{"id":1131,"date":"2024-03-22T09:31:39","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T09:31:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vervebooks.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1131"},"modified":"2024-03-22T09:32:58","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T09:32:58","slug":"what-to-read-based-on-your-favourite-hozier-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vervebooks.co.uk\/blog\/what-to-read-based-on-your-favourite-hozier-song\/","title":{"rendered":"What to read based on your favourite Hozier song"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today is a monumental one for Hozier fans, as we\u2019ve been gifted with four new tracks to obsessively listen to with the release of the \u2018Unheard<\/a>\u2019 EP. If you\u2019re like me, and you shamelessly listen to Hozier\u2019s albums on repeat, I\u2019ve got the perfect reading list for you. Below are my top recommendations based on your favourite Hozier song \u2013 enjoy!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Who We Are (Unreal Unearth, 2023)\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

You only feel it when it’s lost<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0
Gettin’ through still has a cost<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0
Quietly, it slips through your fingers, love<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0
Falling from you drop by drop<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Wives Under the Sea <\/em>by Julia Armfield<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full of yearning, looking back and processing the bittersweet memories of a love lost, Our Wives Under the Sea<\/em> is a beautiful and strange debut which I strongly recommend to anyone who loves Hozier\u2019s ‘Who We Are’. Armfield\u2019s sophomore novel, Private Rites, is also coming out later this year, so now\u2019s the perfect time to jump into her work.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

2. First Light (Unreal Unearth, 2023)\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

On\u0435 bright mornin’ goes so easy<\/a>\u00a0
<\/strong>Darkness always finds you either way<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0
It creeps into the corners as the moment fades<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0
A voice your body jumps to callin’ out your name<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0
But after this, I’m never gonna be the same<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0
And I am never going back again<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sistersong <\/em>by Lucy Holland <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sistersong <\/em>was an expected gem for me, and I raced through it quickly. It\u2019s a story of three siblings who undergo their own but intertwined transformations in a setting of wild magic and ancient Britain. It\u2019s haunting and lyrical, and I\u2019d recommend to anyone who cherishes that feeling of devastation for the past balanced with hope for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

3. Unknown\/Nth (Unreal, Unearth, 2023)\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Do you know I could break beneath the weight<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0
Of the goodness, love, I still carry for you?<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0
That I’d walk so far just to take<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0
The injury of finally knowin’ you?<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Song of Achilles<\/em> by Madeline Miller\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My word, this book is full of the most stunning prose about devotion. Here\u2019s a quote which honestly, if you don\u2019t want to read The Song of Achilles<\/em> after reading this, I don\u2019t know what will convince you: \u2018I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be prepared to also feel injured when completing this one.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

4. It Will Come Back (Hozier,2014)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Don’t give it a hand, offer it a soul<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0
Honey, make this easy<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0
Leave it to the land, this is what it knows<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0
Honey, that’s how it sleeps<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aurora <\/em>by Seraphina Madsen<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I really don\u2019t see this novel recommended enough. Aurora<\/em> is a bizarre novel about a girl who is drawn into a surrealist coven. When they encounter forces they should have left alone, Aurora becomes caught between the seen and the unseen.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

5. Too Sweet (Unheard EP, 2024)\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

I’d rather take my whiskey neat<\/strong>\u00a0
My coffee black in my bed at 3.00<\/strong>\u00a0
You’re too sweet for me<\/strong>\u00a0
You’re too sweet for me<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Giant Dark<\/em> by Sarvat Hasin\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Giant Dark<\/em> is a loose retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. Perhaps Hozier\u2019s \u2018Talk\u2019 would have been a good link for this one, but the difficult and tumultuous relationship between Aida and Ehsan, full of jealousy, secrets, and difficult history definitely invokes the push and pull of attraction and rejection in Hozier\u2019s \u2018Too Sweet\u2019 from his latest EP which drops today (22nd<\/sup> March, 2024). I\u2019d recommend to anyone who likes their love stories not to be straightforward by any means.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

6. Abstract (Psychopomp) (Unreal, Unearth, 2023)<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Darling, there’s a part of me<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0
I’m afraid will always be<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0
Trapped within an abstract from a moment of my life<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0
The weeds up through the concrete<\/strong>\u00a0
The traffic picking up speed<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0
All my love and terror balanced there between those eyes<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life Support <\/em>(edited by Julia Copus)\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a favourite collection of mine. It\u2019s positioned as poetry which \u2018offers new ways of looking\u2019 and I can attest to the accuracy of that. For some reason, this collection invokes such nostalgia in me, and brings your eye to the little and large to see how it all intersects. A particular favourite is a poem about a woman in a chip shop who, watching the cooks batter and deep fry fish, is reminded of her experience giving birth to her first child.\u00a0 I love the perspectives illustrated and would recommend to anyone who wants to see things with new eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

7. Would That I (Wasteland, Baby!, 2019)\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

True that I saw her hair like the branch of a tree
A willow dancing on air before covering me
Under cotton and calicoes
Over canopy dapple long ago<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunburn <\/em>by Chloe Michelle Howarth\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chloe Michelle Howarth\u2019s critically acclaimed debut, Sunburn<\/em>, shares the lyricism of Hozier\u2019s \u2018Would That I\u2019, and transports you to the long hot summer of sitting in the grass with your love. It\u2019s a story of devotion and the female gaze, and I\u2019d strongly recommend you add this to your wishlist for the perfect holiday read.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

8. Swan Upon Leda (2022)\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The gateway to the world
<\/strong><\/a>The gun in a trembling hand<\/a>
<\/strong>Where nature unmakes the boundary
<\/strong><\/a>The pillar of myth still stands<\/a>
The swan upon Leda<\/a>
<\/strong>Occupier upon ancient land<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Damages <\/em>by Genevieve Scott\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inspired by Hozier\u2019s interest in exploring injustices against women. The lyrics were influenced by Mona Eltahawy<\/a>, an Egyptian columnist and global feminist speaker, who referred to the global systems that control women as the world\u2019s \u2018oldest form of occupation\u2019. If \u2018Swan Upon Leda\u2019 is your favourite, read Genevieve Scott\u2019s The Damages <\/em>\u2013 a gripping novel that explores memory, trauma and accountability in a post-#MeToo world.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is a monumental one for Hozier fans, as we\u2019ve been gifted with four new tracks to obsessively listen to with the release of the \u2018Unheard\u2019 EP. If you\u2019re like me, and you shamelessly listen to Hozier\u2019s albums on repeat, I\u2019ve got the perfect reading list for you. Below are my top recommendations based on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[52,57,50,56,54,51,53,55],"class_list":["post-1131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-book-recommendations","tag-folk-music","tag-hozier","tag-indie-music","tag-lgbtq-reads","tag-music-recommendations","tag-our-wives-under-the-sea","tag-unheard-ep"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":false,"total_views":0,"today_views":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vervebooks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vervebooks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vervebooks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vervebooks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vervebooks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1131"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/vervebooks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1149,"href":"https:\/\/vervebooks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131\/revisions\/1149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vervebooks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vervebooks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vervebooks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vervebooks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}