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I'm with the Band: 39 Musical Novels
In 2019, author Taylor Jenkins Reid stomped over the fields of publishing like a kaiju with her wildly popular rock and roll novel Daisy Jones & the Six. The long-awaited TV adaptation—slated for a March 3 release on Amazon Prime—is expected go kaiju all over again.
In honor of this development, we’ve gathered here a spirited and unruly list of novels with a musical heart. The collection features, but is not limited to, musicians, technicians, bands, fans, and groupies. We’re sticking to straight fiction with this one, but feel free to click around elsewhere for nonfiction and biographies.
You’ll find some genre classics, along with musical riffs into horror, romance, and other interesting variations on the theme. Click or tap on the book cover images for more information, and put anything you like on your Want to Read shelf.
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Have a musical novel to recommend? Share it with us in the comments below!
Comments Showing 1-26 of 26 (26 new)
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What negligence to leave out Joseph O'Connor's "The Thrill Of It All", which is all about a former member of a superstar pop group looking back at the band's rise and fall. Another novel that comes to mind is Esi Edugyan's "Half Blood Blues" - despite all its praises, I was not a great fan of it, though.
Brendan Slocumb's newest (Symphony of Secrets) is also quite good!
Likewise surprised not to see Iain Bank's 'Espedair Street' on here.
"White Tears" is one of the creepiest books I've ever read
Lesley wrote: "Likewise surprised not to see Iain Bank's 'Espedair Street' on here."Same! Was the first one that came to my mind.
Everyone should also check out "Live from Medicine Park" by Constance Squires. Music fans are sure to love it!
Syncopation, Counterpoint, and Reverb, all by Anna Zabo, are 3 gloriously queer novels about the pressures and delights of creating and performing music. Maybe not literary enough to be on this list, but still great books.Syncopation
I would add:"Body and Soul" by Frank Conroy. Has some fine insight into music and what it might take to make great music.
"The Exes" by Pagan Kennedy. Well done look at the inner workings of an '80s/'90s indie rock band.
The well-known Aubrey/Maturin novels contain some excellent musical interludes.
I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert is a fun YA read
I really recommend The Songs You've Never Heard - a YA "Booksical" with songs arotten and performed by the authors available on Spotify
Mariele wrote: "What negligence to leave out Joseph O'Connor's "The Thrill Of It All", which is all about a former member of a superstar pop group looking back at the band's rise and fall. Another novel that come..."
Negligence, really? Make your own list!
I'd add I Was Born for This for YA readers! A more modern take on fandom and how musicians interact with social media. :)
Jonathan Franzen's Freedom has a quite convincing singer-songwriter as one of its characters.
'Kill your friends' by John Niven is an insane look at the music business in the 90s Kill Your Friends
Scott Alarik's Revival: A Folk Music Novel, a novel that is a thoughtful, loving meditation on the folk music business, a community of creatives and fans far from the entertainment world.
And I agree. The People We Keep is one of my favorite books of all time!
Music is a theme in books that I really like.
Sometimes I read a book that makes a reference to a song and I will search for it and this search leads me to another song or artist, it expands my music knowledge.
I think music is an inspiration for a lot of people.