James Baldwin club playlist

Tunes that set the mood while we read "Giovanni's Room"

Since the narrator of Giovanni’s Room sees everthing in glaring black and white, the recommended visual accompaniment to this music is Paris in black and white.

Giovanni’s room was in one of these buildings. Photo by Adlan on Unsplash

Inspired by the themes in the book, here’s the playlist for the June 2023 Giovanni’s Room book club.

Thanks to Suzie Baunsgard for reminding me that, while Giovanni’s Room may be tragic, my taste in music doesn’t need to be.

What a brilliant collection of songs she put together. Here’s the fuller Suzie playlist that I drew from:

Thank you, Suzie, for being a savant of music curation.

And thanks to Michelle for the Bob Dylan idea.

By the way, did you all see Joni Mitchell’s cover of “Summertime” at the Gorge the other day?

You gotta watch it:

Happy summer, everyone.