Have you ever read a book that changed your life, or heard an album that shook you to your core? In honor of Record Store Day (today) and Independent Bookstore Day (next Saturday), The Ticker is celebrating those lifechanging works of art by asking a collection of local musicians, booksellers, record store owners, and librarians to share the books and albums they love most.

THE ALBUMS

Jeffrey Cobb, director of music programs, Northwestern Michigan College
Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life. This double album shows Stevie at his best, with incredible songwriting, amazing performances, and a powerful call for social justice. Includes “I Wish,” one of the best pop tunes ever, and other classics like “Isn’t She Lovely,” “Sir Duke,” and “As.” Please check out “Black Man” if you haven’t heard it; just as relevant today as it was when the album came out.

Drew Hale, local musician, Drew Hale Band
My favorite album is Clarity by Jimmy Eat World, which found me back in 1999 during my junior year of high school. The clever arrangements, great songwriting, and rich vocal harmonies just spoke to me like no other record ever had. I literally learned to sing harmony by singing along and finding inner harmony lines to add. It became ‘my music,’ especially because, at that point, nobody knew who they were. So it was just mine.

Alex Walton, co-owner, RPM Records
With all of the great music around me it’s pretty much impossible to pick a favorite album, but one of my top choices is Boston’s first album, simply titled Boston. Released in 1976, Boston starts out strong and upbeat and continues throughout. It’s a great one to put on when working around the house or to just sit down and turn up the volume.

Brian Chamberlain, owner, Studio Anatomy and Eugene’s Record Co-op
Let Them Eat Chaos by Kae Tempest is a concept album that follows the lives of seven people living on the same street who have never met but are eventually connected when a storm brings them out of their homes. Kae is a British novelist, poet, playwright and spoken word artist. The album’s words and music work hand-in-hand to drive a very compelling story and deliver a whirlwind of emotions.

David Chown, local pianist and piano teacher, Lookout Music Productions
Songs in the Key of Life, Stevie Wonder. My go-to album if I need to be uplifted. I believe this is Stevie’s masterpiece, the record where he hits on all cylinders and where he put together a double album that you can easily listen from start to finish and feel satisfied in the soul and hopeful about life. I’ve been listening to this record since it came out in 1976, and I have never grown tired of it.

Sav Buist, Katie Larson, and Michael Dause, band members, The Accidentals

Buist: Patrick Carroll’s Glow in the Dark. This record tells the truth. I know that’s what you expect from most albums, but not every record feels so crushingly real, brutally honest, and beautifully reflective. Patrick was a Michigan musician who passed from cystic fibrosis when he was just 26 years old – the same age I am now. When this record came out, I was 18 and totally took life and its beauty for granted. This album is a love letter to life, and a not-often-heard testimony of all the stages of grief one experiences as they near the end of life. Patrick passed a few weeks after this album came out, leaving behind a legacy that glows like the embers of a bonfire, even when it seems like it’s gone out.

Dause: Bon Iver’s 22, A Million. While some of my favorite records are lyrically and thematically driven, this album takes you on a sonic voyage. The first time I heard it, I found it off-putting and abrasive. Then, after making to the end of the record, I knew I needed to listen again. It’s not very often that an artist can make you feel intense emotion purely with sound, but Bon Iver build incredible, dense sonic landscapes that are in one moment intense and uncomfortable, and in the next gentle and gorgeous.

Larson: The Lemon of Pink by The Books. As someone with a short attention span, this album calms and dazzles me. My ears never get tired of the collage of textures, sampled voices, banjo, synthesizers, cello, guitars. It feels like watching a film like Koyaanisqatsi, observing a series of seemingly unrelated scenes from subways to canyons that leave you feeling introspective. I used to close my eyes and listen to this album on repeat coming to and from school. No matter what mood I was in, it made me relaxed. 

THE BOOKS

Michele Howard, library director, Traverse Area District Library
My favorite book of all time has to be The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It's not a long story but it's beautifully written to remind the reader to believe in themselves. We must keep hope and keep striving even when we fail, because there are important lessons to learn along the way. And sometimes those lessons end up being more important than the original goal. My favorite quote from the book is, "The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”

Amanda Ruud, executive director, National Writers Series
My favorite book is any book that emotionally sticks with me. Three come to mind: The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Pinkwater, a children’s book that celebrates authenticity and creative self-expression; Walking to Martha’s Vineyard by Franz Wright, a collection of poetry that has haunted and amused me for nearly two decades; and Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, an autobiographical commentary on racism that packs a critical gut-punch in every sentence.

Larissa VanderZee, librarian, Traverse City Central High School
Robert Penn Warren’s All The King's Men captures what it means to be human living in an imperfect world, to be an idealist in a world where ideals are not the reality, and to understand our own responsibility for every action we take. It is a book about how the history of each individual person affects who they become and then how they have the capacity to become someone new once they reevaluate that past in light of their present circumstances. I love it because it reminds us that we can change, at any point, as long as we are willing to reflect on where we have come from and consider where we intend to go.

Stefen Holtrey, bookseller, Brilliant Books
Susanna Clarke’s landmark fantasy opus Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is a towering tome of Napoleonic alt-history that combines Nabokovian verve, the humor of Austen or Dickens, and the darker side of English fable to create something vast and beautiful. Filled with the melancholy of forgotten ages, the raw excitement of discovery, love and loss, camaraderie and rivalry, this book contains wondrous multitudes.

Kerrey Woughter, director of library services, Northwestern Michigan College
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. I love the idea of a seed of truth – in this case, a historical nugget, planted in the imagination, fed with time and curiosity, and allowed to grow into something new. In the world of Hamnet, Shakespeare's wife, Anne – who we know little about from history – becomes Agnes, a fierce and magnetic character in her own right. O'Farrell’s words ultimately breathe life into an old story, and allow the reader to imagine a world from which Shakespeare could emerge. 

Laurie Vaughn, Jinhee Scholtus, Brittany Parliament, and Amy Reynolds, booksellers, Horizon Books

Vaughn: Signe Pike’s The Lost Queen, a spellbinding tale of a medieval queen in British history. Mystical forests, star crossed lovers, political intrigue, and family loyalty combine with fate and destiny to place the reader directly into history.

Scholtus: Christopher McDougall’s Running with Sherman, a true heartwarming story of one man's efforts to heal the spirit, body, and mind of an abused animal. When McDougall was asked to take in a neglected donkey, he had no idea what he was in for. Searching for a way to bond with his new family member, McDougall read about burro racing and started training for the race. The book is a triumphant testament to the power of movement and the unbreakable bond that humans and animals forge.

Parliament: Leigh Bardugo’s A Six of Crows, a heist story with a multilayered and interesting fantasy backdrop. While the action is engaging and the stakes high, what really stands out in this story is the excellent characterization. The ragtag band of criminals are captivating, unique, and lovable – despite their flaws.

Reynolds: Flynn Berry’s Northern Spy, a thriller about of two sisters that asks: ‘How well do you know your own sibling?’ Would you believe it if evidence told you that they were a terrorist? What lengths would you go to in order to protect them? This tale is espionage from a woman's point of view – as a daughter, sister, new mother, and patriotic citizen.