In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Patrick Cottrell’s novel Afternoon Hours of a Hermit s tender and funny and pitch-perfect, another literary gem from one of our most talented authors.
BookPage wrote of the book:
“Afternoon Hours of a Hermit has the same dizzying creative energy that propelled Michael Chabon’s classic sophomore novel, Wonder Boys… remarkably gripping, full of humor and unexpected twists. This striking novel cements Cottrell as a true rising star of the literary moment.”
In his own words, here is Patrick Cottrell’s Book Notes music playlist for his novel Afternoon Hours of a Hermit:
When I was in high school in the late nineties, I chipped my front tooth on a piece of ice. My front tooth turned gray. My mother didn’t like how it looked so she took me to the dentist where I had to have an extensive root canal. A year ago, my current dentist looked at my x-rays and she said the root canal was one of the best she had seen.
Much of my book Afternoon Hours of a Hermit concerns memory and the techniques of fiction which I have tried to pass onto my students. But truth be told, I often feel like a dentist when I’m writing. Like my suburban Milwaukee dentist, I listen to soft pop/adult contemporary music while I work. Like the dentist, I am constantly looking for what’s rotting. In honor of that root canal so many decades ago, I have tried to recreate from memory the soothing soft pop/adult contemporary radio station playlist on that day in 1997.
Vanessa Williams “Save the Best for Last”
The critic Greil Marcus has written about the technical sheen and perfection of this song and Williams’ halting, delicate delivery. I once thought this song was about unrequited love, but now I can see the song is about an extremely beautiful woman who is deeply confused by the stupidity of her love interest. She knows she’s the best, she knows she’s the most beautiful woman in the world, she doesn’t understand why her love interest isn’t reciprocating: “I wondered what was wrong with you?”
That question, “I wondered what was wrong with you?” is one of the animating questions of Afternoon Hours of a Hermit.
Heart “These Dreams”
I listened to this song over 500 times while I wrote my book. Some days it was the only song I listened to. I put it on infinite repeat. It sounds like something that was written for Stevie Nicks during her solo years. The lyrics make no sense; it’s a ridiculous song. But the band buys into its affective charge…I don’t know if it’s from the music itself or something that happened in the studio, but that unshakeable belief in the material is something I thought about while writing. Although what’s happening on the page might be ridiculous, if there’s some kind of emotional charge present, you can do more, you can go farther.
Bruce Hornsby and the Range “The Way It Is”
The opening keyboard riff is so iconic. This song makes me think about how the singer is trying to convey a serious social message within the trappings of a pop song.
Belinda Carlisle “I Get Weak”
Soft pop choruses were so big and sweeping in the ’90s. There’s so much propulsion in this song. I listened to it a lot while I was drafting my book to keep myself in a positive mood. In some ways not much happens in Afternoon Hours, but I wanted there to be a sense of momentum. A ball rolling down a hill.
‘Til Tuesday “Voices Carry”
I am a huge fan of Aimee Mann. It’s cool to see the ways her style has changed, but you can still recognize that this song is hers, even with the faux New Wave vocal tics. You can hear her present-day style in the multi-tracked backing vocals in the last third of this song. Her long solo career is one of the all-time greats; she doesn’t have any weak spots.
Amy Grant “Baby Baby”
I had no idea until recently that this song is about a baby, Amy Grant’s baby.
Sheryl Crow “Leaving Las Vegas”
The novel Leaving Las Vegas by John O’Brien made an impression on me in high school. It’s a classic fantasy about romantic self-destruction disguised as a novel and it’s mentioned throughout my book. I haven’t read LLV in over twenty years, so I don’t know what it’s like, only my memory of it. Deep loneliness. This song isn’t one of Sheryl Crow’s best, but it foreshadows the darkness of her follow-up album which is so much better than her debut.
Donna Lewis “I Love You Always Forever”
This song can put you in a trance. It’s kind of like Enya + the Sundays + weightless obsession. It’s not dated at all. I wish I could write something this good.
Wilson Phillips “Hold On”
My favorite part of this song is when Chynna (I think) sings, “You’ve got no one to blame for your unhappiness/you got yourself into your own mess.” I think this applies to my narrator’s situation and, I’m guessing, to the majority of people’s problems.
Mariah Carey “Can’t Let Go”
Mariah Carey’s best songs are about obsession and longing: “Do you know the way it feels when all you have just dies?” So much of writing my book was about being haunted by the past, not being able to let go: “Every night I see you in my dreams/You’re all I know.”
also at Largehearted Boy:
Patrick Cottrell’s playlist for his novel Sorry to Disrupt the Peace
Patrick Cottrell is the author of Sorry to Disrupt the Peace. He is the winner of a Whiting Award in fiction in 2018 and a Barnes & Noble Discover Award in 2017. Cottrell is currently an assistant professor at the University of Denver.