Showing posts with label Jane Austen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jane Austen. Show all posts

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Love Stories

It's February (if you hadn't noticed) the month of LOVE.


When it became a full month's worth of love is beyond me, and whether or not you are feeling all that love is another thing entirely (I myself was dumped a number of times on Valentines Day, so I'm feeling your pain).

PersuasionBut since I'm a bit dry on the book/song combo's I thought I'd focus my posts for this month on the best love stories I've ever read.

I'm a fool for a good love story, but I really dislike love triangles. Inevitably somebody in a love triangle ends up dead and it really bugs me. Yet it's pretty hard to find a love story out there that doesn't include death.

Why is that?!

Is the notion of living out a life together so boring that we'd rather kill the person off then write about the wedding?

Well, my favorite love story of all takes place after the heart break. Granted the heartbreak in this novel isn't that of death, but of family disapproval.

PersuasionIf you haven't ever read Jane Austen's Persuasion, I really suggest you take the time to do so. That or at least watch the movie (the one with Ciarin Hinds), but either way you need to acquaint yourself with Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth.

This is, by far, my favorite Jane Austen and, in my most humble opinion, outstrips Pride and Prejudice.
"Persuasion is widely appreciated as a moving love story despite what has been labelled as a simple plot, and exemplifies Austen's acclaimed wit and ironic narrative style.[citation needed]Austen wrote Persuasion in a hurry, during the onset of the illness from which she eventually died; as a result, the novel is both shorter and arguably less polished than Mansfield Parkand Emma, and was not subject to the usual pattern of careful retrospective revision.
Although the impact of Austen's failing health at the time of writing this novel cannot be overlooked, the novel is strikingly original in several ways. Persuasion is the first of Austen's novels to feature as the central character a woman who, by the standards of the time, is well past the first bloom of youth; biographer Claire Tomalin characterizes the book as Austen's "present to herself, to Miss Sharp, to Cassandra, to Martha Lloyd . . . to all women who had lost their chance in life and would never enjoy a second spring."[4]" --Wikipededia
It's the only Jane Austen novel with a clear, precise and profound declaration of love.

"I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you." 
One of the first blog posts I ever wrote for Literary Soundtrack was about this book. I connected it with the song "If You're Not the One" by Daniel Bedingfield (here) which says:

"I don't wanna run away but I can't take it, I don't understand
If I'm not made for you, then why does my heart tell me that I am?
Is there anyway that I can stay in your arms?"
So if you haven't read Persuasion, I suggest you take the time to do so. It's not a long book and I'm confident you'll love it.

Hey I got my little sister to fall in love with it and she's addicted to psychological thrillers.

---
In this post:
Book: Persuasion by Jane Austen

Music: If You're Not the One by Daniel Bedingfield

Thursday, December 2, 2010

We're Not Alone

One of the common things I've heard since Jennifer and I started this blog was what a great idea it is to connect music with literature.

The thing that Jennifer and I had thought, however, was that most people already do this and we were just a means by which that connection could be given a voice.

But we're not really the first people to think of this, the film community has been at it for generations now. Yet with the invent of YouTube a new generation of young amateurs has been able to release some great song/book combos into the world.

Today I thought I would pay tribute to that ever growing group.

The first combination I found (that I actually liked) was by a user called arwentheelf02:
This is a music video to "Ignition" by TobyMac. The free peoples of Middle Earth aren't about to roll over and let Sauron take over their land. They're going to fight for their freedom.

During this video, I chose mostly clips of battle sequences, but please notice in the second half I use more clips of Frodo's struggle against the Ring. Not all struggles take place on a battlefield.
The lyrics to TobyMac's 'Ignition' are:

We can ride this storm
A grip of hope in our hands
For the coming dawn
Up to our necks in complexities
Causing us to pause
As we collect our thoughts

So don't blink if you wanna come cross the border
Take a look around or come test the water
We won't stop 'till we see the morning
So welcome to the quiet before the storm hits

And here's the video combination:


 Second in this list of creative ingenuity is by biglinc:

After watching Twilight for the first time I heard this song and it reminded me so much of Bella and Edward I had to make this video.

The lyrics to the song 'Endlessly' by Green River Ordinance:
She is the days I can't get over
She is the nights that I call home endlessly
For you I'll always wait

Caught in the waves of hesitation
Lost in the sea of my own doubt endlessly
For you I'll always wait
For you I'll always wait

And the video: (I have to say that I can't stand this movie... love the books, hate the movie. So I post this against my strong desires to gag ::wink::)

Finally, because there always has to be at least three things to a list, wetpaw has a tribute to Pride and Prejudice:
I love this song, and I love this movie!
The lyrics for Halo by Beyoncé: 

Hit me like a ray of sun
Burning through my darkest night
You're the only one that I want
Think I'm addicted to your light

