Alicia from my novel "Damsel in the Red Dress" is apparently pretty well read, but she never remembers where any of the lines of fiction or poetry, or music she remembers are from.
She's attributed parts of her life to several poems, including "The Honey Bear" by Eileen Myles, and "The Morning After I Killed Myself" by Meggie Moyers. A nod to "Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day" by Nikki Giovanni is coming up in the next chapter (being released this upcoming Friday.)
She also references or recalls a lot of lines or ideas from fiction, such as "The Lion King" (in "Ring Around the Rosy" as she has a crisis about growing old too fast.) Her commenting on Kattar having a "rajah-ish" air is a link to the spoiled rich boy Collin Craven from "The Secret Garden" the Rosy." And numerous references to "A Tale of Two Cities," are all throughout the story (cuz I just love Dickens lol)
Numerous song references are throughout the story as well, because both she and Kattar love music, and his obsession with action movies brings in chances to mention Steven Seagal, and in an upcoming (but some distance off) chapter, X-men and Iron Man 2.
In my new novel "Rigamarole" that I'm currently working on, there have only been mention to one book, that being the Bible, (in the very first line):
I feel like Adam and Eve must have - trying to ignore the sound of our parents downstairs in the living room asking where we are - if we’ve come home from school yet-
but I suppose that still shows how much I love referencing things from real life in my slice-of-life series to make them feel more grounded in reality.