Thursday, January 28, 2010

Top ten rock'n'roll novels

Tiffany Murray's first novel Happy Accidents was shortlisted for the Bollinger/Wodehouse prize for comic writing. Diamond Star Halo, her second, is now available in the UK.

For the Guardian, she named her top ten rock'n'roll novels. One title on the list:
The Commitments by Roddy Doyle

"The Labour Party doesn't have soul. Fianna fuckin' Fail doesn't have soul. The Workers' Party ain't got soul … The people o' Dublin, Our people, remember, need soul. We've got soul." So says Jimmy Rabbitte, with the help of Joey The Lips Fagan. Jimmy knows his music. Jimmy knows his preaching, too, and when the Commitments are formed, for one sparkling drip of time, history is made. A brilliant debut from Doyle back in 1987, (and a brilliant film from Alan Parker, too).
Read about another book on the list.

Also see: the ten best rock biographies, the four greatest rock ’n’ roll books, and the LA Times' 46 essential rock reads.

--Marshal Zeringue