Livesey: Music to Read By

Margot Livesey, who visits Thursday, March 20, recommends a playlist of music to accompany her novel, The Flight of Gemma Hardy, on the blog, Largehearted Boy.

"Gemma's earliest years are spent not in Scotland but Iceland - her father is Icelandic – and in thinking about that lonely, volcanic country I spent a good deal of time listening to the Icelandic band Sigur Ros (Victory Rose). The voice of the lead singer, Jonsi Birgisson, has an almost other worldly quality which seems to fit perfectly with the fact that many Icelanders believe in the existence of elves. And Jonsi himself is obsessed with birds and animals. Two evocative songs stand out for me: 'Go Do' in which Jonsi insists 'You should always know you can do anything,' and 'Saeglopur' which means lost at sea, or shipwrecked." More.