Nicole Haroutunian’s novel-in-stories Choose This Now is a vivid portrayal of female friendship through the years.
Lydia Kiesling wrote of the book:
“CHOOSE THIS NOW is a sparkling, intimate look at women’s lives. Haroutunian’s succinct prose and characterizations, her expansive interconnected storylines, and her deft hand in weaving together her themes–friendship, desire, striving, parenting, aging–make for a lovely reading experience. I was sad to leave these women and their ordinary, beautiful lives behind. I like to think of them out there in the world of art, continuing to orbit one another through every stage of our brief time on earth.”
In her own words, here is Nicole Haroutunian’s Book Notes music playlist for her novel Choose This Now:
My novel-in-stories Choose This Now follows two college best friends, Valerie and Taline, over about twenty years, beginning at a Halloween party in 1999 and touching down at four other costume parties along the way. Each story-chapter title includes the year, so I used those as guides to compile this sixteen-song playlist. In some cases, I found myself checking the month an album was released to see if it really could have been piping out of a coffeeshop speaker at that exact moment, but then I got a grip. I focused on songs that fit the era, the characters, and the action of the story rather than songs I necessarily like or go well together. Thinking about which song might comfort a sleep-deprived new mother in the year 2008, or what a woman who’d been pretending a breakup never happened would blast when she was alone at night, or even who’d listen to indie rock and who’d listen to the radio, was such an instructive exercise that I wish I’d done it sooner.
“Deceptacon,” Le Tigre
Twenty-One, Valerie, 1999: What else could possibly be playing at a Halloween party at a small liberal arts college in 1999? Okay, maybe there are lots of options, but there is no song I associate more with college and being with my friends than this one. As the book begins, a sudden act of violence interrupts Valerie’s longed-for kiss with Elliot, setting in motion a two-hundred-page arc of longing. I like the idea of Kathleen Hanna having been there with Val for a little moral support.
“Come On Let’s Go,” Broadcast
Points of Light, Taline, 2000: Jeremiah is Taline’s summer art teacher. A little older, and more than a little sketchy, he gives Taline a ride home after class during which he may or may not cross a line. What would this dude, a paint-stained MFA student, have playing in his car? I think it would be something cool, something that would draw in Taline, something she’d want to listen to again after the got out of the car but that maybe would be ruined for her forever.
“We Don’t Care,” Audio Bullys
Twenty-Six, Valerie, 2004: My husband, Dan Selzer, is a DJ and played many an early 2000s Halloween party. As I compiled this playlist, I sent him the following passage and asked which song it was: The room fills with a song I don’t recognize, although Louise and everyone else whoop and cheer for it. I don’t know how anyone can keep up. I know more French second wave feminists than pop stars. “’We Don’t Care,’ Audio Bullys,” he said. “100% it was that song. It’s kinda just post electroclash but was a huge anthemic track with the sorta DFA type people.” Despite not quite remembering this song myself, far be it from me to dispute the expert.
“Lover I Don’t Have to Love,” Bright Eyes
Decision Making for Safe and Healthy Living, Taline 2006: In this story, Taline is hiding from her childhood friend that she’s broken up with her boyfriend, a guy she blew up her life to be with and now she’s floundering. Meanwhile, her friend has a house in the suburbs and two kids. I bet that, although she’d never admit to listening to Bright Eyes, when she goes home and no one else is around, she puts on the most melodramatic of their songs and feels sorry for herself.
“Light of a Clear Blue Morning,” Dolly Parton
Clear Blue, Tova, 2007: This is quite literal because they listen to this song in the story—and use the ovulation tests!—but also fitting for Tova, a secondary character in the orbit of the main duo. She is, in many ways, more mature and surer of herself than they are. Rather than listening to whatever was of-the-moment, she’d have her own specific timeless taste in music.
“Time to Pretend,” MGMT
Landmark Decisions, Valerie, 2007: Valerie is newly married and newly, unexpectedly pregnant in 2007, when “Time to Pretend” by MGMT was omnipresent. It would resonate with Valerie at a stage when she’s also bristling against becoming this conventional adult.
