them at the edge of T Sq Park in the East Village.
10. "The Argument" – Fugazi
Here it comes!
11. "Type Slowly" – Pavement
Billy's loose way of making and telling this map of a love story resembles the talk/singing in this song: and the approach (also mine, GM): type slowly…
12. "Let It Be" – The Beatles
"Imagine" - John Lennon
Words of wisdom! (Veddy Vedic.)
Like an anthem over the last chapter and moments of awareness throughout.
Above us only sky. Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer – but I'm not the only one…
George Minot and om love links:
FictionDB review
The Pondering Yogini review
Scoop Post review
also at Largehearted Boy:
Book Notes (2012 - ) (authors create music playlists for their book)
Book Notes (2005 - 2011) (authors create music playlists for their book)
my 11 favorite Book Notes playlist essays
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
52 Books, 52 Weeks (weekly book reviews)
Antiheroines (interviews with up and coming female comics artists)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (weekly comics highlights)
Daily Downloads (free and legal daily mp3 downloads)
guest book reviews
Largehearted Word (weekly new book highlights)
musician/author interviews
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
Shorties (daily music, literature, and pop culture links)
Soundtracked (composers and directors discuss their film's soundtracks)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from the week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
