You might have noticed that I took a bit of a break last week. It was spring break for my daughter – which meant no school. I spent some of my extra time doing some reading. As I looked over Amazon for some new books, a couple of titles caught my eye.
Like any Duran fan, I’m a sucker for books on my favorite band. I’ve tried to read every book I’ve come across, and while I patiently wait for my copy of Annie Zelesky’s Rio book from the 33 1/3 series, there are a couple of others I’ve downloaded and/or preordered!
The first is not a new book, but rather one I have previously shied away from reading. It is Wild Boys by Steve Malins. Now, there are quite a few reasons I’ve left this on the shelf, but the primary one is that I feel like he may have already told this story in his book, Notorious. Regardless, I grabbed it this time, and once I’m finished with a book I’m avidly reading about The Killers, this one is next on my list. I’ll let you know what I think of it!
The next one is a book that is due out on June 29. Please Please Tell Me Now, written by rock biographer Stephen Davis. I’m looking forward to this one because I think it should be interesting to contrast this book with the two written by Steve Malins. Will Davis rely as heavily on existing and widely circulated articles and interviews, or will he have new and more interesting information to share? At 349 pages, it isn’t exactly a lightweight book, so I’m hoping for the best. Again, I’ll let you know!
The final one for this week is a book that I’ve been reading for quite some time (Sorry Jason!), titled Sweet Dreams: The Story of the New Romantics. So far, I’ve really enjoyed the book because every time I pick it up, I learn something new about the music I cut my New Wave teeth on! While I feel like I know the history of Duran Duran, much of the New Romantic phase, however short – was indeed straight from Post Punk in Great Britain. It was a period of time that I knew nothing about, other than the frilly shirts and pirate attire that I saw in videos on MTV. This book is hefty, and although I’d promised to get through it quickly, I find it is one that I put down for weeks on end before picking back up again. Written as a sort of oral history gained from interviews of nearly every possible musician I once adored, it is truly a masterpiece and encyclopedia of the early 80s, but not the sort of book I can fly through in a weekend, a month, or even two!
That’s it from my library this month. Do you have any books written about Duran Duran, New Wave or other music to share – let me know!
-R
