Who wrote the great rock novel? I posted this list at my old blog in 2013 and do not yet have the answer. Any recommendations will be appreciated.

Marcelle Clements’ Rock Me (1989).   I LOVE Marcelle Clements’ writing:  she is a  journalist as well as a novelist.  Her first novel, Rock Me, is about a woman rock star, and very few rock novels are about women.  The heroine, Casey, needs some time to herself.  She goes to Hawaii and…  Grade: A

Don Delillo’s Great Jones Street (1973).  Rock star Bucky Wunderlick needs a retreat, but when Happy Valley Farms Commune finds him and drugs him, everything goes downhill. Grade: A

Clyde Edgerton’s The Night Train (2011).  A beautifully-written, humorous novel about two boys, one black, one white, who perform rock and roll in a small Southern town in 1962.  Jazz piano may be African-American Larry Lime’s ticket out of town, as he studies with a brilliant hemophiliac musician knows as the Bleeder; meanwhile, the privileged Dwayne, son of the owner of the furniture refinishing shop , learns the power of  rock and roll through talented Larry Lime’s patient explication of James Brown’s “The Night Train.”  Grade:  A

Roddy Doyle’s The Commitments (1987).  An Irish band wants to bring soul to Dublin.  Grade:  A

Nick Hornby’s Juliet, Naked (2009).  The heroine, Annie, breaks up with her boyfriend, a middle-aged man obsessed with Tucker Crowe, a rock star who retired in 1984.  After th dieysagree about Tucker Crowe’s new album, “Juliet, Naked,” Annie posts a bad review on the website that  sparks a friendship between Annie and Tucker.  Grade:  A-

Dana Spiotta’s Stone Arabia (2011).  The protagonist analyzes her relationship with her brother, a rock musician who has recorded his own original music at home, and distributed the limited editions of his records to his family.  Grade:  A-

Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad (2010), winner of the Pulitzer Prize.  Beautifully written, interwoven stories about characters in the music business. The novel falls off a bit in the last few chapters, one done as a Power Point presentation, the other about a dystopian concert.  Grade:  A-

Jonathan Lethem’s You Don’t Love Me Yet (2007).  A very light novel about  a Los Angeles alternative rock band, and, yes, there are women in the band. Lethem’s Fortress of Solitude and Chronic City are masterpieces, but I have to say this very short book is not his best.  Lethem does long better. Grade:  A-

Sylvie Simmons’s Too Weird for Ziggy.  A collection of linked short stories about rock musicians. In one of the stories, a male rock star grows breasts and likes them.  Simmons is a British rock journalist.  Yes, it is a weird book. Grade:  A-

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You may want to know: What is my cat’s favorite rock video? The answer is…