David Mitchell has been celebrated for his heady, otherworldly novels like Ghostwritten and Cloud Atlas. His latest book, The Bone Clocks, is a time-leaping story that blends the very real with the very fantastical. Mitchell frequently employs music within The Bone Clocks as an important part in his characters’ storylines — perhaps because it plays such a big part in his own story. “I couldn’t imagine a life without music, and wouldn’t want to,” Mitchell says. “It’s one of the great reasons to be alive.” David Mitchell speaks with Soundcheck host John Schaefer about his love of music in this Pick Three.

David Mitchell's Pick Three

Talking Heads, "Heaven" from Fear of Music (1979)

"Until I met this record, I didn’t realize that music could do what books also invite you to do: To think, and to take you on a kind of story, or a journey. And do more than that — if literature could do exactly what music does, then you wouldn’t need music."

Duke Pearson, "After the Rain" from Sweet Honey Bee (1967)

"It makes me smell a garden after the rain. It’s a rare piece of music. It actually triggers that part of my brain that’s sensitive to smell and to fragrance. Especially when the flute starts, I’m in a garden all wet with rain."

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Patrick Watson, "The Great Escape" from Close to Paradise (2006)

"His voice is just one of those immediately arresting, distinctive voices. It’s truffles, it’s dark coffee, it’s velvety. It’s just a beautiful, divine gift of a voice."