I hope you're having a safe and peaceful Memorial Day. Here's something else to commemorate: this past Saturday marked the 125th anniversary of the founding of the New York Public Library. To celebrate, I thought about featuring a song directly inspired by a book or poem—and there are plenty of those, so I may yet!—but today I felt drawn to a song that's more evocative of the headspace you can get into when you're caught up in the act of reading: that sense of rich interiority, that contented isolation.
"Solitary Daughter" by Bedouine (Azniv Korkejian when she's not onstage) isn't entirely about reading, but reading is certainly a part of it, with lyrics like "Leave me alone to the books and the radio snow / Leave me alone to the charcoal and the dancing shadow." I love her voice, warm and understated, and the way the song somehow feels both spare and full. (And I find many of her lines breathtakingly poetic: "I'm a body of water / jeweled in the evening" vividly conjures up the stillness of a lake reflecting the stars.) It's an introvert's proud declaration of happiness cocooned away from the world and its expectations, and perhaps, like Monsieur Periné's "Mundo Paralelo," it resonates in new ways with life under quarantine; we may miss our social connections, but the quiet pleasures of solitude can have their own charms. At the very least you can get lost in a good book.
BONUS: I recommend this NPR profile for more about the song and Korkejian's life story.
Also, to celebrate 125 years, the NYPL has put together a video of 125 people—authors, actors, musicians and more—sharing the titles of their favorite books. (Go here to see the full list, and here to see each of them talk more in-depth about their choices.) If you have 10 minutes, it's quite moving to watch.
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Listen to the Spotify playlist here.
Watch the YouTube playlist here.