#this'll hopefully provide some fun in these weird times!

[readmeinthehallway]

Read Me In The Hallway Pick #6

by Taylor Jenkins Reid, submitted by @likemusiceveryline​

What is it about? 

Daisy Jones & The Six follows a rock band in the 1970s from their rise in the LA music scene to becoming one of the most legendary bands in the world and explores the reason behind their split at the height of their success. Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n’ roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things. Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend. The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies.

Why would we recommend it to Harry? 

“The book is basically an oral history (all written in interview format) of this fictionalised band from the 60's/70's and it features all of the members of the band, their producers, family, etc all telling their version of the story of the band's rise and fall, including the making and recording of their big album. Besides the obvious of it being about a Fleetwood-esque band from the 70's, I feel like Harry would really connect with this book because of how it's structured around the music from the album they are recording. This isn't a real band, but you are reading this book and you so desperately wish it was. You wish you could hear the songs that are being described and could be fully immersed in Daisy and Bill's voices. And to make it even more amazing, the author actually wrote all of the songs mentioned and all of the full lyrics are listed in the back of the book. Some might be turned off by the format of this book, but it's actually one of the reasons I loved it so much. The author did such an amazing job at giving all of these characters their own voices that come out so well in how they speak and what they do and say, and you are never lacking in descriptions of settings or the time. And because you get so many voices, you really understand how everyone was feeling in each situation and moment. Plus, this book is SO FEMINIST! All of the female characters are so strong and powerful within themselves, and despite all being so different, they all have great/interesting relationships with each other that is definitely very progressive for the era being described. Judging by the books we know that Harry has already read, he seems to love books that are heavily influenced by music and musical themes, so I thought this would be right up his alley!” - @likemusiceveryline​

We at RMITH agree with everything that was said! Daisy Jones & The Six seems to cater to so many of Harry’s interests that it’s hard to imagine him not liking the book! 

Our favourite quotes:

"I had absolutely no interest in being somebody else’s muse. I am not a muse. I am the somebody.” - Daisy 

"Music can dig, you know? It can take a shovel to your chest and just start digging until it hits something.” - Eddie 

"She had written something that felt like I could have written it, except that I knew I couldn’t have. I wouldn’t have come up with something like that. Which is what we all want from art, isn’t it? When someone pins down something that feels like it lives inside us? Take a piece of your heart out and shows it to you?” - Billy

"I wish someone had told me that love isn’t torture. Because I thought love was this thing that was supposed to tear you in two and leave you heartbroken and make your heart race in the worst way. I thought love was bombs and tears and blood. I did not know that it was supposed to make you lighter, not heavier. I didn’t know it was supposed to take only the kind of work that makes you softer.” - Daisy

"But loving somebody isn’t perfection and good times and laughing and making love. Love is forgiveness and patience and faith and every once in a while, it’s a gut punch. That’s why it’s a dangerous thing, when you go loving the wrong person. When you love somebody who doesn’t deserve it. You have to be with someone that deserves your faith and you have to be deserving of someone else’s. It’s sacred.” - Billy 

Discussion time!

What do you think of this pick? Have you read Daisy Jones & The Six? If so, what are some of the stand out moments/quotes from the book that you loved? What would you like to see on the bookshelf next? We’d love to hear all of your thoughts!