Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Songs I Wish Were Books

 

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is all about music and books. Below, I list the Top 10 songs that deserve to be book! 

10) 'All I Want' by Kodaline

Famous for being a part of The Fault in Our Stars soundtrack, this song speaks of heartbreak and loss. Because of the track's rollicking beat towards the end, I always imagine someone going on a journey to find their lost love. 

9) 'Someone New' by BANKS

Another heartbreaking song, the singer promises to come back to her former lover someday and pleads with him not to 'fall in love with someone new.' I think the premise of the book would be that a girl had to leave her boyfriend because of some trauma in her life and when she comes back for him, he has already moved on. 

8) 'Wildest Dreams' by Taylor Swift

I think any Taylor Swift song would make a good story (particularly a YA contemporary). This one about a fleeting love affair practically writes itself.

7) 'Speechless' by Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga says this song is about her troubled relationship with her father so I could really see this song as a moving story about a father/daughter relationship.

6) 'Pretty Hurts' by Beyonce

An incredible song about the impossible quest for physical perfection, it would make a great story about a self-destructive beauty queen or actress. 

5) 'Love the Way You Lie' by Eminem feat. Rihanna

A song about an abusive relationship - it would be great as a book that tells the story of a couple falling in love and then chronicled the journey to their destructive relationship. Kind of like Gone Girl.

4) 'Like We Never Loved At All' by Faith Hill

One of my favorite break-up songs of all time, this would make a great novel. Plus, it's a country song so it's practically a short story in song form.

3) 'Say Something' by A Great Big World

Okay, I know I have a lot of sad songs on this list, but they would make the best stories! This one especially could spawn a multitude of different heartbreaking novels. 

2) 'Seven Devils' by Florence + the Machine

The one song on this list that could be turned into a fantasy novel. I imagine this song being adapted into a dark story of an evil sorceress conquering the world. 

1) 'Hello ' by Adele

Of course Adele had to make this list. The first time I heard this song, I cried like a baby. There's just so much emotion in her voice! This song would make one heart-wrenching book. It would have to be an epic love story, like Gone with the Wind or Love in the Time of Cholera.

Top Ten Tuesday is an original book blog meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.

Suicide Reviews: The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave #2) by Rick Yancey

 

Synopsis: How do you rid the Earth of seven billion humans? Rid them of their humanity.

Cassie Sullivan and her companions lived through the Others' four waves of destruction. Now, with the human race nearly exterminated and the 5th Wave rolling across the landscape, they face a choice: brace for winter and hope for Evan Walker's return, or set out in search of other survivors before the enemy closes in. Because the next attack is more than possible - it's inevitable.

No one can anticipate the depths to which the Others will sink, nor the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate.

Date Published: September 16, 2014

Published By: Putnam Juvenile

Number of Pages: 300

Rating: 5/5

In a lot of ways, The Infinite Sea serves as the traditional placeholder in a trilogy - the middle book where not much happens except a lot of setting up for the final novel. It is definitely less epic in scope than the first book. 

But Yancey continues to surprise the reader with unexpected twists and different perspectives. For the first time, we get inside the head of Ringer, the grim teenage girl who was recruited as a soldier in the last book and helped Cassie and her group escape. She quickly became my favorite character in this book - tough, resourceful, and intelligent, Ringer is a total badass. She is stoic but not unemotional, expressing her feelings in unexpected ways. Ringer does what she wants and doesn't allow herself to be pushed around by anyone - even genocidal aliens. 

In The Infinite Sea, we learn more about the alien's plot to take over the world but the answers we're given only lead to more unanswered questions. There is still a mystery to be solved here and I'm hoping the third book will be the final piece to the puzzle. This isn't your typical alien invasion - there's a lot of nuance to it. I love the complexity of the plot in all its twists and turns. 

Another thing I love about this series is the philosophical questions it raises: What does it mean to be human? What sacrifices do you have to make in order to retain your humanity? Is it even worth retaining or is survival the only thing that matters? The characters in this book face hard choices and must weigh every decision - any wrong move might cost them their lives. 

If I have any criticism for The Infinite Sea, it's that, at times, it feels a tad overwritten. Yancey clearly loves to play with language and creates passages of stunning imagery - but it sometimes gets in the way of the plot. 

The Infinite Sea is a masterful follow-up to The 5th Wave and I cannot wait to see how it all ends in The Last Star.