In theBook Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book. […]
Charles Yu brings his keen literary sensibility to science fiction yet again in his short story collection, Sorry Please Thank You. This solid group of stories will appeal as much to lovers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror as literary readers who will appreciate their diversity of style and theme.
In his own words, here is Charles Yu’s Book Notes music playlist for his novel, Sorry Please Thank You:
I mostly write at night, after work and putting my kids down to sleep. After a full day of tasks and responsibilities, the inside of my head is sticky and damp, covered with the grime of the day. Not always the best space for experimentation – cluttered. Music helps me wash my mind a bit.
My new collection has 13 stories, and my hope was that they would all be quite different from each other, in tone, and yet somehow connected at the root: voice-based thought experiments in form and tone. Whereas with my previous book, I listened to certain songs over and over again to create a feeling of being stuck in a time loop, with the new book, I sought out new music, trying to broaden my emotional vocabulary, diverse sounds and moods to draw upon and be inspired by.
Here are 13 songs for 13 stories:
• “Code Monkey” – Jonathan Coulton … [got it, love it]
• “Mandelbrot Set” – Jonathan Coulton … [got it, like it]
• “Polite Dance Song” – The Bird and the Bee … [listened to it online - not bad]
• “Where Is My Mind?” – The Pixies … [got it, love it]
• “Bloodbuzz Ohio” – The National … [listened to it online - pretty good]
• “Oh, Maker” – Janelle Monae …
• “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” – The Flaming Lips … [got it, love it]
• “Lindisfarne I” and “Lindisfarne II” – James Blake …
• “The Cure” – Trombone Shorty …
• “Hey Boy” – The Blow …
• “Serenade in Blue” – Stan Getz … [listened to it online - pretty good]
• “Tell Him” – Lauryn Hill …
An interesting selection of songs. I’ve read and mostly enjoyed Yu’s book, “Amazon.com: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe: A Novel”. I have about half the songs in my collection, and will probably listen to the others.