Booktunes 26: 11/22/63 is now online! We are very happy with our very first Stephen King entry - the soundtrack to his latest - and expect you'll love it as much as we do.

King managed to reproduce the colors, odors and music of his younger days. Enter the smell of gasoline, non-fucked-with-milkshakes, fruit shops along the high ways, enter the sounds of Duane Eddy, Glenn Miller, Billy Vaughn and Buddy Holly. Read the book, imagine, and listen here.

Booktunes 25: Juliet, Naked is now online. We all know Nick Hornby can write with humor, passion and expertise about one of the most important trivialities of life: rock. Even if the story is about an album that doesn’t exist and made Tucker Crow - a rockstar that has never been born.

Booktunes made a little playlist of three songs we think typically Tucker. Which song would you like to add to the Juliet Naked playlist? Please share your thoughts, we need twelve more tunes!

Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? - Harstad’s pop-saturated odyssey into the dark lands of alternative psychiatry - may seem a somewhat depressing book, but we can assure you: it’s not.

Booktunes 23 brings the soundtrack to this international breaktrough novel by Norwegian busy bee Johan Harstad. Read the book, listen to the tunes... and And like R.E.M.’s apocalyptic lyrics predicted, you will feel fine.

BT 24: Stick is now online. After having read In the Path of Falling Objects (BT22) we interviewed Mr. Smith and he kindly offered us an advanced reader copy of his newest YA novel Stick. This instant Booktunes YA favorite has been released today!

And yes, there is music in Stick, and not only in Smith’ brilliant prose. Read our review, listen to the player and get Stick asap.

Booktunes 21: Greatest Hits is now online! This compilation of great country tunes is the perfect soundtrack to P.F. Thomése's collection of travel stories. On these journeys, Thomése was often accompanied by his best fictional friend J. Kessels - Booktunes' favorite side-kick in Dutch literature.

To all English, American and German readers we recommend Thomése's [[Shadow Child]], the internationally acclaimed autobiographical story dealing with the loss of his daughter.

Booktunes 22: In the Path of Falling Objects - the music to the novel by Andrew Smith is now online! Enjoy the music to this seventies road trip story and hitch a ride along with Jonah and Simon.

More info on the story here, plus we have a great interview with author Andrew Smith online. Coming soon: The soundtrack to his new novel Stick. Stay tuned!

Saturday September 10 Booktunes & Dutch writer Maurice Seleky team up to do some Book Clubbing. Taking part of Haarlem Festival ‘The City as a Stage’, Booktunes will represent in Gallery 37PK by playing  Faber’s music while Seleky recites.

Expect Burgess' A Clockwork Orange, Morike's Mozart's Journey to Prague and of course Booktunes favorite On The Road by Jack Kerouac soon!

As Maurice Seleky is slowly retreating from social life to work on his new novel, Booktunes publishes an interview with this young writer we call our friend.

Also, we added a player on the Booktunes 11: Ego Faber page. Now you can listen to the tunes online while reading the story of Ego Faber. Listen here and find more info on the Ego Faber story!

Booktunes 19: Hold Me Closer, Necromancer is now online! Lish McBride has written a story that is both spine-chilling and filled with the sarcastic wit so characteristic of young adults. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer slips you into a world of necromancers and wiccans, gnomes and harbingers, werewolves, and Brid, a beautiful girl, and her brothers who happen to be werehounds. 

The Lish McBride interview gives us some insights in her favorite songs. In fact she has many… and they all match the fierce game of potato hockey.

New York based Composer Ryan Anthony Francis found inspiration for his piano works in Murakami's The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. Listen to his Wind-Up Bird Preludes as played by virtuoso pianist Vicky Chow, read Francis' article on Murakami's writing and his own musical works on our Inspired by Murakami page.

Booktunes no.18: The Cello Suites is now online. Eric Siblin wrote a beautiful story inspired by the music and lives of Bach and Casals, to which he added a third and more personal layer to make his composition complete. 

Visiting Amsterdam he sat down with us at the Ambassade Hotel - second home to world's literary stars - and answered our Booktunes questions extensively. Read the interview here and enjoy the music!

Booktunes is proud to present a new page: Inspired by Murakami. As you probably understand this page is about music. On this new page you will find bands and artists using Murakami's words as a source of inspiration.

