Rock and read! The 10 funkiest novels for music lovers
Songs about books and books about music are common. Worlds collide often. For ravers, disco queens, grungers and jazz fans, there is a book to yoke these passions together. These ten titles offer the best of both worlds.
1. A Visit From The Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan, 2010
This is less a novel than a short story cycle. It is an absolutely rocking read. Spanning several decades from the sixties to the near future, it leaps from Africa to Europe and back to the States. It follows a group involved with the San Francisco music scene. One section is told as a PowerPoint presentation and riffs on the mysteries of rock and roll pauses. Another follows a music producer who sprinkles gold flakes into his coffee to get his mojo going. It is a classic in the making.
2. An Equal Music, Vikram Seth, 1999
A violinist and a pianist embark on an affair after being separated since their student days. This is an affecting love story. It is worth every one of its five hundred pages. The book provides a moving account of the characters’ passion for chamber music and the tragedy of impending deafness.
3. The Commitments, Roddy Doyle, 1987
A group of unemployed kids in north Dublin in the eighties form a soul band. Near fame, ill-judged affairs and implosive rows mean success is unlikely. Doyle’s first book is laugh-out-loud funny. His dialogue in the Dublin demotic is spot-on. Characters like Jimmy Rabbitte, Outspan Foster and Joey ‘The Lips’ Fagan are unforgettable. You will be rocking out to Wilson Pickett before you reach page two.
4. Scott Pilgrim (series), Bryan Lee O’Malley (2004-2010)
The entire graphic series is worth reading. Slacker Scott lives in Toronto, plays bass for Sex Bob-Omb and is in love with Ramona Flowers. The film version is funny, but the books excel at making gigs and alternative musicians central to a manga-style text. Rock on, Scott.
5. Stone Arabia, Dana Spiotta, 2012
A talented but failed rock musician retreats into a fantasy world. He fills his home with accounts of his imaginary successes. This novel explores loss, yearning and memory. It covers personal mythology, sibling relationships and the perils of the music scene.
6. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby, 1995
A London record-store owner has just been dumped by his girlfriend. He is a massive music trivia fiend who loves compiling Top Ten lists. Seeking understanding, he makes a list of his five worst break-ups and hunts down the women to ask why it went wrong. It is full of music references. This is a trip down memory lane for any heartbroken wannabe DJ.
7. Bel Canto, Ann Patchett, 2001
This is one for the opera fans. Terrorists hold business folk hostage in Argentina, including American soprano Roxane Coss. It is romantic, tense and compelling. It uses opera to bring everyone together. The title means beautiful singing. Patchett is a stunning writer. Even those uninterested in opera will want to listen to an aria after reading this.
8. The Fortress of Solitude, Jonathan Lethem, 2003
Music and graffiti are the main topics. Dylan Ebdus grows up in Brooklyn with his best mate Mingus Rude. Mingus’s dad is a soul singer who introduces Dylan to jazz, soul, R&B, funk and hip-hop. The book has weird reference points like a magic ring and Superman nods. Music remains at the heart. It traces the gentrification of Gowanus from the seventies through to the nineties.
9. The Piano Teacher, Elfriede Jelinek, 1983
This is set around the Vienna Conservatory. It features a piano teacher, Erika, who has an affair with one of her students. It is brilliant on twisted mother-daughter relationships and power dynamics between lovers. It is an intense read. This remains Jelinek’s best known title in English translation since her Nobel win in 2004. It is not for the faint of heart.
10. Accordion Crimes, Annie Proulx, 1996
Annie Proulx follows a single musical instrument through a century of owners. The journey goes from Sicily to Iowa to Mississippi and onwards. It is an interesting survey of US history. It shows how music can unite disparate people. Like all of Proulx’s work, it does not shy away from violence. Do not mistake it for a sentimental jaunt.
I wrote a novel about music, too! Humorous rock fiction. Check it out: The Road to Fluffer – http://www.amazon.com/Road-Fluffer-Dan-Schell/dp/148020403X
Description:
Darrell Steiner is a middle-aged music journalist caught between his magazine’s corporate takeover and a disintegrating marriage. Forced to prove his relevance in an ever-changing music industry, he is assigned to cover a small-time heavy metal band, Numb Skull, for an ill-fated tour through the Midwest. Numb Skull’s music is loud, their lyrics pedestrian, and their dreams of the wild rock and roll life drive every decision. Darrell, however, begins to see the assignment as the death knell of his career, helpless on the road while his wife shacks up with his brother.
The makers of Fluffer, the adult energy drink, have gotten into the music business, culminating in the annual Fluffer Music Festival in Chicago. Numb Skull has earned a slot to play at the festival but the band struggles to keep the tour from derailing after a series of mishaps, while Darrell wrestles with his personal and professional lives, finding himself both burdened and sheltered by the road.
I’d add Bill Scheft’s TIME WON’T LET ME. Funny, funny book.
I just finished the new book Orfeo by Richard Powers. It involves a history of difficult classical and modern music, and there are long stretches which discuss particular composers. Other themes include biotech, America’s over response to terrorism, and the way artist’s work intersects with his social and family life. All of these themes overlap and combine in various ways producing harmonies as intricate and surprising as the music so beautifully discussed here.
Great list, by the way. All of the books here I’ve read I’ve enjoyed.
How on earth did you miss The Time of Our Singing by Richard Powers? Brilliant, heartbreaking, and yes, funky. It belongs at the head of your list.
Accordion Crimes is unbearable and the narration is so unsympathetic that as a working class person with immigrant ancestors I found it disturbing and bordering on sociopathic. Not sure what Proulx was trying to accomplish with this book but I don’t think she succeeded.
Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield should be on this list.
You should check out Kamikaze L’Amour: A Novel of the Future, by Richard Kadrey, Author of the Sandman Slim Series. The main Character in it has isa rock star whos synesthesia, shows him which songs will be hits… cool near future semi post enviro-apocalypse sci-fi novel. A very good read.
Nick Hornby’s “Juliet, Naked” is another contender for this list.
I really enjoyed Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon. Not exclusively a music novel but it plays a central role, great read.
This must be the 11th………..’Just Add Music’! If you’re a musician check it out…..could be the best investment you’ll ever make!