Every Friday, Cienna Madrid offers solutions to life’s most vexing literary problems. Do you need a book recommendation to send your worst cousin on her birthday? Is it okay to read erotica on public transit? Cienna can help. Send your questions to advice@seattlereviewofbooks.com.

Dear Cienna,

What's the greatest song about a book ever written?

Burt, Shoreline

Dear Burt,

I’m so glad you asked! Songs from the 1970s were ALL WRITTEN ABOUT books. During the 70s, subliminal messaging was EVERYWHERE and you can only watch so much Gilligan's Island (This is what Vietnam REALLY looks like!) and The Brady Bunch (When you have too many kids, some of them will inevitably bang their own parent), and so no one was doing much of anything except reading and bitching about the oil crisis.

For instance: "Have You Never Been Mellow," is inspired by Don Quixote and "Killing Me Softly" and was about Gone with the Wind. That said, the road goes both ways! Michael Bloomberg's autobiography, Bloomberg by Bloomberg, was actually inspired by the '72 hit "You're so Vain."

But the greatest song about a book ever written is definitely ‘Let’s Go’ by the Cars…which is clearly about Anna Karenina.

She's laughing inside
'Cause they can't refuse
She's so beautiful now
She doesn't wear her shoes
She never likes to choose
She's got wonderful eyes
And a risqué mouth
And when I asked her before
She said she's holding out
“I like the night life baby, she says, Let’s go!”

Here's a final bit of song trivia: "Hungry Hungry Hippo" was inspired by Donald Trump's second book Surviving at the Top. The book is a classic about loving and not be loved in return, and the song makes him super sad, which is why he never plays it at rallies.

Kisses,

Cienna