Ben Ehrenreich’s Book Notes music playlist for his book Hold Still

In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book. Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Hanif Abdurraqib, Andrew Sean Greer, Roxane Gay, and many others. Ben Ehrenreich’s book Hold Still is a brilliant elegy to his mother, author and activist Barbara Ehrenreich, told through short stories and journal entries. Kirkus wrote of the book: “Ehrenreich is wrestling with the idea of story itself—what it takes to put a life in order, what’s sacrificed when you do so, and whether it’s possible or fair to try. . . . A meditative and wide-ranging response to loss.” In his own words, here is Ben Ehrenreich’s Book Notes music playlist for his book Hold Still: In the months following my mother’s death in the fall of 2022, I assigned myself the task of writing a story every day. I did it to keep myself anchored, without any thought of publishing,…