A Romance Story Told Via Song Titles

After I read Amanda Holzer's short story, "Love and Other Catastrophes: A Mix Tape" in the anthology, The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003, edited by Dave Eggers (Houghton Mifflin), it became a story I wish I had written.

The story, originally published in Story Quarterly, follows a romance from beginning to end through a series of song titles and the musicians who recorded them.

It starts off with "All By Myself, Eric Carmen. Looking for Love, Lou Reed. I Wanna Dance with Somebody, Whitney Houston. Let's Dance, David Bowie. Let's Kiss, Beat Happening. Let's Talk About Sex, Salt 'n' Pepa. Like a Virgin, Madonna. We've Only Just Begun, The Carpenters. I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend, The Ramones. I'll Tumble 4 Ya, Culture Club. Head Over Heels, The Go-Go's. Nothing Compares to You, Sinead O'Connor. My Girl, The Temptations. Could This Be Love? Bob Marley. Love and Marriage, Frank Sinatra." And ends several songs later with "I Will Survive, Gloria Gaynor. Hit the Road, Jack, Mary McCaslin and Jim Ringer. These Boots Were Made for Walking, Nancy Sinatra. All Out of Love, Air Supply." Finally ending with the song the story began with, "All By Myself, Eric Carmen."

Altogether about fifty songs, crossing different musical genres. Wow, what an ingenious, inventive way to tell a story, making it a fascinating and humorous journey. You could probably do the same thing with book titles as well.

In fact, in the "Contributors' Notes" in the back of the book, the reader is told that Holzer "encourages you to create your own mix-tape tale." Why not?

Oscar Wilde, Gay Or Bisexual?

When asked "What's the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?" ("By the Book," The New York Times Book Review, May 8, 2022), author and journalist Candice Millard (River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile, Doubleday, 2022) responded:

"While reading a biography of the Irish writer Bram Stoker, I learned that he happened to be in New York City during the Great Blizzard of 1888, considered one of the worst snowstorms in U.S. history. The city was buried under 22 inches of snow in Mid-March....Stoker was on an American tour with the British actor Henry Irving, whose career he managed before writing 'Dracula.' Also on the trip was Stoker's wife, Florence, a renowned beauty who had been dating Oscar Wilde--yes, Oscar Wilde--when she met Stoker."

Could it be that Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), the revered Irish playwright, novelist, and wit, was more bisexual than he was homosexual?

Death By Card Catalogue?

Adriana Trigiani, the author of the novel, The Good Left Undone (Dutton, 2022), was asked in the New York Times Book Review's "By the Book" Q & A interview feature (May 1, 2022), "How do you organize your books?"

Her answer: "Touchy question in my home right now. I hope to install floor-to-ceiling shelves with the ladder on wheels, like Audrey Hepburn had in 'Funny Face,' so all the books are in one room. But I'm clumsy and my husband predicts death by card catalog[ue]. Presently, books are everywhere--an enormous cookbook collection in the kitchen..., the hallway, the office, every inch is filled with books. And here's the crazy thing. Whenever I need a title, I manage to find it."

Lucky her. I wish I could always find a particular book among my vast collection.

P.S. Death by Card Catalogue would be an excellent title for a murder mystery.