Unhinged Book Recs for 1989

No one asked for or expected me to do this but here are my 1989 unhinged book recommendations!

I remember the first time I heard 1989 - Taylor’s self proclaimed “first official pop album” - like it was yesterday, even though it was almost a decade ago. While 1989 is not in my top 5 of Taylor’s albums, I still really enjoyed it then and I enjoyed it when Taylor’s Version dropped a few weeks ago.

I’ve never given recommendations based on album tracks before but after watching my buddy, Margaret’s latest video, I was inspired.

The only problem is that the vibes for 1989 are very different than the vibes commonly found in the books I read. I read weird, dark things so this posed quite a pickle for me - especially when trying to find books that went with songs like Wildest Dreams, This Love and I Wish You Would. So, I opted for abstract answers with very flimsy parallels and reasoning to back up my choices.

If you are a visual person, I made this into a video on my YouTube

Take these recs with a grain of salt, this is only half serious and don’t skimp on the reasonings. I may have based a recommendation off of the title or a single line from the song or just vibes in general but I will explain myself if you let me :P

Track 1: Welcome to NY - You

The song Welcome to New York sets the vibe for the whole album, I think. Taylor is growing up, moving to NYC and is ready to have the time of her life! Changes, opportunities and love are all right around the corner which is why I chose the thriller You by Caroline Kepnes as my first book recommendation. First of all, it is set in NYC and everything is so new, fresh and exciting when Joe Goldberg starts obsessively pursuing Guinevere Beck! Love, chaos and adventure AWAITS! Welcome to New York indeed.

Track 2: Blank Space - Hell’s Princess

I specifically chose this because of lines like “got a long list of ex lovers, they’ll tell you I’m insane.” Hell’s Princess by Harold Schechter is a nonfiction true crime recounting of the life and crimes of Belle Gunness, the female serial killer - also known as the Female Bluebeard - who had her own list of ex lovers and she most definitely was insane.

Track 3: Style - The Woman in Black

Style breezes into our eardrums with a timeless wonder and the vibes to match. One thing that never goes out of style for me is a good ghost story. I will always be down for a spooky house with some lingering spirits, especially if it has a gothic atmosphere to it. That’s why I selected The Woman in Black by Susan Hill.

Track 4: Out of the Woods - The Shuddering

Out of the Woods alludes to the need to hide things, to pull away from the lights and exposure and retreat into a safe haven where no one can touch them, right? Well, have I got the fast paced horror novel for you! The Shuddering by Ania Ahlborn follows a group of friends as they settle into a cabin in the woods for one last hoorah before their lives start to change and veer away from one another. The only problem is: there’s something in the woods and when things start to go awry, all they want to do is get OUT of the woods!

Track 5: All You Had to do Was Stay - Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

All You Had to Do Was Stay is one of my least faves on the album but I get it the sentiment of wishing things had worked out differently. With that in mind… allow me to introduce you to the splatter punk, sapphic, body horror novella that is Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca.

Track 6: Shake It Off - No Title

Sucks that I can’t tell you about the book I chose for this song because of the ongoing boycott of St. Martin’s Press but maybe one day I can tell you about it!

Track 7: I Wish You Would - The Nineties

I had ZERO books that made sense with this so I settled for the nonfiction book chronicling the decade of my childhood The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman if only for the fact that I’m an elder millennial who looks back on this time with love and longing.

Track 8: Bad Blood - Between Two Fires

So this is a bit more abstract if you can believe it. Bad Blood is a chaotic and aggressive song. It’s pop sure, but you knew Tay Tay was mad when she wrote this. Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman is a very dark, intense, chaotic historical horror fantasy with a lot of moving parts (not unlike the Bad Blood music video.)

Track 9: Wildest Dreams - Bitter Orange

So admittedly, this novel and the story within do not align with the song Wildest Dreams but the vibes do. I’m mainly focusing on “you’'ll see me in hindsight” and “I hope these memories follow you around.” Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller is a moody, slow burn historical chiller that is set in a dilapidated English mansion and the story is being told to us in memories of a sort.