First up is Raisa, a band from Spain that recently made an album filled with songs inspired by Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. Have a listen and download the beautiful 'El caso es salir de aqui' for free on our Inspired by Murakami page.

Disfruta!

Booktunes 17: Devil's Sonata is now online! The music to this novel by Alex van Galen beautifully illustrates the thrilling story of two challenging players.

Inspired by dreams, the Devil and his favorite composers Notovich decides to enter Valdin’s game. He gets drawn into the madness and emotion of Liszt's music; when Valdin plays Franz Liszt’s hidden Devils Sonata history seems to repeat itself.

Alex van Galen has been really kind to us - both answering our questions and giving advice on which piece to select for our compilation. Read all about it here, read the book, enjoy the music and wait for the movie!

If you happen to be in the Haarlem (NL) area do have a look at TRIK's work currently displayed at the 37PK art gallery.

2010 saw the release of TRIK's Decennium covering 10 years of his political drawings. A limited number of books came with a big mixtape by Swotteam...

Booktunes still has a give away copy left - just send us an email and pay a visit to the 10 years of TRIK exhibition.

jan 31 - mar 6
thu - sun: 12.00 - 17.00

37PK
Groot Heiligland 37 
2011 EP Haarlem
The Netherlands

www.37pk.nl

I am looking forward to continue this project in 2011 and sincerely hope that everyone enjoys it as much as I do. All set now, Booktunes is ready to go to a new and higher level in the near future.

Some parts of the world already saw the release of Haruki Murakami’s 1q84. We were happy to have professional photographer Susumu Kohda doing the artwork for the 1q84 Booktunes… watch out for part 3.

We also had some professional writers jumping on board. Mina Witteman showed up and decided to write articles, give insights and pull her family on to this ride as our dreams got bigger. Booktunes’ own Ytje, known for here fabulous drawings, decided to pick up a pen and write an article, as did Wim and Rose. 

Warmly welcomed by the Dutch authors and publishers and highlighted in the Italian Vanity Fair, we had our website working in five countries all through 2010. Now we have a 2011 tour scheduled through Belgium bookstores, a 2011 business plan targeting the US and plans on moving our HQ to the UK.

At the ending of this year I would like to say cheers to all of you… hardly able to explain how happy you made me. Cheers to all authors, writers, publishers, photographers, designers, tech thinkers, creative minds, business gentlemen, all Booktunes friends.

Have fun tonight, good luck in 2011!

Erik

Tomorrow Amsterdam will see Norwegian Wood, the movie by Anh Hung Tran. Based on Haruki Murakami's break-through novel, the movie tells the story of Toru Watanabe. When hearing the famous Beatles song 'Norwegian Wood', he remembers his time as a student and tells a love story involving Naoko, with whom he shares the sad history of a lost friend, and Midori, the independent woman coming to ease his heart.

SLAA organizes the event.
Dirk van der Straten, Joost de Vries and Alfred Schaffer (NL) will do the talking.
Stefan Schmid will do the music.
Booktunes will be there.

Find Norwegian Wood the movie at IMDB
Find Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami on Amazon & Bol (US, UK, NL, BE, DE) 
Find Norwegian Wood and more Beatles on iTunes (US, UK, NL, BE, DE) 

Today we publish the Lars Saabye Christensen interview, articles about his work will follow soon. Same goes for other Beatles related titles... expect Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami next week!

Booktunes 16: Rat Girl is now online. Read all about the Memoir by singer Kristin Hersh and download the music as an addition to this intense story of the Throwing Muse singer.

Apart from our regular iTunes links, we have some free tunes available through Hersh' own website. Thanks to the and efforts of the CASH music organization... enjoy & support!

Elizabeth June

Last month has been quite hectic to us, but how are you?

While we were looking for ways to bring the Booktunes project to a higher level, loads of 'typical booktunes books' saw the light. We managed to pick out some highlights including a free Booktunes download!

Mina took account of Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly and wrote a beautiful article on this long awaited novel. She did an amazing job sorting out all the music you really should have at hand when reading this powerful book. Donnelly herself gave answers to all our questions, reason enough for Mina to walk up to her in NY and meet her in person.

