Literary soundtrack

What authors were listening to when they wrote their books.

So Much Hunkier in Person

July 25, 2008

You’ve probably met a few writer types who say they don’t own a TV. Well, I’m here to tell you I’m not one of them. In addition to being a bona fide The Office addict (I even have a Dwight Shrute bobblehead), my TIVO never misses an episode of Top Chef. Our friends Dianne and Ben Fong-Torres are fans of the show as well, so when we asked them to suggest a place for our dinner get-together this week, they selected Mission Beach Cafe, where the Executive Chef is one Ryan Scott of Top Chef fame. If you’re in...

Pop Goes My MP3

February 22, 2007

By Michelle

Music and Lyrics won’t be getting anywhere near the Oscars, but it’s totally worth seeing just to see this video on the big screen. In it, Hugh Grant plays an eighties heart-throb, one of two front-men for the wildly popular band POP, singing their hit single Pop Goes My Heart. The parody of early eighties pop videos is spot-on, from the George Michael-inspired white pants to the Spandau Ballet-inspired lyrics. There’s the obligatory hospital scene, a montage set against a sunset, and lots of dancing and happy prancing. I loved it at the theater, and I find myself oddly...

jersey girl at bazaar cafe

January 9, 2007

By Michelle

I’ve come to one of my favorite little neighborhood spots this morning to work–Bazaar Cafe on California–and was plugging away pretty well until someone turned on Tom Waits. One of the pleasures of this place is the excellent musical selection. But pleasure and work don’t mix. How am I to concentrate with Waits belting out Jersey Girl, in that gorgeous old crumbly voice of his? I wrote about the song in one of my first published stories, “Down the Shore Everything’s All Right” (Glimmer Train circa 2000), which was also the first story in my first book… “When Tom...

The Bitch Posse

August 1, 2006

By Michelle

Martha O’Connor raised some serious eyebrows with her debut novel, The Bitch Posse, which Washington Post Book World called “Compulsively readable…delicious and slightly macabre.” I happen to agree with the reviewer, as I found myself staying up after late-night breast-feedings about a year ago to read just one more chapter. A kind of Heathers for the intellectual set, The Bitch Posse follows three young women with a dangerous high-school secret into their rather dysfunctional adulthood. Martha stops by today with her literary soundtrack: 1) the soundtrack to your latest book (what did you listen to while you were writing...