The Haters by Jesse Andrews

Three teens ditch out of jazz camp to hit the road and try their luck as a band: Wes and Corey are enthusiastic but merely average players on bass and drums - Ash, on the other hand, is exceptional as a blues fusion guitarist and songwriter and singer and instigator and dream girl ...

It's a fantastic road trip book with relatable characters and the kind of accidents and happenstance that occur on an ill-planned youth odyssey. The gang's on-going banter about band names especially rings so, so true.

This book's been getting a lot of press as a hot summer teen fiction release, and it's well worth the time.

Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir by Linda Ronstadt

Although she downplays it in her reminiscence, Linda Ronstadt's fame and that of her friends really is the history of American pop music in the 1970s and 1980s: They either were the zenith of stardom, or were reacting to it (and often in opposition to it) with their own styles and pursuits.

This is a wonderful memoir if you're a fan of music. Ronstadt talks about the importance influence of the music she heard as a child, and her evolution as an artist. While many claimed her voice was near perfect, she continually worked to hone her craft and improve her technique through new challenges and styles. I found it interesting that she was never a songwriter - always the interpreter and a collector of others' music.

But if you're looking for backstage gossip and personal revelations, you'll have to look elsewhere. While she's perfectly comfortable drawing back the curtain to reveal backstage influences and musical struggles, once she leaves "work" she's much less forthcoming. I often resorted to wikipedia for more personal background. For example: she does not talk about becoming a mother or parenthood; her children are solely mentioned in passing as inspiration for lullabies.

The Lola Quartet by Emily St. John Mandel

Ten years post-high school, Gavin's falling apart. And while a series of unfortunate events threw him off-kilter, ultimately it's the news he may have fathered a child in high school that truly unhinges his life.

In the stories of Gavin's high school friends, this novel presents a multi-faceted tale of failure and disappointment and happenstance. While the characters lost touch with one another as young adults, each is tied and connected to the others by an unseen chain of people and events.

The drama - and a sort of mystery - is revealed gradually through the book. Back and forth through time and across the five main character's lives, the reader gathers clues right up until the end. What happened back then? And what is happening now? Even the last page had me rewinding a bit.