Books with Beats

Rock & roll and teenagers go together like drums and guitars. Check out these books with beats, and the top 3 songs you should listen to while reading them.

King Dork by Frank Portman

Two Californian punks set out for redemption the only way they know how. Dead people, naked people, fake people, ESP, blood, guitars, monks, witchcraft, a devil’s head and rock & roll.

The Ramones, Rock & Roll High School
The Sweet, Fox on the Run
The Who, Teenage Wasteland

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Punk, the Beatles and a cross-dressing Sound of Music tribute: New York by night with two of the sharpest talkers on the planet.

The Clash, Should I Stay or Should I Go?
The Beatles, I Wanna Hold Your Hand
The Sound of Music, Climb Ev’ry Mountain

The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld

Vampires, the apocalypse, rock & roll. Just another day in New York City.

My Chemical Romance, Vampires Will Never Hurt You
Third Eye Blind, I Want You
REM, It’s The End of the World as We Know It (and I feel fine)

Rose by Any Other Name by Maureen McCarthy

A mother, a daughter, a road trip. And the soundtrack of two generations.

James Taylor, Fire and Rain
Eric Clapton, Lay Down Sally
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tear

Teeth Marks by Rose Moxham

'The road trip and music ring true wonderfully, and the first hurdles of adulthood are finely wrought.' - Tim Freedman, The Whitlams

Paul Kelly, Dumb Things
The Whitlams, Buy Now, Pay Later
Hank Williams, Take These Chains From My Heart

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

Mixed-tape aesthetics and top-five lists of anything: a music-lover’s guide to being dumped.

Marvin Gaye, Let’s Get It On
The Clash, (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais
Al Green, So Tired of Being Alone