Then there was Life, the autobiography of Keith Richards. Follow the train of thoughts of our new Booktunes contributor and listen to the music accompanying Richards' wild ride here.

Our Dutch news of the month is about the first free Booktunes. Dutch news? Indeed, but as long as you are interested in political cartoons & proper hip-hop, you should definitely have a look on our page on TRIK's Decennium. Free download, books to win!

World news:
From now on The Beatles will be digitally available through iTunes, giving us the opportunity to finally discuss the books referring to their world famous material… more about this on our special Beatles page. 

Blog news: 
Our own Erik started blogging about the Booktunes project. Follow him if you like. Booktunes artist Ytje is already a pro, so is Mina. Film enthusiasts should check out Wim's amazing blog about movie stills.

Don't forget to like us on Facebook!

Soon,

Booktunes

US - UK - NL - BE - DE

Here's a link to the Big Beatles Box!

US - UK - NL- BE - DE
 
Of course this wonderful news offers Booktunes the chance to open a lot of books that we had left for dead on our shelves since we couldn't serve you a digital link the music it relates to... Sorry, we will make it up to you.

If you have any recommendations on Beatles related book and novel titels please please us and drop us a line. If you fee like writing an article on one of them, you are more then welcome!

Next week will be the release of TRIK's Decennium, the book that covers ten years of his Political Cartoons. TRIK is known for his appearances in the Nieuwe Revu, so Holland knows that a small square is all he needs to create an image that cuts straight to the heart of the matter. Intriguingly, with this collection of his best work comes a mixtape by Swotteam.

decennium mix

This week we already have a little interview and the free mix available on our special Decennium page. Expect the book to hit stores next week! 

Nick Hornby & Ben Folds have just released an album together on Nonesuch Records. A perfect match now that we hear it, so we deeply regret the fact that we have been sleeping on this one. Lonely Avenue hit stores already three weeks ago.. which leaves us with one option for today: [[Get all digital]] and do a quick review.

A dinner between the befriended English novelist and American singer-songwriter lead to the idea of making an album together. Nick started sending emails with song lyrics, Ben put them to music. The result we have here is enchanting: Nick’s prose, his beautiful words about everyday things, blended with the sound song writing and production of Ben Folds, topped with string arrangements by Paul Buckmaster.

Our personal discontent with the digital booklet provided by iTunes - a pdf of the ordinary CD-booklet - finds backing from Folds himself when it comes to the audio parts: The record was made to be pressed and played on vinyl after a production process involving 2-inch tapes and Direct Metal Mastering at Abbey Road’s. This leaves the Booktunes visitor two options: Buy the [[Lonely Avenue vinyl]] or, if you are a real book fiend, get that [[limited edition with four short Hornby stories]] through Amazon.

Feel free to check out Nick on Booktunes, while we continue playing our favorite new file ‘Claire’s Ninth’, originally a never published ’89 story.

Tiffany Murray, writer of Diamond Star Halo was sweet enough to compile a playlist extraordinaire of the music that accompanied her writing, but didn’t necessarily end up in the Booktunes favored novel. Available now as Booktunes 12 Writer's Notes:

 

US link
UK link
NL link
DE link
BE link

New to Murray? Read all about Diamond Star Halo and visit the interview page at Booktunes.

Enjoy!

Booktunes is coming to Italy! On the 1st of November our website about books and music will be fully functioning in that beautiful country. Starting off with Nicola Lecca's Hotel Borg we will expand the Booktunes database with more Italian masterworks. Jack Frusciante has left the band by Enrico Brizzi can not miss, and we should go into Veronesi and Barrico. Please feel free to give us some advice.

Booktunes 13: Dokter Jazz is now online. The debut novel by Dutch philosopher Stine Jensen takes you from Denmark to the Arab World. Want to hear the music playing part in this story? Booktunes 13 is all you need: Dixieland jazz, Egyptian belly dance and some smooth jazz forced into the story by narrator Dolly.

We also have an interview with this bright writer coming up. She talks about identity, film, music and more so click here if you want to stay tuned. For now, enjoy her book & the music!

The Booktunes Soundtrack to Diamond Star Halo and the Interview with Tiffany Murray are here! Our new member Laura wrote a very clever article on this rock 'n' roll novel, and did ask some really interesting question to the Welsh writer.