Track 10: How You Get the Girl - Big Swiss

This is another one of my least favorite tracks but I think it works perfectly (in my own little unhinged way) with Big Swiss by Jen Beagin. In this sapphic, strange little book, a chance encounter between a therapy transcriptionist and one of the clients she has come to know through the recordings happen to meet and a relationship ensues. Now THAT is how you get the girl.

Track 11: This Love - Ghost Eaters

I feel like this is both on the nose and wildly far off at the same time but Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman needed to be the book rec for this love. This is a very gory horror novel and ghost story about what happens when a girl tries to communicate with her late ex boyfriend… “this love came back to me.” You get it.

Track 12: I Know Places - The Hunger Games

This rec isn’t unhinged. Actually, I would say that I went with a super cliche answer, right? The opening scene of The Hunger Games where Katniss and Gale sit in the woods, eating bread and talking about running away. Don’t mistake this for me being a Gale stan, I am not not not. I just think the vibes match.

Track 13: Clean - Chlorine

This has the very blaring connection of water, right? And even though Chlorine by Jade Song is much darker and more intense than the sweet melody and feelings associated with Clean, I feel like our main character really connected with the line “when I was drowning that’s when I could finally breathe.”

Track 14: Wonderland - Bunny

This is a very obvious pairing. Wonderland… rabbits… you get it. I wish I could say it goes a little deeper than that but I can’t. I could maybe make connect some dots if I really thought about it like “sleep with one eye open” and “nothing’s as it seems… spinning out of control” but Bunny by Mona Awad was just a very simple word association choice.

Track 15: You Are in Love - Hot Dutch Daydream

This one is the most “hinged” I think. Hot Dutch Daydream by Kristy Boyce is just a cute little new adult romance novel about a girl who goes abroad for a work study type thing and ends up meeting a boy. It was cute and I actually liked it. I am in love, I guess you could say!

Track 16: New Romantics - We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Aside from the obvious “castle” parallel, I feel like We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson is a great choice to go with New Romantics. The family living with their secrets in an isolated castle on the outskirts of a town who despises them… the best people in life are free!

Track 17: Slut! - Slewfoot 

So this is a newer track and I sat with it for a bit. I almost chose this book for Out of the Woods because it would have worked great but I think the vibe of Slut! works too! n Slewfoot by Brom, we follow Abatha as she attempts to navigate life as an outcast of her Puritanical Connecticut village. She knows what they say about her in town but there is something in the woods, calling to her. Everything will “be worth it for once” ;)

Track 18: Say Don’t Go - Disseverment

This book is absolutely disgusting but it fits, ok? IT FITS! Disseverment by ZC Krol is a short horror story heavy on the gore and… don’t go!

Track 19: Now That We Don’t Talk - No Title

Currently I am refraining from discussing books published by St. Martin’s Press until they address the Islamaphobic comments made by one of their employees SO this is a bummer. This book was a great look at what happens when a love you pour yourself into and get nothing back from finally ends and you have to pick yourself up and carry on. It isn’t even that unhinged, I just loved it and thought it fit. I hope to be able to come back to this and tell you all about it one day.

Track 20: Suburban Legends - Blood Orange

I just finished this book last week and it feels like it was meant to be because I was having a hard time finding a good recommendation for this. Blood Orange by Karina Halle feels right because there are two main characters, both sort of legendary on their own. Plus, I appreciated the dark academia setting when it was present and it sort of ties into the last verse of the song. A connection is there, I swear. It’s spicy and gothic and a little strange. The stuff of legends for sure :P

Track 21: Is It Over Now? - Helpmeet

Helpmeet by Naben Ruthnum is a dark little novella packed with body horror and vibes. There are several things that make this novel line up with the lyrics of Is It Over Now? and they will reveal themselves as you read but for now, just know that it will definitely have you asking “is it over now?”