Love Strange Cures? Readers share 100 books like Strange Cures...

By Rob Zabrecky,

Here are 100 books that Strange Cures fans have personally recommended if you like Strange Cures. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Just Kids

Gabriella D'Italia Author Of Getting Dressed in the Dark

From my list on healing power of creativity in times of crisis.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™ve always been sensitive to my material environment, discerning the spiritual and emotional effects of light, color, and sound in everyday life, like our clothes and homes and also in nature. However, for years, I lived in my head. Iā€™d relegated my body and intuition to the sidelines. For two decades, I built a career in visual art, but it took the mid-life collapse of everything Iā€™d wanted to find my way back to the authenticity of those early sensibilities, charting an artistā€™s way home. The creative life is not just for artists. It sustains our humanity in times of darkness and is the source of our brightest future.

Gabriella's book list on healing power of creativity in times of crisis

Gabriella D'Italia Why did Gabriella love this book?

I got lost in the detailed universe of young people growing by a bread-crumb trail, one small creative act at a time, into the famous artists they are known as today. Whether itā€™s hopping on a bus to New York City, setting up a studio practice in a shabby apartment, to honing a voice in particular media, be it photography or music, this chronicles idiosyncratic choices, creative exploration, and the coalescing of kindred communities.

In a unique time and place, a certain status quo was traded for a microcosm that allowed kids who trusted each other and their own curiosities to pave the way forward. It is a portrait of artists being born, teased out, from the fabric of everyday life.

By Patti Smith,

Why should I read it?

16 authors picked Just Kids as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

ā€œReading rocker Smithā€™s account of her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, itā€™s hard not to believe in fate. How else to explain the chance encounter that threw them together, allowing both to blossom? Quirky and spellbinding.ā€ -- People

It was the summer Coltrane died, the summer of love and riots, and the summer when a chance encounter in Brooklyn led two young people on a path of art, devotion, and initiation.

Patti Smith would evolve as a poet and performer, and Robert Mapplethorpe would direct his highly provocative style toward photography. Bound in innocenceā€¦


Book cover of Rat Girl: A Memoir

Mike Hipple Author Of Lived Through That: '90s Musicians Today

From my list on music memoirs that aren't necessarily about music.

Why am I passionate about this?

Sadly, I was born without an ounce of musical talent. After realizing I was never going to effortlessly play the guitar or sing in tune, I focused a lot of my energies on listening to music. I came of age in the 80s and the rise of MTV brought loads of fantastic music to explore: punk, new-wave, post-punk, pop. My love for music grew and expanded as I grew up in the 90s. It was those I reached back to musical memories in creating my books, 80s Redux and Lived Through That. I also host a popular podcast called Lived Through That that combines my love of music and storytelling.  

Mike's book list on music memoirs that aren't necessarily about music

Mike Hipple Why did Mike love this book?

Kristin Hershā€™s book documents a pivotal year in the Throwing Musesā€™ singer and songwriterā€™s life. The book is at times funny and warm, sometimes confounding ā€“ she befriended Betty Hutton, an American film star in the 30s. What?! As I was reading the book, memories of seeing her band in the early 90s kept flashing through my mind ā€“ the intensity of her performances and songs make a lot more sense after reading her story.

By Kristin Hersh,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Rat Girl as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"One of the 25 Greatest Rock Memoirs of All Timeā€ --Rolling Stone Magazine (#8)

ā€œSensitive and emotionally rawā€¦ itā€™s also wildly funnyā€--The New York Times Book Review

A powerfully original memoir of pregnancy and mental illness by the legendary founder of the seminal rock band Throwing Muses, 'a magnificently charged union of Sylvia Plath and Patti Smith'  - The Guardian

Kristin Hersh was a preternaturally bright teenager, starting college at fifteen and with her band, Throwing Muses, playing rock clubs she was too young to frequent. By the age of seventeen she was living in her car, unable to sleepā€¦


Book cover of All I Ever Wanted: A Rock 'n' Roll Memoir

Mike Hipple Author Of Lived Through That: '90s Musicians Today

From my list on music memoirs that aren't necessarily about music.

Why am I passionate about this?

Sadly, I was born without an ounce of musical talent. After realizing I was never going to effortlessly play the guitar or sing in tune, I focused a lot of my energies on listening to music. I came of age in the 80s and the rise of MTV brought loads of fantastic music to explore: punk, new-wave, post-punk, pop. My love for music grew and expanded as I grew up in the 90s. It was those I reached back to musical memories in creating my books, 80s Redux and Lived Through That. I also host a popular podcast called Lived Through That that combines my love of music and storytelling.  

Mike's book list on music memoirs that aren't necessarily about music

Mike Hipple Why did Mike love this book?

The Go-Gos were one of the first bands I really got into as a kid and itā€™s fascinating to read bassist Kathy Valentineā€™s no holds barred look at the bandā€™s beginnings and how the world of rock and roll treated women. Iā€™ve read she had Patti Smithā€™s Just Kids on her writing desk as her north star while writing this book and it shows. She writes with warmth and honesty and isnā€™t afraid to talk about the bad things alongside the good.  