I swore I'd never fall again
But this don't even feel like falling
Gravity can't forget
To pull me back to the ground again

Feels like I've been awakened
Every rule I had you breakin'
The risk that I'm takin'
I'm never gonna shut you out
And the video:


----
            Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, 
           Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Music: Ignition by TobyMac
           Endlessly by Green River Ordinance
           Halo by Beyoncé

Thursday, July 15, 2010

The Notebook and Breathe

The NotebookThe Notebook was the first Nicholas Sparks book I ever read. It was a great place to start. The story, if you haven't seen the movie or read the book, is about two teens who fall in love but are kept apart by her parents. Years go past, their lives move forward, but they never forget about each other. Finally as their twenties begin to wind down they find themselves facing each other once again. This time as adults with a far different look at life and greater responsibilities.

If they thought their love had been complicated as kids, it had nothing on what they were facing now.

I love stories of unrequited love. The thought that someone could hold on for years without giving up on even the slightest chance makes my heart flutter.

I also have a soft spot for love songs like Breathe's 'Hands to Heaven.'
As we move to embrace, tears run down your face
I whisper words of love, so softly
I can't believe this pain, it's driving me insane
Without your touch, life will be lonely
This totally reminds me of The Notebook.

An excerpt:
Without another word they came together, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and he put his arms around her, drawing her close. They held each other tightly, making it real, both of them letting the fourteen years of separation dissolve in the deepening twilight.

...
[She] realized how much she'd missed him since she'd seen him last.

Her eyes brimmed with tears as they finally released each other. She laughed nervously under her breath while wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes.
::sigh:: I'm such a sucker.

Other great unrequited love stories you might be interested in: Persuasion by Jane Austen, These is My Words by Nancy E. Turner, The Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce or The Rhapsody Trilogy by Elizabeth Haydon

Books: The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
            Persuasion by Jane Austen
            These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner
            The Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
            Rhapsody Trilogy by Elizabeth Haydon
Songs: Hands to Heaven by Breathe

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Author Interview - Jenni James

Claire Hart is obsessed with Twilight and dreams of meeting her very own Edward. When she meets Tony Russo on a visit to Seattle, Washington, she's sure he's a vampire. All she has to do is prove it...

Northanger AlibiNorthanger Alibi, Jenni James' modern retelling of the Jane Austen classic, Northanger Abbey, sounds like so much fun! I can't wait to get my hands on it. It is the first of a series of Jane Austen rewrites Jenni is working on. The next book will be Pride and Popularity, followed by Persuaded, Emmalee, Mansfield Ranch, and Sensible and Sensational.

I took advantage of a personal acquaintance (OK, OK, I happen to be on the same email list as her, and I shamelessly played it for all I was worth) to get her opinions on books and music.

On your blog, you cite both The Climb and Take A Chance On Me as being personally meaningful to you, but you don't go into detail. What is it about these two songs that touched you?
I really loved Take A Chance On Me while I was querying agents. I found it suited the process perfectly, and added a bit of humor to my insanity. By the time The Climb came out last spring, I had already been turned down by multiple publishing houses and I found as a writer I connected to that song greater than any other. I had hope, I knew I would make it with my series of Austen rewrites, I just needed to be reminded that the climb was important too.
Do you ever use music as an inspiration when you write? Have you ever had a song give you an idea for a story?
It depends on the book and my mood at the time. I’ve written 8 complete novels and I’m currently working on 2 more. I haven’t had a song give me an idea, I usually hear a song as I’m writing and really connect with it - feeling as though it’s one of my characters speaking. Once I find that song, I tend to play it softly in the background over and over again as I write the book (sort of a white noise type of thing).
Do you have any book/song combinations you like?
Do I? Lol! I have a ton. Currently, I’m working on a book titled Eternity with co-author AJ Cole. He and I both agree that Far Away is perfect for the book.

For my Jane Austen rewrites…

These are the songs that have spoken to me most while recreating the tension/scenes/novel.

Northanger Alibi - Eric Dill, Kidnap My Heart
Pride & Popularity - The Click Five, Just The Girl
Persuaded - Josh Groban, Confession, and Will Young, Leave Right Now
Mansfield Ranch - Taylor Swift, Teardrops On My Guitar, and Taylor Swift, You Belong With Me
(YouTube links provided by Jenni.)

You can preorder Northanger Alibi now (the release date is June 1, 2010) but if you preorder an autographed copy from Valor Publishing, you can get it early (May 25, according to Jenni's website.)


Books: Northanger Alibi, Jenni James
           Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen
           Twilight, Stephenie Meyer
Music: The Climb, Miley Cyrus
           Take A Chance On Me, ABBA
           Far Away, Nickelback
           Just The Girl, The Click Five
           My Confession, Josh Groban
           Leave Right Now, Will Young
           Teardrops On My Guitar, Taylor Swift
           You Belong With Me, Taylor Swift

...

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