Howdy y’all! I have been absolutely devouring books lately, and I wanted to bring to you some of my latest recommendations. There is nothing as good as curling up with a page-turner on a rainy day. But, half the struggle of starting to get into a book is finding one! If you’re like me, you watch the same shows and movies and read the same books over and over again for the predictability and ease of choice. One of my New Year’s resolutions was to break this habit, and I’ve found that reading has been the best way to start. Here are my favorite non-committal page-turners that have gotten me back into my love for reading.
Fiction
The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley: A New Years reunion of a group of old friends from Oxford takes a sinister turn. Set in a remote estate in the Scottish Highlands, we hear from various characters. Heather and Doug, the lodge workers, Miranda, the center of attention, Katie, the quiet one, and Emma, the new friend, talk us through this volatile trip. I loved the setting Foley created and the twists and turns kept me guessing until the final page.
The Guest List by Lucy Foley: A couple’s wedding celebration located off the coast of West Ireland goes dark. A murder, a storm, old secrets, this whodunnit novel has it all. Told from the perspective of the wedding planner, the bride, the plus-one, the best man, and the bridesmaid, the mixed points of view add a layer of uncertainty and secrecy. A great one-sitting read that will have you captivated until the end.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens: This book broke my heart and stitched it back together just to break it again. Set in North Carolina in the 1950s and 60s, the story follows Kya as she navigates through living in isolation in the marsh. A coming-of-age murder mystery that focuses on class disparities and race, this book felt like an upgrade of a book you’d have to read for a high school English class.
Bunny by Mona Awad: Although I am still reading this, I had to include it in this list. Eccentrically written, I cannot put this book down. It is unorthodox, it is weird, it is unusual. There is a blurring line between what the reality is and I look forward to seeing how this book ends.
Non-Fiction
Savage Appetites by Rachel Monroe: This was my first non-school non-fiction book I’ve read this year. Savage Appetites revolves around four archetypes of women who are aligned and captivated with true crime. They include the detective, the victim, the defender, and the killer. While it does read like a long opinion article (which makes sense as Monroe is an investigative journalist), I found it an interesting change of pace from the podcasts I usually listen to.
Pandora’s Jar by Natalie Haynes: Another book that I’m still reading, and another I cannot wait to finish. Pandora’s Jar looks at the women in the Greek myths and why they are commonly villainized throughout these stories. Pandora, Jocasta, Helen, Medusa, and Eurydice are just a few of the women and stories that Haynes explores.
Howdy y’all! With the release of Harry Styles’ new single, As It Was, it only felt right to create a summer playlist made entirely of Harry/Harry-involved projects. Before we do that, let’s dive into how music is situated in sociology! While reading an article recently, I realized just how much girls and women are invalidated in what music they enjoy. According to this article from Study Breaks, One Direction had 48.8 million album sales in the 2010s and toured in stadiums with roughly 50,000 fans a night. Just by checking my Spotify, they currently have 27,820,306 monthly listeners, despite breaking up in January of 2016. So, why do people treat them as if they aren’t a successful band?
It is common that those who listen to “real music” aren’t fans of “manufactured” bands that they think are just popular because of how they look. But with such a group like The Beatles, who fell mostly into psychedelic/pop rock, how did Beatlemania then delegitimize them? The answer? The societal perception of female fans.
Long queues made up of teenage girls are a feature of both The Beatles and One Direction concerts. Female fans are deemed as hysterical over these groups, which goes back to misogynistic views about the emotions that women should have (and what they should just keep to themselves). Hysteria was introduced as a mental disorder around the 1880s, and patients diagnosed were almost always women. It was not removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) until 1980. Yikes! Now, women are just looked down on by the media, with articles titled with things like “Beware of Obsessive and Over-Emotional One Direction Fans.”
Conclusion
If a teenage girl or woman likes something that is generally more liked by other women, then that interest is automatically invalidated for some reason or another. Think the Twilight franchise. A female fanbase should not be what dismisses the artist’s credibility. There are plenty of opinion pieces on this topic, and a major point is how we don’t invalidate the feelings or things that men like, as discussed in this New Statesman article, this Badger Herald article, and this Daily Targum article. Luckily, Harry Styles has continuously defended the female fan base of One Direction. I think that we are moving away from toxic sexism and moving towards just letting girls and women like what they like. I, for one, cannot wait for the rest of Harry’s new album. Now, for a very Harry summer.
The Playlist
As It Was by Harry Styles
Girl Almighty by One Direction
Kiwi by Harry Styles
Act My Age by One Direction
Woman by Harry Styles
Adore You by Harry Styles
One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks) by One Direction
It’s been quite some time since I’ve updated the “Ringing in Spring” playlist, but don’t fret, it’s finally April. Where February’s installment was indie-rock and March’s was folk-ish but still reliant on big horns and electric guitar, April’s is a more acoustic kind of folk. Think, time spent by a campfire with your friends, the first 75 degree days of the season and swimming in a lake.
Without further ado, here are the final 15 songs of “Ringing in Spring”:
“鬼ヶ島” – Ichiko Aoba
“I’ll Come Running (To Tie Your Shoe)” – Brian Eno
“The Sun Surrounds Me” – Beachwood Sparks
“The Gold” – Manchester Orchestra, Phoebe Bridgers
“Otter Shadows” – Bibio
“Means Something” – Lizzy McAlpine
“A Love of Some Kind” – Adrianne Lenker
“Ships in the Night” – Kate Rhudy
“Phase” – Bloomsday
“Concession Stand Girl” – Naomi Alligator
“Lion’s Jaws” – Neko Case
“California Open Back” – Gregory Alan Isakov
“I Don’t Mind” – The Greeting Committee
“Humming” – Turnover
“The Big Country (Alternate Version)” – Talking Heads
I hope this playlist carries you through this spring and many springs to come. As always, you can find this playlist on Spotify.
