Thursday, September 6, 2012

New Music Books


Wikipedia defines a geek as "a person with a devotion to something in a way that places him or her outside the mainstream. This could be due to the intensity, depth, or subject of their interest. Some people use this connotation in a derogatory manner that suggests social ineptitude and/or obsession, but others use it in a positive manner or as a sense of group identity".  I think that would probably place me squarely in the category of "music geek" (or nerd) - see this comic called "The Music Nerd's Burden" & you'll understand what my life is like...

Anywho, as part & parcel of my geekiness, I not only enjoy listening to music, I enjoy reading about it as well. There is some great music reads out there!  Some books about music I have enjoyed in the past include Nick Hornby's SongbookJacqueline Du Pre by Elizabeth Wilson, Girls to the Front by Sara Marcus, We Got the Neutron Bomb by Marc Spitz & Brendan Mullen, Rip It Up & Start Again by Simon Reynolds, & Django Reinhardt and the Illustrated History of Gypsy Jazz by Michael Dregni. I am always on the lookout for more interesting titles!  Here are some of the latest music reads in the library catalog:


Chromatic:  The Crossroads of Color and Music edited by Chris Force and Scott Morrow

The Encyclopedia of New Wave by Daniel Bukszpan

The Grey Album: On the Blackness of Blackness by Kevin Young

Letters to Kurt by Eric Erlandson

Pop When the World Falls Apart: Music in the Shadow of Doubt edited by Eric Weisbard

Henry Mancini: Reinventing Film Music by John Caps

How Music Works by David Byrne

The Man Who Sold the World: David Bowie & the 1970s by Peter Doggett

When I Left Home: My Story by Buddy Guy with David Ritz

Mick: The Wild Life & Mad Genius of Jagger by Christopher Andersen

Mercury: An Intimate Biography of Freddie Mercury by Lesley-Ann Jones

This Will End in Tears: The Miserabilist Guide to Music by Adam Brent Houghtaling



Have you read any books about music that you'd like to recommend?  Let us know in the comments!