I’m going to try and match 13 books to Taylor Swift songs. If you didn’t know this about me; I am a huge swifty, and I love matching books and songs.
Read, enjoy, and let me know what you think! Are there other Taylor Swift songs that would’ve been a better fit, or do you have any suggestions for other books or songs to match? I would love to hear from you.
Anyway, let’s get started!
1. As Good as Dead, Holly Jackson
– no body, no crime
The third book of the “A Good Girls Guide to Murder”-series by Holly Jackson fit perfectly with Taylor Swifts “No Body No Crime”. I won’t say too much in fear of spoiling the last book in Jacksons installment, but if you like the song; read the series! Can I just share some quotes from the song, and let you live with “if you know, you know”:
“Somebody’s gonna catch him out,/ ‘cause / I think he did it, but I just can’t / prove it (he did it)”
And from the book: “Who will look for you once you disappear?”
If you want to know how the rest goes, I think you’ll just have to read the book! (Yes, this is indeed Holly Jackson propaganda, and yes, I’m proud of it)
2. Lessons In Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus
– Mad Woman + The Man
Lessons in Chemistry is a feminist story about a woman who definitely is “The Man”, but perhaps also a little “mad”. (Sorry – I just had to add both songs!)
Here are some quotes from the book:
“‘Sometimes I think,’ she said slowly, ‘that if a man were to spend a day being a woman in America, he wouldn’t make it past noon’”
The main character, chemist Elizabeth Zott, has experienced a lot of downfalls in her life, and a whole lot of people underestimating her, but she still stands strong and fights for herself and against stigma and discrimination.
“When everyone believes ya/ what’s that like?” and “And I’m so sick of them coming at me again/ ‘Cause if I was a man/ I’d be the man”, from “The Man”
“What a shame she went mad / No one likes a mad woman / You made her like that”, from “Mad woman”.
3. The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo,
Taylor Jenkins Reid
– The last great american dynasty
Evelyn Hugo, from The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo, perfectly embodies Rebekah in The last Great American Dynasty. “She had a marvelous time ruining everything”, is a quote from the song.
“I’m under absolutely no obligation to make sense to you” and “Don’t ignore half of me so you can put me into a box”.
I think these quotes from the book fit with the way Rebekah were being viewed in Taylors song.
4. Better than the movies, Lynn Painter
– The way I loved you
Better than the movies is one of the cutest books I’ve ever read (in a very good way), and I think that it also deserves some cute books!
“The way I loved you” embodies the relationship between Liz and Wes, and I think about the guy she describes in the beginning who is perfect, but she also dosen’t feel the things she does with Wes. Have a quote: “And it’s like I couldn’t ask for anything better […] / But I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain / And it’s 2:00 a.m. and I’m cursing your name / So in love that you act insane / And that’s the way I loved you.
Here’s a quote from the book: “Enemies-to-lovers – it’s our trope, Buxbaum” and “You look best when you’re you”.
Aarghh! It’s so cute, I’m smiling! (Read this book, I beg you!)
5. Magnolia Parks (The whole series),
Jessa Haistings – The Lucky One
Magnolia Parks is a spoiled queen, and we love her. She is also a complex characters with many layers and feelings, but I love the song “The lucky one”, because I think it embodies her. She is lucky. She is pretty, and rich, and everyone loves her, but she is also a human with thoughts and feelings, and things going on.
The Lucky One, fits great – especially if you’ve read the whole series… Have some quotes: “Everybody loves pretty, everybody loves cool” and this whole verse because I’m indecisive: “Now it’s big black cars and Riviera views / And the lover in the foyer doesn’t even know you / And your secrets end up splashed on news front page / And they tell you that you’re lucky, but you’re so confused / ‘Cause you don’t feel pretty, you just feel used”
6. Little women, Louisa May Alcott
– Last Kiss
Little women deserves a lot, and I think that Taylor’s whole discography could go into that book. But the part of the book that felt the most important to me were the female relationships we (the readers) could see between the sisters. That is why I choose the song “Last kiss”. To me, that song has always been about friendship, and the hardship of watching someone you love go. This fits with Beth – spoiler! – dying, and the way that the four sisters are so different, and chooses different ways, but still love each other. Here’s a quote:
“All I know is I don’t know / How to be something you miss / I never thought we’d have a last kiss”
7. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
– The tortured poets department
All I have to say to this choice is that I think that Richard looks suspiciously much like a tattooed golden retriever who definitely would’ve written on typewriters…
8. A little life, Hanya Yagahara
– The Prophecy
Do you like to cry?
“x always equals x”
“And I sound like an infant / Feeling like the very last drops of an ink pen / A greater woman stays cool / But I howl like a wolf at the moon / […] A greater woman has faith / But even statues crumble if they’re made to wait”
All of the characters in Yagahara’s A little life felt so real, and my heart breaks for Jude who always deserved so much more than the life handed to him.
9. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
– Eyes Open
I know that Taylor Swift made this song for The Hunger Games, so this is kind-of cheating. But if you didn’t already know: Trust! Eyes Open is very Hunger Games-coded, and I would recommend everyone and anyone to listen to it while reading Suzanne Collins franchise.
10. Matilda, Roald Dahl
– I Hate it Here
I know that if Matilda lived today, she would’ve shut herself inside her room while blasting I Hate It Here on her AirPods. Escapism and the book-references fits so well with Matilda who only ever wanted to learn and live inside of the stories she so adored instead of the toxic environment she actually lived in.
Have a quote:
“‘You seemed so far away,’ Miss Honey whispered, awestruck.
‘Oh, I was. I was flying past the stars on silver wings,’ Matilda said. ‘It was wonderful.’”
And from Taylor Swift’s song:
“I read about it in a book when I was a precocious child / No mid-size city hopes and small town fears / I’m here most of the year / Cause I hate it here”
11. Funny Story, Emily Henry
– Begin Again
The way Daphne learned to trust and love again after both the situation with her father, and her fiencée, and her best friend all kind of left her were inspiring. I think that Swift’s Begin Again takes those feelings; the fears of starting over, and experiencing someone who actually cares and makes the scary part worth it. And also the way that she could finally turn into her own person. Ah! Chefs kiss!
“And you don’t know how nice that is / But I do”.
12. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
– Tolerate it
Full disclosure: I haven’t read Rebecca. (Yet!) But I really wanted to include Taylor Swift’s Tolerate it in my list, and I knew that I couldn’t not pair it with Du Maurier’s Rebecca. The song Tolerate it is inspired by Du Maurier’s book. And if that isn’t reason enough for you to read this book (I know, I’m a hypocrite – but; in my defense I am planning to read it, I just haven’t done it yet. And yes, it is a 100% because I know that Taylor Swift not only has read this book, but also liked it enough to base one of her best songs on it!) here are some quotes from the son Tolerate it:
“I made you my temple, my mural, my sky / Now I’m begging for footnotes in the story of your life”
13. Circe, Madeline Miller
– Mad woman
And last, but not least: Circe!
The book is a feminist retelling of the classic Odysseus from the perspective of the witch Circe. Mad woman is such an embodiment of Circe, in my opinion. While cast away to an island, and everyone underestimating her and thinking her mad, she grew and evolved, and turned into something they feared, rather than mocked. I love that for Circe, and I know that she also would’ve blasted Mad Woman on that island if she could.
“And there’s nothing like a mad woman / What a shame she went mad / No one likes a mad woman / You made her like that”
I could’ve probably continued forever, but that, I don’t have time for. Let me know what you think, and what more you think I should write about in my next post.
Until then, See You!