While any Beatles fan knows that the Paul McCartney/John Lennon songwriting dynamic was untouchable, it’s important to remember George Harrison’s contributions to The Beatles’ discography. George has been widely praised for his talented guitar work with The Beatles, but he is criminally underrated as a songwriter.
5. “The Inner Light”
Released as a non-album single as the B-side to “Lady Madonna” in March 1968, “The Inner Light” showed the Beatles’ commitment to Transcendental Meditation, which they had been studying in India. The classical Indian influence throughout the song gives it a similar feel to other songs of Harrison’s with the Beatles, such as “Within You Without You,” which appears on “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” The lyrics of “The Inner Light” discuss spiritual enlightenment and inner peace; endeavors that were very important to George. “The Inner Light” was the first of George Harrison’s songs with the Beatles to be released as a single. The song’s unique sound sets it apart from the rest of the Beatles’ discography. After George Harrison’s passing in 2001, Jeff Lynne and Anoushka Shankar performed a touching rendition of “The Inner Light” at the Concert for George tribute event in November 2002.
4. “I Me Mine”
George Harrison wrote “I Me Mine” in January of 1969 in Twickenham Film Studios in London. At this time, the Beatles hadn’t toured since 1966 and were considering returning to tour life. Although they had released several widely successful albums while they were off the road, there were many problems at hand and quite a bit of tension between members of the band. “I Me Mine” was the last new track ever recorded by the Beatles before their breakup in 1970. The song was released on “Let it Be,” the Beatles’ twelfth and final studio album and serves as a perfect final recording for the group. In “I Me Mine,” George Harrison highlights the self-centered nature of humankind, something he was openly opposed to as he furthered his knowledge of Hindu texts and practices. The song also serves a jab at his fellow Beatles, as he not-so-subtly sings of their overpowering egos; a serious contribution to their split as a group. “I Me Mine” has a much deeper meaning than meets the eye and is a beautiful farewell song for the Beatles. In addition to its musical legacy, George Harrison became the first Beatle to release a memoir when he released his autobiography titled “I Me Mine” in 1980.
3. “Here Comes the Sun”
One of the Beatles’ most defining releases, “Here Comes the Sun” is a classic feel good tune released on the 1969 album “Abbey Road.” Possibly the most renowned contribution to the Beatles by George Harrison, “Here Comes the Sun” is the most frequently streamed Beatles song on Spotify, with over 600 million plays. If you imagined George Harrison sitting outside in the spring sun with a guitar writing this song, you were absolutely right. In early 1969, George Harrison skipped a meeting with the Beatles’ Apple Corps label to visit friend Eric Clapton at his country house. George sat outside in the grass and wrote the beautiful, soft “Here Comes the Sun” on an early spring day in Ewhurst, England. The song has appeared in countless movies, advertisements and has been covered by many notable artists, including Nina Simone, Sheryl Crow and Paul Simon.
2. “Something”
Released on the Beatles’ 1969 album “Abbey Road” alongside “Here Comes the Sun,” “Something” proved that George Harrison was a talented songwriter, even in the wake of the classic McCartney/Lennon songwriting trope. The song is often regarded as one of George Harrison’s most impressive feats and was subsequently placed as the number two track on side A of the album. It was the first Harrison-composed track to be featured on side A of a Beatles record. Upon release, “Something” reached the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, Australia and Canada and peaked at number four on UK charts. In addition to its beautiful lyrics, the love song features an impressive guitar solo by Harrison that critics often consider to be some of his best playing and Rolling Stone magazine placed “Something” at 6th on its 100 Greatest Beatles Songs of All Time list. Harrison wrote “Something” about his then wife Pattie Boyd, who later married Eric Clapton. The song is considered to be the second most covered Beatles song in history with notable covers by Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, falling short only to “Yesterday.” “Something” is a timeless love song that continues its legacy over 50 years after its release.
1. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
This incredible track appears on The Beatles’ self-titled ninth studio album, better known as “The White Album.” Following their return from a Transcendental Meditation retreat in India in 1968, the Beatles were each coming into their own and growing apart. In search of inspiration, Harrison adopted an exercise inspired by his reading of the Chinese “I Ching” (translated as “Book of Changes”). The basic idea he was working with was the Eastern concept that everything that occurs is related to each other (everything happens for a reason), as opposed to occurrences being merely coincidental and meaningless. This concept led Harrison to pick up a book and write a song based on the first word he saw, resting on the thought that his seeing it must be an act of fate. Fortunately, the first phrase he saw was “gently weeps” and the rest is history. Upon hearing the song for the first time, the other members of the band were not in favor of the song making the album; a defining moment of separation between them. Of course, the song did make it on the album by the time of its release and even featured Eric Clapton on guitar, a controversial decision on Harrison’s part. Due to the Beatles’ great success as a unit, they rarely featured any outside help in their music. George’s decision to include Clapton as a lead guitarist on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” showed his bandmates that he was serious about the song and was ultimately the element that helped him place it on “The White Album” officially. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” was well received by the public and is ranked at the number 136 spot on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. It continues to prove George Harrison as a talented songwriter and instrumentalist decades after its release.
