Love Stories Part Two

When trying to come up with a list of the greatest love stories ever told I have to admit that I kept coming back to one book in particular. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer is by far the most powerful love I've ever encountered in a book and I thought I'd talk about why today.

Just kidding, hehehe. As much as I enjoyed reading the Twilight series when it was in it's infancy I've grown to notice some glaring flaws in Edward and Bella's relationship that I just can't get past.

Flaws that you don't see in The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emma Orczy, which is one of the best love stories I've ever read.

I truly loved reading about a husband and wife. So often love stories involve the act of falling in love, but in The Scarlet Pimpernel you read about the acts of trust, forgiveness, and devotion. You read about the real, long lasting love of a husband and wife--Which is the only true relationship where you can fall in love over and over and over again.

Set in the midst of the French Revolution, the leading force within this book is the power of trust (or lack thereof). Mainly who can be trusted... which during the French Revolution was very few people indeed. This was a time period where families turned against family and servants against master. The Blakeney's were no different. At the opening of the book Sir Percy and his wife Maguerite are estranged and barely speaking. Trust has failed them in their marriage and yet it becomes the most powerful path to forgiveness between them.

In a previous post I connected this book with the song True Colors by Cyndi Lauper because of the strong connection between color, but I think that the song doesn't quite fit the feeling of pain and lack of trust that you see at the onset.

But I can't come up with a better one.

What do you think? Have you read the story? What song would you attach to it?

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In this post:

Books: The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Music: True Colors by Cyndi Lauper

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:

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Books: Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien,

            Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, 

           Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Music: Ignition by TobyMac

           Endlessly by Green River Ordinance

           Halo by Beyoncé

The Host

Lately it seems as if the only thing anyone can talk about is how wonderful The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer is, but what about her other book 'The Host'?

In my opinion it is a better book than Twilight. The plot is more interesting (aliens taking over the bodies of humans), the characters are more mature (grown up problems instead of teenage drama), and the love story is much more complicated (love triangle with only two bodies?).

No one talks about 'The Host' anymore, and I have to tell you... I've read it multiple times now. I wish Stephenie would do more in the science-fiction genre (and I don't even particularly like sci-fi).

If you haven't read it, or you have read it but need some refreshing, the plot roughly goes like this:

The earth has been taken over by body-snatchers. The only surviving 'humans' are in hiding only going out when their supplies run low enough for them to chance be caught. Jared and Melanie are part of these last hold-outs.

Melanie gets taken and her body is given to Wanderer, a pretty nice alien whose view we read the story from.

But Melanie just won't go away. She fights to hold on to her brain and the secrets she knows about where the rest of humanity is hidden. She smothers Wanderer with her love for Jared until Wanderer can't handle it anymore and goes in search for him.

And so the story begins... Wanderer, Melanie and Jared fighting each other in the midst of hostile humans and conquering aliens.

The song I chose for the this conflict could be used for either Melanie or Wanderer since both are smitten with Jared. I'm quite fond of Jared and Melanie's love so I like to think of it as their song.

Mariah Carey's 'Thank God I Found You'

"I would give up everything
Before I'd separate myself from you
After so much suffering
I've finally found a man that's true
I was all by myself for the longest time
So cold inside
And the hurt from the heart it would not subside
I felt like dying
Until you saved my life

Thank God I found you
I was lost without you
My every wish and every dream
Somehow became reality
When you brought the sunlight
Completed my whole life
I'm overwhelmed with gratitude
Cause baby I'm so thankful
I found you"

Melanie:

'He seems to realize how brittle I am, how close to breaking.

"Will you wait for me here, then?" he asks in a gentle voice. "I'll be very quick. Let me get us some more food."

"Us?"

"Do you really think I'm going to let you disappear? I'll follow you even if you tell me not to."

I don't want to disappear from him.

"I..." How can I not trust another human completely? We're family--both part of the brotherhood of extinction. . . '

Jared:

"Mel?" he asked again, the hope he didn't want to feel coloring his tone.

My breath caught in another sob, an aftershock.

