Books About Musicians & Music

Updated June 13, 2023
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A visit from the Goon Squad
Egan, Jennifer
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE WINNER * With music pulsing on every page, this startling, exhilarating novel of self-destruction and redemption "features characters about whom you come to care deeply as you watch them doing things they shouldn't, acting gloriously,...
Daisy Jones & the Six : a novel
Reid, Taylor Jenkins
Paper Book
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER * OVER TWO MILLION COPIES SOLD! A gripping novel about the whirlwind rise of an iconic 1970s rock group and their beautiful lead singer, revealing the mystery behind their infamous breakup--from the author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Malibu...
The weight : a novel
Boyd, Jeff
Paper Book
A powerful coming-of-age novel about a twenty-something Black musician living in predominantly white Portland, Oregon, playing in a rock band on the verge of success while struggling with racism, romance, and the legacy of his strict religious upbringing. Julian Strickland is...
Born to run
Springsteen, Bruce
Paper Book
The revelatory and wildly bestselling memoir by legendary rock star Bruce Springsteen: "Glorious...a philosophically rich ramble through a rock 'n roll life...It's the lyric he was born to write" (USA TODAY, 4 out of 4 stars). Over the past seven years, Bruce Springsteen...
Mary Jane : a novel
Blau, Jessica Anya
Paper Book
"The best book of the summer." -- InStyle "I LOVED this novel....If you have ever sung along to a hit on the radio, in any decade, then you will devour Mary Jane at 45 rpm." --Nick Hornby Almost Famous meets Daisy Jones & The Six in this "delightful" (New York Times Book Review...
Why you like it : the science and culture of musical taste
Gasser, Nolan
Paper Book
From the chief architect of the Pandora Radio's Music Genome Project comes a definitive and groundbreaking examination of why we respond to music the way we do. Everyone loves music. But what is it that makes music so universally beloved and have such a powerful effect...
The high notes : a novel
Steel, Danielle
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * In this heartfelt novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Danielle Steel, a young woman with an unforgettable voice fights for the freedom to pursue her dreams. Iris Cooper has been singing ever since she can remember, hitting the...
The final revival of Opal & Nev : a novel
Walton, Dawnie
Paper Book
An electrifying novel about the meteoric rise of an iconic interracial rock duo in the 1970s, their sensational breakup, and the dark secrets unearthed when they try to reunite decades later for one last tour. A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BUZZ PICK NAMED A BEST...
Hunger makes me a modern girl : a memoir
Brownstein, Carrie
Paper Book
From the guitarist of the pioneering band Sleater-Kinney, the book Kim Gordon says "everyone has been waiting for" and a New York Times Notable Book of 2015-- a candid, funny, and deeply personal look at making a life--and finding yourself--in music. Before Carrie...
Musicophilia : tales of music and the brain
Sacks, Oliver W.
Paper Book
Music can move us to the heights or depths of emotion. It can persuade us to buy something, or remind us of our first date. It can lift us out of depression when nothing else can. It can get us dancing to its beat.  But the power of music goes much, much further. Indeed, music occupies more areas of...
Just kids
Smith, Patti
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD It was the summer Coltrane died, the summer of love and riots, and the summer when a chance encounter in Brooklyn led two young people on a path of art, devotion, and initiation. Patti Smith would evolve as a poet and performer,...
Can't stop, won't stop : a history of the hip-hop generation
Chang, Jeff
Paper Book
Forged in the fires of the Bronx and Kingston, Jamaica, Hip Hop has been a generation-defining movement. In a post-civil rights era transformed by deindustrialisation and globalisation, Hip Hop became a job-making engine and forever transformed politics and culture. Based on more than a decade of...
Musical revolutions : how the sounds of the western world changed
Isacoff, Stuart
Paper Book
From the critically acclaimed author of Temperament, a narrative account of the most defining moments in musical history-classical and jazz-all of which forever altered Western culture "A fascinating journey that begins with the origins of musical notation and travels...
Dreamland : a novel
Sparks, Nicholas
Ebook
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A twist you won't see coming. A love story you'll never forget. From the acclaimed author of The Notebook comes a powerful novel about risking everything for a dream--and whether it's possible to leave the past behind. A POPSUGAR...
High fidelity
Hornby, Nick
Paper Book
From the bestselling author of About a Boy, A Long Way Down and Dickens and Prince, a wise and hilarious novel about love, heartbreak, and rock and roll. "I've always loved Nick Hornby, and the way he writes characters and the way he thinks. It's funny and heartbreaking...

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