The Contemporary Nomad is where five authors talk with you, dear reader, about the important subjects of the day. Whatever we decide they might be. Read more 
S T E I N H A U E R
As I mentioned before, the paperback of The Tourist (Indie, Amazon, B&N) will be released soon–on Tuesday the 16th, in fact. Back when it came out in hardback, I wondered what kind of extra material I might put up to accompany the book. In this case, an obvious proposition came to me–put together a soundtrack.
Those of you who know the book know that music plays an important part in it, and I used iTunes to put together a choice selection of 12 pretty cool tunes that are either featured in the novel, or acted as some kind of inspiration to me while writing it. I put together an iMix (as Apple likes to call them), but never got around to publishing it. Life, as usual, got in the way. But it’s paperback time now, which is a fine time to get the thing up. If it doesn’t convince you to buy The Tourist, then at least it’ll introduce you to some fine music that, perhaps, you’ve never met before.
Be forewarned: There’s a definite French slant to the mix. It was that kind of year, I suppose.
Hopefully you’ve got iTunes running on your machine, as clicking the picture of France Gall below should open up the program and let you listen to 30 second blocks of each song. (Or, the direct link to the mix is here.) If not, you’ve at least got a list of tunes to check out on your own.
Enjoy!
February 13th, 2010 at 3:49 am
Now if you were really cool the PB would come with this CD as part of the package.
Get those marketing folks working on that for the next book …
February 14th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
…and a DVD of George Clooney talking up the book?
It’s a good idea, though getting the rights to use all the songs might be a hassle. When I originally wrote the book, I used lengthy quotes from the France Gall song, then someone at St Martins pointed out that I needed rights. I sent an email to the Gainsbourg rights-holding company, got no reply, so had to shorten it to a “fair use” quote of just a couple lines. I can’t imagine the hassle of getting rights to 13 songs from 12 different artists!
Actually, I think there are going to be CDs packaged with ARCs of The Nearest Exit, though I suspect that’ll be the audiobook, since this time around MacMillan owns those rights too…
February 23rd, 2010 at 6:02 pm
Just wondering what I could add to our Decadent Divas and Dudes Dessert Book Club discussion of your book, The Tourist (actually I was looking for some discussion guide questions other than the typical, “Who should have the starring role in the movie?” since we already know it could only be George) and wow, here’s a suggested soundtrack from the author himself. This will definitely add another level besides dessert to book club!
February 23rd, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Oh, Any recommendations for dessert?
February 25th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Glad I could add an extra plate to the menu!
For dessert? I’m a simpleton with such things. Give me some Haagen-Dazs (choc-choc chip, or strawberry shortcake), and I’m set.
But maybe you should keep it French. Chocolate truffles…or crème brulee–though I think that is more of a challenge to get just right. But what’s life without a little risk?
Good luck, and I hope the discussion goes sweetly…
March 1st, 2010 at 3:37 am
We had quite an animated discussion of The Tourist, funny argument arose about whether or not Tina really told Milo he was fat, resulting in searching madly through the book to find the exact words. Tina did not fair well, she was found guilty of suggesting Milo shed a few which was not popular among dessert lovers. Overwall there was resounding agreement among book club members who over American apple pie and some kind of French bread pudding, agreed Milo, lovehandles and all, is the new Jason Bourne. We look forward to the sequel and George Clooney in the movie.
Best Wishes from the Decadent Divas and Dudes Dessert Book Club
March 4th, 2010 at 10:58 pm
I’m glad the characters–particularly Tina–provoked such discussion! It’s what any writer hopes for. However, let’s not be too hard on Tina. The way I see it, her criticisms of his weight were symptoms of her building mistrust of him, not actually some sort of fat-phobia. And as we learn, a little mistrust is always a good idea when it comes to Milo.
It’s encouraging to know Milo made it out of the discussion so unscathed, and that people will be out there waiting for the next one.
Now that you bring up the issue of weight, it reminds me that in the next book two central characters are very much overweight. I’m not sure how I ended up with that, but those same characters are the most brilliant manipulators in the story. One of them, my early readers assure me, is a wonderful creation (and I’m really proud of having written her)–she’s an administrator in the German intelligence service, a kind of female, German George Smiley, and more than once she gets the better of poor Milo. I liked her so much I gave her the last words of the book.