"You know that was for you, Mel. You know that. Not for h-- it. You know I wasn't kissing it."

. . .

"If you're in there, Mel..." He paused.

Melanie hated the 'if.' A sob burst up through my lungs, and I gasped for air.

"I love you," Jared said. "Even if you're not there, if you can't hear me. I love you."

Wanderer:

"I felt all the eyes in the dark room on my face as Jared now held hand out, palm up, toward me.

. . .

I stared at him wide-eyed, stunned that he was speaking for me, that he was speaking to me, that he was using my name. Melanie was in shock, too, torn in half. She was overjoyed at the kindness in his face as he looked at us, the softness in his eyes that had been absent so long. But it was my name he'd said...

It was a few seconds before I could find my voice."

Books: The Host by Stephenie Meyer
Music: Thank God I Found You by Mariah Carey

Author Interview: Christine Feehan

Christine Feehan is impressive. A New York Times bestselling author. Mother to 11 children. (11!)  Five  series. Over 40 books. And she's only been published for the last 12 years. In case you're counting on your fingers, I'll do the math for you. That would be two to four books every year, with another four coming out this year. (OK - I cheated and looked up her publishing dates. Hey, I write and I read. I don't do math.)

Me? Impressed? Oh, don't be silly. I only dream about that kind of success, that's all...

She very kindly agreed to share her thoughts on music and books with us.

You are probably aware that Stephenie Meyer has a playlist on her site for each of her books. Carrie Vaughn, similarly, has a playlist at the beginning of each of her Kitty Norville books, and other writers have started talking more about the influence of music on their writing process. Do you have any particular pieces of music that you associate with any of your novels? Do you ever listen to music as you write, or use music for inspiration?

I always listen to music when I’m working and the playlist is different for the various series. I prefer music with lyrics playing very low in the background. I wrote for years with my children around me and a great deal of noise. Perfect silence makes it difficult for me to write. Lyrics are often an inspiration, but so is the way the song is sung. Bon Jovi comes to mind. *VBG*

You have a number of characters who are musicians, and in several of your books music plays an important role in the story. Carpathian magic, for instance, depends on chants; in Dark Symphony music is what initially brings Antonietta and Byron together, and later is an important element in their relationship. Is music an important part of your life? What type of music do you listen to the most?

I listen to almost everything. I’m not a rap fan and can only listen to one or two heavy metal songs, but I love music. Phantom of the Opera is a must of course. But even my playlists are wildly eclectic. I probably listen to love songs the most.

You commissioned a song for your character Joley, in Turbulent Sea. Obviously, you felt this was important for that book / character. Can you tell us how that came about? What led you to pursue the creation of an actual song to serve as Joley's theme?

I like to provide interesting and different things for my readers. Joley is a singer and I thought it would be very fun to make a music video. To do that we needed our own song. I thought the song told the readers a lot about the heroine in the book and the way she felt about the man she was falling in love with. She was very torn because she believed him to be someone who would kill for money and she could never allow herself to love someone with that kind of amoral behavior. The song and video hopefully portrayed her conflict.

Are there any songs that bring to mind a certain book for you? Are there any books that bring to mind a song?

Each book I write has a song of its own in my head for personal reasons. The Dark books have more of a gothic or alternative sound. The GhostWalkers are always far more action oriented. With the Drakes I play songs that feel like love songs to me—love of family, friends and their man. The Leopards are wild and the music has a more jungle beat to it. Of course Phantom of the Opera works well for anything! Water Bound needed songs that represented someone broken or shattered. Music is so diverse and can create moods so I utilize it as a tool whenever I write.

Turbulent Sea, the song, was written by CORVO, a romantic horror rock group. You can download a free MP3 of the song at their website.

(No math equations were injured in the making of this post. And if any were, it's my parents' fault. They gave me the faulty math genes.)

Books: Dark Symphony, Turbulent Sea, Water Bound, by Christine Feehan
             Stephenie Meyer
             Carrie Vaughn
Music: Bon Jovi
             Phantom of the Opera
             CORVO