Meet Me in the Bathroom

First off, I recommend reading this book on paper, not Kindle (what I did), because it’s told as an “oral history,” and there’s a list at the front identifying all the speakers, who are never identified again. Kindle makes it really tough to keep flipping back to that list. That being said, this book is a thrill to read for hardcore music nerds like me. There’s a lot of New York fetishization here, which, as a native Californian, always makes me roll my eyes (someone in the book actually describes New York as "the ultimate dream for people," LOL). But it’s also a reminder that New York has brought us some of the great art movements of the recent past, particularly the period of musical revival that’s described in it. It’s a fascinating history for fellow music obsessives, and I really enjoyed it, especially as a fan of many of the artists discussed. It also tells the story of the first generation of bands and labels affected by Napster and digital file sharing, which is historically interesting. Be warned that it’s VERY long — I had to wait through the library holds list two separate times to get through it — but it’s worth it.