Pack these books for Coachella: Your music festival reading lineup
I'm Meg. I write shut up and read, a book newsletter. I'm also on BookTok.
It's festival season. And no, I don't just mean The Times' Festival of Books happening at the end of the month (see you at my panel…?). I'm also talking about Coachella and, unfortunately, Stagecoach. Whether you're heading out to Indio, or enjoying the annual exodus of Angelenos, here are some books that give Coachella Valley vibes. As usual, you'll also find the latest in lit news below, plus, we hop on the phone with the Best Bookstore in Palm Springs.
Bikini Kill frontwoman and third-wave feminist punk icon Kathleen Hanna looks back on her life with introspection and candor in 'Rebel Girl.' She unburies trauma, writing frankly about personal traumas, including sexual assaults she survived as a teen and young woman, and reflects on how she made it out to the other side.
When I was 18, I went to Coachella. I should have been at home reading Sarvenaz Tash's 'Three Day Summer.' Tash reimagines 1969 Woodstock for the YA crowd, focusing on the budding romance between teens Michael and Cora against the backdrop of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead.
Before the Yuma tent, there was bloghouse. 'Never Be Alone Again' by Lina Abascal is an essential text on an under-documented era of music. Featuring a foreword by A-track, and interviews with everyone from Flosstradamus to Steve Aoki, this book is a time capsule that will have you scrolling through the Cobrasnake's archive and yearning for illegal MP3s.
'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test' by Tom Wolfe. Because, duh.
'A Visit from the Goon Squad' by Jennifer Egan is a structural marvel. Egan time travels across 40 years in her postmodern Pulitzer Prize-winning book, passing the baton among 13 protagonists, zig-zagging her way through the story of music mogul Bennie Salazar, his klepto assistant Sasha, and a cast of kooky characters. Reading this book for the first time is a transcendent experience.
Taylor Jenkins Reid's 'Daisy Jones and the Six,' obviously. This list wouldn't be complete without the historical fiction novel loosely inspired by Fleetwood Mac. Told as an oral history, the book weaves together interviews from the band members spanning nearly five decades. When you're done, binge-watch the television adaptation starring Riley Keough.
'The Final Revival of Opal & Nev' by Dawnie Walton follows a fictional iconic and interracial Afropunk rock duo, Opal Jewel and Nev Charles, who are on the brink of reuniting for the first time in over 40 years. Covering their reunion is Sunny, a Black journalist who has a personal connection to Opal, and is determined to land the tell-all story behind the pair. Walton's debut novel feels so authentic that I guarantee you will be double- and triple-checking that these characters aren't based on real people. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Forty years after Woodstock, co-creator Michael Lang and author Holly George-Warren wrote the seminal text for the festival. 'The Road to Woodstock' gives readers more than a behind-the-scenes look, it gives them backstage access, from finding Max Yasgur's farm that would ultimately host the fest, to negotiating with the Who and landing Jimi Hendrix — even if it cost an extra couple thousand dollars.
Lollapalooza's impact cannot be understated. That's the argument convincingly made in 'Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story of Alternative Rock's Wildest Festival' by Richard Bienstock and Tom Beaujour. In their oral history, the pair interview hundreds of artists, tour founders and Lollapalooza organizers, among others. In a review for The Times, Marc Ballon calls the account a 'fun, dishy and surprisingly moving read.'
(Please note: The Times may earn a commission through links to Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.)
Even warriors and queens, and warrior queens, risk it all for love. Join me — and legendary romantasy authors Melissa de la Cruz, Kristen Ciccarelli, Rachel Howzell Hall and Amalie Howard — at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books for a discussion on revolutionary romance. Tickets required.
In early 2020, Albert Jones was sitting in his cell on San Quentin's death row as he had every day for nearly three decades, when reports of a mysterious respiratory illness started to circulate. Through it all, Jones kept detailed journals chronicling his anxiety over catching the 'killer virus.' And when he did contract COVID, he recounted his agonizing recovery. Now, a Sonoma County bookseller who sees Jones' collected works as a rare glimpse into one of America's most notorious cell blocks is selling some of his writing and prison memorabilia at a New York City book fair.
Krysten Ritter was on vacation in Mexico 13 years ago when a man on a bike approached her. He was looking for his partner who vanished without a trace. In her new novel, which she co-wrote with Lindsay Jamieson, she takes that incident and turns it into a 'hall of distorted mirrors' thriller called 'Retreat.'
At 50, Chelsea Handler has it all, including her sixth No. 1 New York Times bestseller, 'I'll Have What She's Having.' 'I'm so proud of myself for never falling into getting married or having a baby when I know those things aren't natural to who I am,' she tells The Times.
In Kevin Nguyen's gripping novel, the U.S. government sets up internment camps for citizens of Vietnamese ancestry following a wave of terrorist attacks. Lauren LeBlanc reviews 'My Documents' for The Times.
This week we hopped on the phone with Paul Bradley Carr, Silicon Valley journalist turned co-owner of the Best Bookstore in Palm Springs. Carr and his partner Sarah Lacy relocated to Palm Springs in 2019. To their dismay, there was no bookstore in town. So in 2022, they opened their own. Though Carr says at his age the ideas of festivals 'exhaust' him, the Coachella Valley local offers up a recommendation for both festival revelers — and avoiders.
What are the most popular titles at your store lately?
The No. 1 thing that's been flying off the shelves is this Facebook book, 'Careless People.' That's just selling by the bucketload. Since Facebook tried to stop it, we can't keep it in stock. That book was not going to do well. ... [Now] everybody wants this book.
And then the other one in Palm Springs is 'The Guncle' by Steven Rowley, which just keeps selling. We sold more than a thousand copies. It won the Thurber Prize last year. It's set in Palm Springs. It's a deeply funny book, but also about grief. It's got something for everyone.
'The Snowbirds' by Christina Clancy has just started flying as well, which just came out a couple of weeks ago.
What are upcoming titles you're excited about?
The No. 1 I'm most excited about is my own book. It's called 'The Confessions.' … It's really a book about how we trust technology with all of our secrets and what happens if technology decides to confess them all on our behalf. It's the AI thriller for people who definitely don't want to read an AI thriller.
I'm also very much looking forward to 'Notes to John,' the Joan Didion book about the letters that she wrote to her husband about her therapy sessions. It's a collection of those. It's wild.
Vauhini Vara's new book, 'Searches.' Her sister died and she got ChatGPT to write an article about it to figure out the connection between humanity and technology and how technology can help us deal with human things. And this is the book spinoff where she explores human consciousness and technology consciousness. It's a really surreal book.
On the mystery side, 'Fair Play' by Louise Hegarty is f— amazing. … It's a really modern, interesting, bizarre take on the murder mystery. I'm only about halfway through, but I cannot wait for this book to be in store. It's brilliant.
Can you recommend a book that gives festival energy?
I'm 45 years old [laughs]. The idea of festivals just exhausts me. I want to stay at home with a book and not go to a festival. But I understand the premise of your question.
I would stay at home and I would read Sarah Tomlinson's 'The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers,' which is a brilliant book about fame and fandom and rock stars. It's the novel for if you have read 'Daisy Jones and the Six' and you're wondering what else to read.
The Best Bookstore in Palm Springs is located at 180 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs 92262
See you in the stacks — or on Goodreads!
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