Reading Music: Notable Albums, Songs, and Eras

Summer is here, and that brings music to our ears, with bands touring and music festivals worldwide (and our free Summer Reading Adult Concert series!).  If you don't have the time or the cash to hit the festival circuit, how about checking out some of these music-related tomes from our catalog? Kick back with some chilled air and a cold drink and have your own private jam session. The books won't tell if you hum along to the song in your heart or dance the Electric Slide to the song in your head.

Fear of Music by Jonathan Lethem (33 1/3 series)

Marooned: The Next Generation of Desert Island Discs edited by Phil Freeman

Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY, and the Lost Story of 1970 by David Browne

Louie Louie: The History and Mythology of the World's Most Famous Rock 'n' Roll Song ... by Dave Marsh

Let It Bleed: The Rolling Stones, Altamont, and the End of the Sixties by Ethan A. Russell , with Gerard Van der Leun

I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp: An Autobiography by Richard Hell

Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division by Peter Hook

Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen by Jimmy Guterman

Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation by Sheila Weller

The House that George Built: With a Little Help from Irving, Cole, and a Crew of About Fifty by Wilfrid Sheed

The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross

Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock-and-Roll's Legendary Neighborhood by Michael Walker

On Celestial Music: And Other Adventures in Listening by Rick Moody

Stardust Melodies: The Biography of Twelve of America's Most Popular Songs by Will Friedwald

How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll: An Alternative History of American Popular Music by Elijah Wald

Amore: The Story of Italian American Song by Mark Rotella

Me, The Mob, and the Music: One Helluva Ride with Tommy James and the Shondells by Tommy James ; with Martin Fitzpatrick

The Saddest Music Ever Written: The Story of Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" by Thomas Larson

The Importance of Music to Girls by Lavinia Greenlaw

Sing Me Back Home: Love, Death, and Country Music by Dana Jennings

33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History of Protest Songs, from Billie Holiday to Green Day by Dorian Lynskey

Reaching Out with No Hands: Reconsidering Yoko Ono by Lisa Carver

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