Tiffany herself was sweet enough to compile a playlist extraordinaire of the music that accompanied her writing, but didn’t necessarily end up in the novel. Soon available through Booktunes. If you want us to keep you posted on this one, click here.

Stay tuned because next week we will publish the Booktunes interview with Dr. Frank. In the mean time you could have a look at his blog to see what this guy is about, or listen to '[[King Dork]]' - the Mr. T song that we think could be the prelude of Frank's writing career.

Off course we'd love to see the sticker devouring your laptop logo, e-reader logo, mediaplayer logo. And what about your bicycle, motorbike, car, beachball, cool box, trash can? Suits all people and things that read, listen and are on the move.

What more can we say? 
The logo design is done by SLEM.
How much stickers do you need?

Abdelkader Benali got on stage and wove a nice web of personal matters regarding Murakami's work and did not take it too serious when spoiling plots. 'But that's not what Murakmi's novels are about anyway'. 

This musical companion to the great novel by Christine Otten defenitely expresses the feelings, emotions, scenes, rants, rhythms, rymes of the story of the Last Poets, the legendary African-American group of militant poets and civil rights activists. Their tumultuous lives are turned by Christine Otten into an powerful novel where emotions and frustrations are translated into poems, facts into fiction and mesmerizing thoughts into action. Read all about the book & Booktunes 8 here.

Christine Otten lives just around the corner, so this one was easy. We jumped on our bike, sat down in a fancy lunchroom, ordered a vegetable croquette and had a nice chat about her books & the music. Read the interview here.

English or American publishers should be aware of this talented Dutch writer. Have a look at her page at the Dutch Literature Fund.

English and American Writers should just hold on... there are rumours and rumors so click here if you want to stay updated on Otten overseas.

Aan alle Belgische bezoekers, U bent zeer welkom: 5 juli zal Booktunes volledig werkzaam zijn in België!
Klik hier en we houden U op de hoogte.

From 10pm you will find Christine Otten, Abdelkader Benali & Luk van Haute alongside Booktunes to bring you a night full of Murakami stories, anecdotes, free goodies and music. At the stroke of midnight 1q84 Book 1 & 2 will be available... 

See you there!

Address:
Selexyz Scheltema Bookstore
Koningsplein 20, Amsterdam, NL

free entrance - visitors need to apply by emai:
promotie.scheltema@selexyz.nl

Booktunes email notifications:
- when the 1q84 Booktunes soundtrack will be available
- when the English edition will be available

While you are here, do not forget to sign up for the mailinglist. We are creating an evergrowing database with Music related Books... stay tuned!

Coming soon: 
- An interview with Christine Otten about her novel De Laatse Dichters (the last poets). Booktunes 8 will be your musical companion to this moving story.

- Booktunes 9: Bel Canto, the soundtrack to Ann Patchett's bestseller.

- A Booktunes special on 1q84, the new novel by Haruki Murakami.

Yesterday was the start of a two-week program based around these legendary Poets from New York. In the brand-new MC Theater on the Westergas terrain in Amsterdam you can also find poetry, dj’s, live music, documentaries, and a live show by The Last Poets! More news and info here (in dutch), a promo video (in english) here:

Booktunes was lucky to have lunch with novelist Crhistine Otten. The interview and the Booktunes Soundtrack to her novel will be online next week in the midst of this madness!

Next week Booktunes will have the official sounds to the biography online. Also, you will be able to order the book through our site. See you by then!

Lulu.com has been approved as an aggregator of content for Apple's iBookstore. Now there is a way for everyone to get a book published in the digital ePub format for iPad. Again, Apple is the big winner here, taking 30 percent of the retail price. Lulu takes 20 percent of what's left. Not bad for the writers either.

At Booktunes we are watching these developments very closely, curious to finding out what the future may bring. Should we already link to the digital readers, to Amazon's Kindle or Apple's iPad? Will this 'open book market' bring a valuable flood of fresh new authors writing about music?

However, Booktunes is looking forward to this date and you should do to. As we have managed to get an early copy of this long awaited novel from our Japanese master, we will bring the soundtrack to the international community on that very same day. Stay tuned or click here if you prefer a reminder by then.