Turn Up the Heat Challenge: Song Lyrics for a Title

Sometimes a title looks like a song lyric, but you can’t quite put your finger on where you've heard it before. Here are a few good reads that might suit this challenge.

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult might strike a chord with any Pink Floyd fans, but you also have the benefit of a good book club type of read – something that inspires a bit of discussion. The story follows Diana, who takes off for a long-planned holiday to the Galapagos Islands without her boyfriend, just as Covid drives the world into to lockdown. Caught without luggage or reliable internet, she has the chance to re-evaluate her life plan. Incidentally, if you type "Wish You Were Here" into a catalogue search, you will discover several more books with this title.

Back on Track is a song by Federico Jusid. It’s also the name of a novel by Tricia Stringer – another story with a holiday theme. Ketty takes her staff on a journey by train across the Australian outback, a chance to build relationships and harmony among the team. But the trip seems to highlight more problems before there’s a chance of transformation.

Patrick Gale’s novel The Whole Day Through has a title that turns up in several songs. Gale’s novel focuses on Laura, who abandons her stylish life in Paris to care for her elderly mother in England. That’s when she bumps into an old flame. This is a delightful read, not too long, and told through the course of a single day.

Waiting for Sunrise (a song by April Rain) is a historical novel by William Boyd set in Vienna in 1913. It follows Lysander Rief, an English actor who gets caught up in a messy affair, and inspired by Sigmund Freud, writes a journal. But there’s a war coming and Rief is recruited into British intelligence, which is even messier.

Not surprisingly, romantic fiction offers a happy hunting ground for books with song lyrics for titles. The Look of Love (thank you, Burt Bacharach) is the title of a book by Judy Astley, the story of Bella who is single yet again and resolves to give up on men. We all know that isn’t going to last. Sarah Jio’s novel of the same name follows Jane, born with the gift of being able to see true love – a talent that comes with conditions. And there's Bella Andre’s novel about bad boy Chase who finds himself rescuing a beautiful woman with a lot of problems.

Carole Matthews’ novel With or Without You (thank you, U2) follows Lyssa who goes trekking in Nepal when her boyfriend calls time on their relationship. Helen Warner’s novel of the same name has Martha, similarly at a crossroads in life. She’s just discovered her perfect life is not so perfect after and finds solace where she least expected it. Both characters will have some difficult choices to make.

Song lyrics pop up in the titles of crime fiction too. Without You is the title of a thriller by Saskia Sarginson. When seventeen-year-old Eva goes missing at sea, her parents grieve and fall apart. But younger sister, Faith, believes Eva is still alive and is determined to bring her home.

A remote Scottish Island is a refuge for Zoe after a failed marriage in Stephanie Merritt’s thriller, While You Sleep (a song by Maisy and Lennon Stella for the movie 'The Fallout'). In the book, there are weird goings on at night and Zoe has a sense of being watched. The locals think the dark past of the island is to blame, but just last year a local boy disappeared on the island. Zoe believes danger is close at hand and determines to find the truth.

Mystery lovers might also enjoy The Jealous Kind. Chris Knight wrote the song, and James Lee Burke wrote the novel. The second in the Holland family series, it follows Aaron who discovers first love and a class war with an underbelly of violence in his city of Houston.

When the Bough Breaks may take you back to childhood, but this is also the title of a David Mark mystery, the first in the Sal Delaney series. We’re in Cumbia, where Salome has had a shaky start in life, the product of an abusive childhood. Now she’s a Collision Investigation Officer, called to an accident and a case that will drag up the dark events of her past. The investigation starts out on a snowy morning – so this book might also work for the book set in a cold place challenge.

Happy reading!

Posted by JAM

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