The best books that incorporate pop culture in unexpected ways

I came to this book late. My wife is the real reader in the family, but she’s also a sports fan and a quiet indie rock fan. Suffice it to say, our tastes vary widely and wildly–with me being the more gothmetalcomicbooknerd of the pair. But she told me that this might be a book for me, and it reminded her of my writing.

I was hooked within the first ten pages. You had me at that first Oregon Trail reference! And video games and Shakespeare and Dickinson? The serotonin triggers were firing in rapid succession. There is enough praise and recommendations out in the world for Zevin’s book–I’m just raising my hand and waving to a kindred spirit that I imagine I might see across the way at Hall H one day. 

If there is anything I can relate to and appreciate, it’s how music informs every aspect of life. All the big and small moments–there is a song, a soundtrack for that. Nick Hornby is certainly one of “my people” who totally gets it.

Though our music preferences may not have a tight Venn Diagram collision–I can understand how his song and band choices help to tell the story and add to the reader's sensory experience of that certain feeling for that certain someone–heart-pumping adrenaline/soul-wrenching heartbreak. Music nerds like us–we appreciate this shorthand, playing in the background at 33 rpm. The songs (and the stories) remain the same (sort of?)–they just get played in different rotations.  

For me, this one is all about the plot and the deep, delicious levels of fan service. I admit these are the main draws for me–but wow, I’ll take it. I’ll often see works of art in all types of media and think to myself that the comic book, anime, and manga master storytellers certainly influenced the creators. But did Ernest Cline just mention Cowboy Bebop? And Ultraman? And the main quest–doesn’t that sound just like something straight out of a PS2 RPG? And all those 80s games and movies and music and all the things I love so much, and… they were THAT important–as in universally important? Yes, and yes.

No one was more surprised that this fantastic fanboy fiction was actually filmable. Surely, it was a labyrinthian rights, permissions, and royalty nightmare–directed by none other than Steven Spielberg! I’m completely fine with the book vs. movie differences because, in the end, it all became a mind-blowing perfect definition of “meta”–in the most satisfying way. 

I am a lifelong Stephen King fan. I was that potbellied kid, perpetually with a stack of books, who insisted that the librarian let me check out Skeleton Crew, even if she told me it would absolutely give me nightmares. One of many, and often. I read the classics like The Stand and It–and watched the TV and film adaptations of Uncle Stevie’s best. Stephen King’s love of pop culture (music, movies, comic books) is evident in most of what he writes, no less so than in his magnum opus: The Dark Tower series.

Want to see where Marvel Comics, Harry Potter, and Stephen King's other fictional characters start to clash and co-mingle? Well, I’m sure you do, because you know. By the time you get to Book V: The Wolves of the Calla–you are already along for the ride and you know how thin that thinny can get, especially when everything is in service of the Beam.  

No one else can make me laugh through all the cringe-y, absurd, awkward pain like David Sedaris. His pop culture touch points are a bit more esoteric than (and a generation or two above) mine–but his Billie Holiday impression is impressive and absolutely pristine. Unexpected and revelatory, his essays and memoirs brought me to tears of laughter but also of compassion and empathy.

I started with this book and quickly devoured more. By the time I was a full-fledged David Sedaris reader, I was already a huge fan of Amy Sedaris–his equally talented sister–a skilled actress and comedian. Amy, matching the same level of genius as her brother, has been a mainstay of TV and film. She also appears in her brother’s writing, and the duo often collaborate creatively–notably in the respective audiobooks. I love the Sedaris family (including all the other, less Hollywood types) and always enjoy reading about them–and hearing about them, from them.