Features

The Relix 40: Words and Music (40 Novels)

Paul Ford Gary Benchley, Rock Star (2005) Gary Benchley moves from Albany to Williamsburg, Brooklyn and begins gigging in Schizopolis.

Rachel Cohn and David Levithan Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist (2006) Engaging Young Adult novel about music and young love in Manhattan.

Jonathan Lethem You Don’t Love Me Yet (2007) Los Angeles based bass player Lucinda Hoekke finds her muse while working at the Complaint Line.

Nick Hornby_Juliet, Naked_ (2009) A love triangle of sorts between the biggest fan of cult musician Tucker Crowe and the girlfriend of said fan.

Michael Shilling Rock Bottom: A Novel (2009) The Blood Orphans arrive in Amsterdam at the close of a disastrous European tour.

Bill Flanagan Evening’s Empire: A Novel (2010) Sweeping saga of a British group that rises to prominence in the 60s and the manager who guides them for the decades to follow.

Jennifer Egan A Visit from the Goon Squad (2010) Kleptomaniac Sasha and her boss, punk rocker and record executive Bennie Salazar examine their lives.

Dana Spiotta Stone Arabia (2011) Nik Kranis creates his art in private but his niece wants to document his story via a documentary film.

Michael Chabon Telegraph Avenue (2012) The owners of Oakland’s Brokeland Records are threatened by the arrival of a Dogpile megastore

Esi Edugyan_Half-Blood Blues_ (2012) Hieronymous Falk, the star of the Hot-Time Swingers, a German American jazz band forbidden to play by the Nazis, disappears in 1939.