Books About Music? They Don't Have To Sound Flat

Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio

My friend Jacki recently asked me, "Are you one of those folks who prefers music to people?"

I had no idea she knew me so well. For a music fanatic, getting lost in the vibrations is as easy as letting a riptide drag you out to sea.

The power of music is similar to the power of books — but books are notoriously poor at describing the abstraction and subtlety of a melody. Still, authors keep trying to bottle the magic. Here are three books — one about a fan, one about a critic, and one about an unlikely musician — that sing like the real thing.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Will Layman