By Kathy Valentine,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked All I Ever Wanted as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Runner-up, Carr P. Collins Award for Best Book of Non-Fiction, 2021

Go-Go's bassist Kathy Valentine's story is a roller coaster of sex, drugs, and of course, music; it's also a story of what it takes to find success and find yourself, even when it all comes crashing down.

At twenty-one, Kathy Valentine was at the Whisky in Los Angeles when she met a guitarist from a fledgling band called the Go-Go's-and the band needed a bassist. The Go-Go's became the first multi-platinum-selling, all-female band to play instruments themselves, write their own songs, and have a number one album. Their debut,ā€¦


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Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctorā€”and only womanā€”on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route upā€¦

Book cover of Fingers Crossed: How Music Saved Me from Success

Mike Hipple Author Of Lived Through That: '90s Musicians Today

From my list on music memoirs that aren't necessarily about music.

Why am I passionate about this?

Sadly, I was born without an ounce of musical talent. After realizing I was never going to effortlessly play the guitar or sing in tune, I focused a lot of my energies on listening to music. I came of age in the 80s and the rise of MTV brought loads of fantastic music to explore: punk, new-wave, post-punk, pop. My love for music grew and expanded as I grew up in the 90s. It was those I reached back to musical memories in creating my books, 80s Redux and Lived Through That. I also host a popular podcast called Lived Through That that combines my love of music and storytelling.  

Mike's book list on music memoirs that aren't necessarily about music

Mike Hipple Why did Mike love this book?

Author and musician Miki Berenyi, from the 90s band Lush, pens a memoir that is one of the most open and honest Iā€™ve read. In addition, the book reads almost like a casual conversation with a friend over coffee ā€“ albeit a friend who has lived quite an interesting life. Trigger warning ā€“ there are some sensitive topics discussed here, including suicide, self-harm, and sexual abuse. As of this writing, the book is only available in the UK but itā€™s well worth your time to seek it out if you can.

By Miki Berenyi,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Fingers Crossed as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Rough Trade Book of the Year
Resident Book of the Year
A Rolling Stone Book of the Year
A Mojo Book of the Year
A Sunday Times Book of the Year

Formed in 1988, Lush were part of the London gig scene during one of the most vibrant and creative periods in UK music. Now, Miki Berenyi tells all.

From the bohemian ways of her father's social circle to the privileged glamour of her mother's acting career, Miki's young life was a blur of travel, celebrities and peripatetic schooling. But frequent relocation, parental neglect and the dark presence of herā€¦


Book cover of Johnny Thunders: In Cold Blood

Zoƫ Howe Author Of Barbed Wire Kisses: The Jesus and Mary Chain Story

From my list on music biographies written by women.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™m a music biographer, and whenever Iā€™ve hinted that the world of rock biography is a bit of a boysā€™ club, someone will bark names of famous female musicians whoā€™ve written autobiographies at me. All brilliant, but biography is a different animal. It demands sensitivity, trust, intuition, empathy: the writer is presenting the story of another, wooing a publisher, balancing multiple perspectives, being a detective, asking strange questions, penetrating the skin, probing often forgotten places. Female music writers frequently face assumptions ranging from the dismissive to the salacious before being neatly sidelined, but this is changing ā€“ slowly.  I wanted to take the opportunity to celebrate some rare queens of the art here.

Zoƫ's book list on music biographies written by women

Zoƫ Howe Why did Zoƫ love this book?

The definitive, authorised Johnny Thunders biography, beautifully written by a beloved confidant of the late New York Doll. With a star like Thunders, lesser writers would give in to the temptation to mythologise, but Antonia is a balanced, clear-eyed biographer, presenting her friendā€™s complex story with style, compassion, grace, and honesty. Nina is the bohemian queen of decadence and rock ā€˜nā€™ rollā€™s darker side, and this book is one of many jewels in her crown.

By Nina Antonia,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Johnny Thunders as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The official biography of the New York Dolls and Heartbreakers' guitarist. ā€˜Johnny Thunders: In Cold Bloodā€™ is the cult bible of all things Thunders. It is the definitive portrait of the condemned man of rock'n'roll, from the baptism of fire and tragedy that was the New York Dolls, through the junkie punk years of the Heartbreakers and beyond. It is an unflinching account of a unique guitarist whose drug problems often overshadowed his considerable style and talent. Johnny was a hugely influential figure in both the glam-rock and punk eras and his music and style still resonates today.

Nina Antoniaā€¦


Book cover of I Swear I'll Make It Up to You: A Life on the Low Road

Marilyn Davis Author Of Finding North: A Journey from Addict to Advocate

From my list on memoirs of drug and alcohol addiction.

Why am I passionate about this?

I used my first chemicals at age nine. Why? To change the way I felt about myself and my life. It was the beginning of using externals to fix an internal problem. A 74-year old Native American found me at ten months in recovery. He showed me a path to follow, including opening a house of healing for other women. His teachings, spiritual principles, and a lot of work helped me achieve 32 years in recovery.

