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 Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Hanif Abdurraqib, Andrew Sean Greer, Roxane Gay, and many others.
Norah Labiner’s novel Morocco is a compelling modern reimagining of Washington Square by Henry James.
Publishers Weekly wrote of the book:
“This is subtle but spectacular.”
In her own words, here is Norah Labiner’s Book Notes music playlist for her novel Morocco:
The story started, if you can believe it, at a dinner party some long-ago evening, when by gaslight, just before the coffee—an actress told him of a rather plain, but fabulously wealthy young heiress and the fortune hunter who was pursuing the girl, to the great displeasure of her father, Dr.—. You remember him, don’t you, Henry?
What Henry James remembered or did not is lost to history. It remains only that he was taken with the story, and so he took it. He wrote Washington Square, the story of a rich girl who falls for a cad, is betrayed by her father, and yet somehow comes to determine her own fate.
James did not like his little book—or so he later claimed—, but I loved it. I loved it perhaps for the very reason that he hated it. He was a ghost in his own house. He tried to hide himself in the pages, but I found evidence of him everywhere. His dressing gown thrown over a chair, a forgotten teacup, an unfinished crossword puzzle, an ink pen. I heard him at the piano.
I think I saw him cutting roses in the garden.
I was taken with the story, and so I took it.
How a book comes to a writer is somewhere between love and theft.
Morocco is a book about books. It is an ode to stories. And not just good stories, but the bad ones too. Here is the art of the potboiler and the plot twist. Here is a world of overlooked girls and underestimated women, of romance novels and vampires and chocolate bars and soap operas, of postcards unsent, of time machines and typewriters. Here are horror movies and films, noir. Here are songs on the radio. And songs that you never hear on the radio. Here are broken clocks and pearls and a lost umbrella. Here is a golden bowl. Here is a raven and a writing desk. Here are jokes and their relation to the unconscious.
How a book comes to a reader is a kind of gift.
Morocco is a good book to read on a cold night or by a very blue swimming pool.
Here then is a musical interlude for my little book. Here are songs for haunted houses and ruined gardens and endless afternoons. Here are songs for your listening pleasure.
Summertime, Amália Rodrigues (1965)
This song is for every ghost in the graveyard.
Summertime – song and lyrics by Amália Rodrigues | Spotify
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Thelonious Monk (1954)
Here is a story that is a song. Strike that, reverse it.
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes – song and lyrics by Thelonious Monk | Spotify
Near the Black Forest, Vanessa Daou (1994)
If you dream or have nightmares or like lemons.
Near the Black Forest – song and lyrics by Vanessa Daou | Spotify
The Box It Came In, Wanda Jackson (1967)
Here is a song that is a story with a happy ending.
The Box It Came In – song and lyrics by Wanda Jackson | Spotify
The Dark End of the Street, James Carr (1966)
Listen to this one again.
The Dark End of the Street – song and lyrics by James Carr | Spotify
Nadia’s Theme (The Young and the Restless), The Ventures (1970)
Here is a story that never ends.
Nadia’s Theme (The Young And The Restless) – song and lyrics by The Ventures | Spotify
Dreams, Faye Wong (1994)
If you like cake or carry a small dog in your handbag.
夢中人 – 電影《重慶森林》歌曲 – song and lyrics by Faye Wong | Spotify
Rivers of Babylon, Bony M. (1978)
This is a good song to sing in a strange land.
Rivers of Babylon – song and lyrics by Boney M. | Spotify
Beauty in the World, Macy Gray (2010)
Here is a song if you have ever opened a door and found yourself miraculously in a library.
Beauty In The World – song and lyrics by Macy Gray | Spotify
also at Largehearted Boy:
Norah Labiner’s playlist for her novel Let the Dark Flower Blossom
Norah Labiner’s playlist for her novel German for Travelers
Norah Labiner is the author of the novels Our Sometime Sister, Miniatures, German for Travelers, and Let the Dark Flower Blossom. She has received a Minnesota Book Award for Literary Fiction and currently lives in Minnesota.