Book Titles With That Indie-Rock Feel

Chad Batka for The New York Times Robert Smith of The Cure.

When Douglas Coupland, born in 1961, called a novel “Girlfriend in a Coma,” after the song by the Smiths, it made perfect generational sense. The song was released when Mr. Coupland was 25. But certain bands - the Smiths, R.E.M., the Cure - continue to hold a special place for bookish listeners of new generations, and to influence writers looking for titles.

Some among us may be alarmed to learn it's been almost 19 years since Morrissey, the former Smiths leader, released “The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get.” Two novelists, Jo Brand and Travis Nichols, have written novels titled “The More You Ignore Me.” Ms. Brand's book features a mother and daughter obsessed with the singer. Mr. Nichols's book, scheduled to be published in June, is told from the perspective of an unwelcome commenter on a wedding blog.

Andrew Porter's novel “In Between Days,” published in September, is named after a 1985 hit by the Cure. Mr. Porter has said “the song's lyrics (that sense of being in a time of transition) resonate perfectly” with one of his character's conflicts.

Next year comes Allie Larkin's novel, “Why Can't I Be You,” which takes its name from a song rec orded by the Cure when Ms. Larkin was 10. (The Cure has shown that literary inspiration works both ways. The band's controversial “Killing an Arab” was modeled after the Albert Camus novel “The Stranger,” and its song “Charlotte Sometimes” quotes directly from the 1969 children's book of the same name by Penelope Farmer.)

Diane Awerbuck's 2003 novel “Gardening at Night” was named for one of R.E.M.'s first recorded songs. Ms. Awerbuck once told an interviewer why she favors song titles for her work: “I do it partly because it's an in-joke, and people who get the joke get an extra frisson. They do some of my work for me by subconsciously adding their own experience of the song to the story.”

Then there are those authors who listen a bit less closely, like the several who have named books for R.E.M.'s “Losing My Religion.” These books tend to deal explicitly with religious faith, even though the singer Michael Stipe has explained the phrase as a southern idiom that means running out of patience.