Catch Up on Your 2022 Reading Goal: 5 Quick Reads and Their Inspired Playlists
If you look back at the beginning of this year and wonder how you drifted so far from your incentive to read more, than this article is for you.
Music can be utilized to set your space for whichever book you are reading. Creating a playlist for whichever book you are reading is one way to embrace immersion. Feeling one with a plot line or a character will not only make reading more enjoyable, but will have you finishing the book in one day.
Here are five of our favorite quick reads and their correlating playlists that will make you feel like a bystander inside of the book.
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Normal People By Sally Rooney
Although Sally Rooney’s Normal People may sound “normal,” this book takes the reader through the twists and turns of an on again and off again romance while also touching on friendship, loss, and class struggles, centering around our two main characters in the heart of Ireland.
It can be read in one or two sittings, depending on how committed you are, however once you flip through the first few pages, you won’t want to get up.
“Marianne, he said, I’m not a religious person but I do sometimes think God made you for me.”
Plus, once you’ve finished reading you can reward yourself with a show adaptation. The Hulu show will equally have you equally as eager to finish, as it displays much of what readers fall in love with in the two main characters, Marianne Sheridan, played by Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Connell Waldron, played by Paul Mescal. This playlist includes songs from the show, Normal People, on top of songs that genuinely will remind you of the complex but intriguing plot line.
Once you’ve finished Normal People, read more on our thoughts in “Normal People: Dealing With Class and Romance.”
Sputnik Sweetheart By Haruki Murakami
Another quick but alluringly book, Haruki Murakami’s way with words in Sputnik Sweetheart is moving, heartfelt and balanced with an alluring mystery.
The book follows a college student, referred to in the book as “K”, who falls in love with his classmate, Sumire. However, Sumire’s devotion to her writing life precludes her from any personal commitments; that being until she meets Miu, an older and much more sophisticated business woman. When Sumire disappears years later from an island off the coast of Greece, K is solicited to join her search party, finding himself drawn back into her world and beset by ominous, haunting visions.
“Why do people have to be this lonely? What’s the point of it all? Millions of people in this world, all of them yearning, looking to others to satisfy them, yet isolating themselves. Why? Was the earth put here just to nourish human loneliness?”
If that isn’t enough for you to press play on the below playlist and crack open Murakami’s bewitching depiction of the desirable, yet complex characters of Sputnik Sweetheart, you can read a sample of the first chapter on Murakami’s website.
Looking for Alaska By John Green
Alaska Young is the enigmatic character that many of our middeschool selves have fallen in love with. Whether you have read this book before or not, the beautifully tragic Looking for Alaska is about a girl trying her best, and whose last words are always a reliable.
“Thomas Edison’s last words were “It’s very beautiful over there”. I don’t know where there is, but I believe it’s somewhere, and I hope it’s beautiful.”
Looking for Alaska gets the one-sitting stamp of approval: a modern classic with charismatic characters for every reader. It’s a leisurely read that three to six hours of free time can easily be spent reading. Make sure to watch the bingeable Hulu adaptation once you’ve finished. With Alaska Young’s portrayal recreated beautifully by Kristine Froseth, the show indescribably displayed the tortured youth plotline Greene depicted in his novel.
Don’t waste any time on this read. Turn on the music and add another book to your goodreads 2022 Reading Challenge that always seems never-ending.
Daisy Jones & the Six By Taylor Jenkins Reid
This grasping novel follows a 1970s band and their captivating lead-singer, Daisy Jones, as they process and go the band’s breakup. Daisy Jones & The Six's unique documentary-style writing and real life inspirations like Fleetwood Mac is so intriguing that Reese Witherspoon’s production company has decided to pick the story up for a mini-series.
“We love broken, beautiful people. And it doesn’t get much more obviously broken and more classically beautiful than Daisy Jones.”
Think peak 70s style music and overall energy. This playlist includes our favorite songs from Fleetwood Mac, alongside tracks that simply give off equivalent energy.
Just Kids By Patti Smith
The infamous American artist, Patti Smith, offers readers an unparalleled look into her and Robert Mapplethorpe’s relationship during their time in New York City in her memoir, Just Kids. From mentions of Chelsea Hotel’s notable days of tenants like Bob Dylan, to the all-embracive details of her and Mapplethorpe’s “art, devotion, and initiation”, this book will leave you in tears.
Her lyrical wording and intriguing anecdotes guarantees this a quick read.
“Much has been said about Robert, and more will be added. Young men will adopt his gait. Young girls will wear white dresses and mourn his curls. He will be condemned and adored. His excesses damned or romanticized. In the end, truth will be found in his work, the corporeal body of the artist. It will not fall away. Man cannot judge it. For art sings of God, and ultimately belongs to him.”
Naturally, the playlist for Just Kids includes the lyrical artistry of Smith herself, alongside other artists like Elliot Smith, The Cure, Mazzy Star, and The Velvet Underground. These songs will encapsulate every feeling Just Kids brings to you.
Now you have the perfect backtrack to get you five books closer to your 2022 reading goal. Let us know in the comments what your favorite 2022 reads have been!