Happy Black History Month from Serve ’em a Sentence/I Question Not Me! These five novels by Black authors overlap with many of the themes I like to write about, from lyrical misunderstandings to musical mysteries …
Paul Beatty – Slumberland
How could we start with anything but Slumberland, which includes both a Biohazard reference and the assertion “I’m the type who prefers to listen to one song a hundred times rather than a hundred different songs one time.” The plot is kicked off via the hunt for a mysterious musician, as described in I Question Not Me #5.784/the Shining Life fanzine compilation.
Colson Whitehead – Sag Harbor
Another Colson Whitehead book, Crook Manifesto, almost made the list instead due to a Gene Page soundtrack reference, but I had to go with Sag Harbor for the lyrical misunderstanding plot point involving “The Message.” There’s also a scene infused with hardcore kid levels of nostalgia for a lost place.
Zadie Smith – the Autograph Man
While the titular character is immersed in a non-music-related subculture, the nature of his obsession has many parallels to our own.
Mariah Stovall – I Love You So Much It’s Killing Us Both
Despite some serious themes, this book is also very funny. Along with its Jawbreaker-inspired title, it features a perfect JFA reference and asks important questions such as “what kind of monster doesn’t like Op Ivy?” Emily from Crisis of Your Creating wrote a longer review here.
Morgan Parker – Who Put This Song On?
From mix CDs to band name banter, this is one of those books that feels like it was written just for me, even if it wasn’t written for me at all! “One day, this will all just be an anecdote” indeed.
I hope these become the type of books you want to read 100 times and/or inspire your own fictional tales of lyrical misunderstandings.