I'm fully expecting people to groan on sight of the book cover in the corner to my left: for a novel I've always professed to be my least favorite book in the entire world, I sure talk about it a lot, don't I?
I mean, even over the summer, I was talking about how much I loved April Lindner's killer modern adaptation of the classic work, and just some of what I said about Emily Bronte's 19th century masterpiece in my introduction included that its two main characters were "two of the most despicable fictional characters of all time, who do nothing but mess up life for other people, and are wholly undeserving of true love." (And no, I still don't think that's too harsh. They still suck.)
However, what I didn't expect was for my sister, The Cheerleader, to completely fall in love with the novel, during a summer reading assignment. And I didn't expect to have to read it for my new favorite class - English 333, The Nineteenth Century English Novel - this fall quarter, either. So, I'm now finding that, I'm gradually becoming an expert in what is still my least favorite book... or at least, I think it's still my least favorite.
Who knows. What I do know; however, is that I'm good enough at discussing its contents, that I decided to base my latest College Fashion "Looks from Books" post around it. So, hop on over to it, and judge for yourself, as to whether I let my bias impact some of those looks! Here's a sneak peek, of an outfit based around the questionable societal status of the "gentry" during the mid 1800s:
But enough about me. Since my sister enjoyed the novel so much, I asked her if she'd like to help me develop a new feature for Playing in the Pages, called "Plot Playlists": Utilizing themes, events, and overall tone of various novels, she - one of my favorite people to follow on 8Tracks, due to her seriously choice taste in music - would assist in putting together a playlist of ten songs that we felt fit perfectly to the work. And what she came up with for Wuthering Heights completely blew my mind! Let's have her tell her thoughts...
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When it
comes to reading, everyone has their different habits. If you’re anything like
me you like to accompany a book with the faint chirp of music in the
background. But what music you chose to listen to can make a big difference.
Before I
started making playlists I would put whatever music came to mind on when I
would read. When I read the entire Hunger Games trilogy in one week, I listened
to Passion Pit non-stop, not because they went well together, but because I had
just purchased the CD a week earlier. This choice led me to create a connection
between the two. Whenever I hear Passion Pit I think of the Hunger Games trilogy and
whenever I watch the movie or re-read the books, I can’t help but wonder why
I’m not hearing Passion Pit in the background.
This moment
in my life has led me to the conclusion that every book, classic or
modern, deserves a soundtrack to listen to while reading the book, or to bring
back the emotions and story that occur in between the pages.
To start
off the new "Plot Playlist" feature on Playing in the Pages, I made one for the classic novel by Emily
Bronte, Wuthering Heights, called "Among the Heath and Hare-bells." While not
all the songs are from the same genre of music, they all are similar in sound,
with each being more dark and mellow with the theme of romance and struggle.
The playlist
also includes specific songs that I believe tie in well with certain characters
or scenes from the book. Here are some of my favorites:
1)
“Hurt” by Jonny Cash, represents Hindley
Earnshaw, and his struggle with alcoholism. Pushing his way through life, Hindley only appeared to have a sliver of happiness, in his wife.
However, their love was short lived and with her life went his will to live,
leading him to drink and hurt himself and those around him.
2)
“Blow (Deconstructed)” by Ke$ha, plays to go
along with Catherine Earnshaw’s mental breakdown when she can’t find Heathcliff.
With a storm raging in the background, Catherine panics, unaware that Heathcliff
is safe inside, hidden. The raw, un-autotuned remix of Ke$ha’s song mimic’s the
raw fear Catherine feels having lost her friend and the love she feels for
Heathcliff.
3)
“Do I Wanna Know?” by Arctic Monkeys, was added to fit
with the scene where Catherine is dying and Heathcliff breaks into Thrushcross
Grange to see her. Their passionate embrace and heated words towards each other
match the passionate, yet sinister vibe of this mellow rock song.
4)
“Bella’s Lullaby” from the Twilight soundtrack
is not in there because it fits with a specific event or character of the novel
per say; however, I felt the need to give a little shout-out to Twilight’s movie
soundtrack, since Wuthering Heights was Bella’s favorite book, and I feel like it appropriately captures the Gothic tone of the novel.
While these are just a few examples of the connections I
made between the book and songs, the other songs have their meanings to me as
well, but instead of me sharing mine with you, why don’t you take a listen andmake your own connections and comparisons? Enjoy!
***
So, what do you think of my College Fashion post on Wuthering Heights? And what do you think of my sister's amazing "Among the Heath and Hare-bells" playlist? Do you think my feelings for this novel will ever change? Let us know!
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