Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

It's the typical rock and roll story arc: youngsters form a band, tour and party, find fame, then eventually self-destruct. Always captivating, and somehow I never get tired of reading it!

This time it's fictional, but that's sooo easy to forget while reading this one. The book's written in the typical music bio style of quotes drawn from interviews with those involved. The players don't agree about what happened exactly, and we get multiple perspectives on the drama.

The Six is a 1970s group led by Billy Dunne. He recruits his brother, another pair of brothers, and a couple other musicians (including a female keyboard player), and they eventually get some notice as a straight-forward rock band. They get along, they fight, somebody has a crush on the girl.

Daisy Jones is a wild child with a killer voice and the face of an angel. She wants to be a star, but she doesn't want to sing somebody else's words. Plus, she's got major rock star "habits," even before the fame. Eventually, somebody decides The Six and Daisy should work together.

You think you know what will happen, but you can't be sure - no Wikipedia to check the stories, and there's no YouTube clips to watch because THIS IS FICTION! (Continually, I wanted to actually hear these songs!) And there are surprises along the way.

I loved this one a whole lot. It's like "A Star Is Born" mixed with the juiciest rock bios. Love, ego, drugs, and flashes of genius. Divine.

Waiting for the Punch: Words to Live By from the WTF Podcast by Marc Maron & Brendan McDonald

Sometimes all it takes to get through something is to know you're not alone. To know that somebody else has been there, and they lived. They made it through, and so can you. That's what this book is about.

I'm not a podcast listener, but I know a lot of my friends are. This book is culled from conversations on WTF with Marc Maron. Maron is a comedian and he interviews lots of other comedians, along with other pop culture celebrities like actors, writers, producers, musicians, and even a former president of the United States. And they open up about the most sensitive topics.

One look at the labels with which I tagged this post would lead you to believe it's a depressing book: childhood trauma, addiction, suicide. But it's actually a helpful, hopeful book with true stories and personal insights.

It would be a great book to dip into and out of, but I even found it hard to put down sometimes: I want to know more about what goes on in people's heads and how they've overcome their inner and outer demons.

You may just find the kernel of strength you didn't even know you were searching for.

Start Without Me by Joshua Max Feldman

No pressure - it's just Adam's first holiday with the whole big family since he got out of rehab. He probably won't disappoint them in any new and dramatic fashion, right?

Meanwhile, an exhausted flight attendant ponders her own impending Thanksgiving celebration with the insufferable in-laws. Marissa and her husband are already arguing and it's probably not going to get better over dinner. But spending the day with her own family would be even worse.

The intersection of these two characters makes for a funny, sad, and completely engrossing story. You'll relate if you've ever made a snowballing series of poor decisions. These are people trying to do right, failing, and then wondering if it might be easier to just quit.