Novel Sound Tracks

John Connelly was in New Orleans this weekend signing his newest book, THE UNQUIET, at the Garden District Bookstore. If you follow John’s blog, you know he’s on a grueling booksigning tour that’s taking him around the world in something like three months (rather too much of a good thing). If you ever get a chance to go listen to him talk, grab it, because while John the author writes brilliantly dark, poetic books set in Maine, John the man is an energetic, passionate, insightful Irishman who’s funnier than a standup comedian.

One of the side benefits of attending his booksigning is that he was giving away CDs of THE UNQUIET’s soundtrack. That’s right, he put together and produced a CD of the wonderfully moody, evocative pieces that he felt best captured where he was going, emotionally, with his book. John is very interested in music and, well, I did say he’s Irish, didn’t I?

As I listened to the CD it started me thinking about music and books and how the two often intertwine for a writer. When I was writing WHISPERS OF HEAVEN about a nineteenth-century Irish patriot transported to Australia, I got a couple of CDs of Irish ballads and played them constantly while I was writing. The soundtrack from Immortal Beloved bled into WHAT ANGELS FEAR. Ravel provided the rhythm for MIDNIGHT CONFESSIONS. But I can’t think of any other writer who’s ever put together his own CD. Obviously, it’s both time consuming and expensive. Which is a pity, because listening to John’s CD while reading John’s book brings one that much closer to looking at the world through John’s eyes. More than that—experiencing the world with John’s emotions.

This is the second CD he’s done, since he also did one for BLACK ANGEL. I don’t have that music, and now I realize what I missed.