Books with the Word “Song” in the Title

  

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Books with the Word “Song” in the Title

For the Top Ten Tuesday this week, we were supposed to pick books with a specific word in the title. I wanted to have something different for my word than I would normally pick for myself, so I asked my mother to pick a word. One of her choices was the word “song” and I easily found 10 books that I have read with “song” in the title. Here are those ten books in order by when I read them. 

1. The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks- I used to read a lot of Nicholas Sparks’s books back in high school and the first couple of years of college. One of my favorites of his books will always be The Last Song. It is about a 17-year old named Ronnie who is spending the summer with her estranged father in Wilmington, North Carolina. While there she grows closer to her father again and finds first love. It is a beautiful novel, that I know would probably break my heart even worse if I read it again now. 

2. Song of Myself by Walt Whitman- A great collection of poetry that I really enjoyed in my American Literature class back in college. Walt Whitman is one of my favorite poets. 

3. Confessions of a Serial Songwriter by Shelly Peiken- In 2017 and early 2018, I had a job where I was reviewing audiobooks for AudioFile magazine online. Each month, I would listen to 2-3 audiobooks and review them. They would all go onto their website and many of my reviews made it into their print magazine. I would have never found this book if not for this job. Shelly Peiken wrote music for many of my favorite singers including Britney Spears, Natasha Bedingfield, Keith Urban, Celine Dion, Cher, Reba McEntire, *NSYNC, Miley Cyrus, Ed Sheeran, Selena Gomez, Idina Mendel, David Archuletta, Demi Lovato, and so many others. 

It was so interesting to listen to her tell stories about her life and her writing. My favorite story was about how she came up with the lyrics for the song “Bitch” that she wrote with Meredith Brooks. She tells about how you can be sitting in the most random place and have random thoughts for writing come through your head. This happens to me a lot for my own poetry and stories. It is why I have to carry around a notebook with me just in case I get inspiration. You do not want to forget a great line and then try to remember it again later. 

4. Aru Shah and the Song of Death by Roshani Chokshi- This is the second book in the Aru Shah series. I have to get back into these books again and finally finish them. I loved learning about the Hindu Mythology and enjoyed the characters so much, especially Subala, who is a talking pigeon. 

5. Sisters of Sword and Song by Rebecca Ross- This was the first book I read from Rebecca Ross back in 2020. I enjoyed the story of sisterhood in this book and the bond that Evadne and Halcyon had with each other. Also, Rebecca created her own interesting mythology for this world. I’d like to reread this again soon. 

6. Lumberjanes: Campfire Songs by Shannon Watters- A collection of short comics that are additional material to the Lumberjane world. I particularly enjoyed the story “A Midsummer Night’s Scheme” which has Puck in it who will always be a favorite literary character for me. 

7. Prince of Song & Sea by Linsey Miller- The story of the original Disney version of The Little Mermaid told from Eric’s perspective. Linsey added a bit to the story and gave Eric an interesting backstory, but stuck pretty close to the story beats from the original. I enjoyed seeing the events from the movie, especially the scenes when Ariel was doing something Eric didn’t notice, like at their first dinner together when she gets Sebastian out of Grimsby’s food. 

One of my favorite aspects of this book is the addition of Eric’s curse and how that plays into his story as a whole. I also love the dynamic between him, Grimsby, Carlotta, and his friends that are introduced in the book. The best part of the story is the relationship between Ariel and Eric and that we get to spend more time with them in this book together.  

8. Pop Sonnets: Shakespearean Spins on Your Favorite Songs by Erick Didriksen- I love books that take modern-day writing/stories and rewrite them as if they were by Shakespeare. This is a clever book which takes a chorus or verse from a song and reimagines them as if they were a sonnet by Shakespeare. I’d love a version of this with Disney songs. 

9. The Song of Orphan’s Garden by Nicole M. Hewitt- I love novels written in verse and knew I had to pick this one up as soon as I heard about it. The formatting fits perfectly with the story and helps it feel even more lyrical. I love the magic system Nicole created with the music and how it was used throughout the book. Nicole does an incredible job with the various poetic forms to create this powerful story. 

10. A Song for You & I by K. O’Neill- K. O’Neill always creates such beautiful graphic novels. They are an amazing artist and storyteller who I will always highly recommend. This is a wonderful graphic novel with a power story of self-acceptance. It was great to see both Rowan and Leone grow throughout the story and support each other in their dreams and identities. The story has a powerful message and the artwork went along perfectly with it. A perfect example of cozy fantasy with so much heart and charm.