“L.E.S. Artistes,” Santigold
Day Jobs, Taline, 2008: Taline and her fellow teaching artists at Solid Starts Through the Arts (SSTARTS) are told that the economic crash has decimated the organization’s budget and only one artist of the two artists per discipline can keep their job. Their bleeding-heart director wants them to pick themselves who stays and who goes. Over drinks after work, they drunkenly decide to settle the matter with an “art dual.” Taline—who, yes, has a subsidized art studio on the LES—unexpectedly has to recognize her privilege, her possible lack of talent, and what it might mean to own these realizations. The song would really hit her: “I can say I hope it will be worth what I give up.”
“A Better Son/Daughter,” Rilo Kiley
Shallow Latch, Valerie, 2008 In 2008, Jenny Lewis put out an album called Acid Tongue, and I imagine a friend would have sent it over to Valerie. Why? You can’t even imagine how many text exchanges I’ve had with girlfriends about Jenny Lewis albums. Struggling with a new baby, Valerie wouldn’t be able to take on a new album. But it might trip her nostalgia for an earlier iteration of Jenny Lewis and this poignant song about trying to be better.
“Bulletproof,” La Roux
Lifeguards, Cleo, 2009: Cleo and Genesis are teen bffs, down the shore for the day with Genesis’s big brother and his dreamy friend, Max. Despite Cleo hating when people play music at the beach, she has to admit that the new album Max is psyched about sounds pretty good. Googling “song of the summer 2009” turns up Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, and Pitbull, but Max is crush-worthy for a reason. (Valerie, on the beach blanket next to them, is pissed about the music, no matter how fun the song.)
“Heart Skipped a Beat,” the xx
Thirty-Two, Valerie, 2010: Hearing strains of this song escaping from a café as she hauls her tantruming two-year-old past it would only amplify Val’s longing to be one the women sitting with friends inside, chatting over a coffee.
“Space Song,” Beach House
Saturday, New York City, Taline, 2010: There is a song on Beach House’s 2010 album Teen Dream called “Walk in the Park,” which is just what this story is about: two best friends walking in Central Park, seeing each other through some tricky emotional times (and stalking a movie star in the process). I’ll break chronology and say “Space Song” instead, though, because I just love this song.
“Fuck and Run,” Liz Phair
Parched, Taline, 2012 Confronting her cheating partner would send Taline right back to the formative f-u anthems of her youth.
“The Wire,” HAIM
Jesus Louise, Louise, 2013: The coolest most stylish sisters would definitely soundtrack this story about the book’s coolest, most stylish character, trying her best to do right by her sister-in-law.
“We Are Young,” fun.
Seas Between Us, Taline, 2012: There’s a suburban sex party in this story that is based on one a friend told me about and very much not a party that took place, or takes place annually, near my NJ hometown. But, because I do picture my NJ hometown when I picture Taline’s, I feel I can take this opportunity to share that Jack Antonoff went to my high school (and quickly transferred out). So, would the party hosts have been playing his monster hit song at their New Year’s party and pretending that they’d been friends with him? For sure.
“Heads Will Roll,” Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Thirty-Five, Valerie, 2013: Tova and Elliot throw a Halloween party; Valerie and her husband attend. It is the first time Valerie and Elliot have had a real conversation since the events of Halloween ’99. Knowing her music collection isn’t right for a party, Tova streams an “adult Halloween playlist” and the house fills with Karen O’s voice, collapsing the fourteen years since that last party, when the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were surely in the mix.
“Through the Woods,” The Okee Dokee Brothers
After America, Taline, 2016-18: At the end of the book, Taline is the adoring mother of a toddler. I’m sure she imagined that her child would just listen to her indie rock and riot grrl playlists, but somewhere along the way she found herself sucked into the world of kid music. In the story’s tumultuous political and personal climate, this beautiful Appalachian folk song would have soothed both mother and baby.
also at Largehearted Boy:
Nicole Haroutunian’s playlist for her story collection Speed Dreaming
Nicole Haroutunian is the author of the story collection Speed Dreaming. She lives with her family in Woodside, Queens in New York City.