Marilyn's book list on memoirs of drug and alcohol addiction

Marilyn Davis Why did Marilyn love this book?

In 1992, Mishka Shubaly survived a mass shooting at his school, his parents divorced, his father abandoned him, and he swore he would right all the wrongs for his mother. Instead, he began a love affair with the bottle and barely crawled out, but he did, and we cheer him on at each twist and turn in his journey.

By Mishka Shubaly,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked I Swear I'll Make It Up to You as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An odyssey of family, heartbreak, violence, punk rock, brokenness, broke-ness, sex, love, loss, drinking, drinking, drinking, and an unlikely savior: distance running.A misfit kid at the best of times, Mishka Shubaly had his world shattered when, in a twenty-four-hour span in 1992, he survived a mass shooting on his school's campus, then learned that his parents were getting divorced. His father, a prominent rocket scientist, abandoned the family and their home was lost to foreclosure. Shubaly swore to avenge the wrongs against his mother, but instead plunged into a magnificently toxic love affair with alcohol.Almost two decades later, Shubaly's lifeā€¦


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Book cover of The Ballad of Falling Rock

The Ballad of Falling Rock by Jordan Dotson,

Truth told, folks still ask if Saul Crabtree sold his soul for the perfect voice. If he sold it to angels or devils. A Bristol newspaper once asked: ā€œAre his love songs closer to heaven than dying?ā€ Others wonder how he wrote a song so sad, everyone who heard itā€¦

Book cover of On the Road with the Ramones

Uli Hesse Author Of The Three Lives of the Kaiser

From my list on life in a dysfunctional family (i.e. The Ramones).

Why am I passionate about this?

I've written about a dozen books, all about football (or soccer, depending on your denomination), but that was never the plan. The plan was always to write about music. The first piece I ever published in a proper magazine was a profile of Wayne Kramer, formerly of the MC5. It ran in the German edition of Rolling Stone. The honeymoon didn't last long, though, as I gradually ran out of ideas what to pitch to the magazine, until one day I asked: "Would you be interested in a non-music piece about how football has grown out of the Dark Eighties and become hip?" They said yes, and that was that.

Uli's book list on life in a dysfunctional family (i.e. The Ramones)

Uli Hesse Why did Uli love this book?

Monte Melnick was the band's tour manager for a staggering 22 years, but his book is not the first-person, behind-the-scenes account you might be expecting.

Oh, it does look behind the scenes ā€“ pulling only few punches in the process ā€“ and is written in the first person, or rather persons. See, Monte collected accounts and anecdotes from a great many people, not just band members. It makes for a very lively, fast-paced, and effortless read, like all the best oral-history books do.

Of course Monte nicked the concept from Please Kill Me (which in turn stole it from the baseball classic The Glory Of Their Times), but there's nothing wrong with borrowing a good idea. Ten years after this came out, I did my own oral-history book.

By Monte A. Melnick, Frank Meyer,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked On the Road with the Ramones as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This is a new updated edition of "On The Road With The Ramones", with new pages, photos and info on what's been happening to the legacy of the Ramones. This is a must-have book for all Ramones fans. It is based around the story of Monte A. Melnick who was the Ramones tour manager (and much more) throughout their entire career (1974-1996, and 2,263 live shows). It's an insider's look from the people who were actually there witnessing and experiencing all the extreme highs and lows of one of rock's greatest bands. The book is packed with interviews from theā€¦


Book cover of The Gospel According to St. Rage

Adam Oster Author Of The Agora Files - Part 1

From my list on independent books youā€™ve never heard of.

Why am I passionate about this?

As an independent author, Iā€™ve been lucky enough to find a wealth of other independent authors out there. People who are doing things that arenā€™t quite mainstream. Artists who are experimenting with the written word and doing truly unique things. Where the world is filled with books made for the sole purpose of being turned into movies, these authors are creating works of fiction that are suited for the written word. Masterpieces that will make you think and want to find even more new forms of fiction. Simply put, independent authors are pushing books into new realms that you simply canā€™t find in the mainstream market.

Adam's book list on independent books youā€™ve never heard of

Adam Oster Why did Adam love this book?

Loser girl turned punk rock superhero... Those six words should sell you on ļ»æThe Gospel According to St. Rage alone. But that still doesn't do this book any sort of justice because this isn't really a superhero book. Sure, Barbara may have the powers to cause flocks of birds to release their...um...payload onto her enemies with the simple flick of a finger, but she's not out to save the world, she's just out to finally live the life she's been hiding from.

Eisenbrey brought me back to my own high school days with this book that feels like a punk rock song. To those days of trying to make friends, of trying to define who I am. And she does so with rock star class.

By Karen Eisenbrey,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Gospel According to St. Rage as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

Meet Barbara Bernsen, Former Invisible Girl.

Barbara isn't your typical high school junior. She's been invisible since the third grade. But when a magic hat brings her back into the light, Barbara is ready to take on the world. First priority? Start an all-girl garage band. Miraculous super powers were never in her plan, but sometimes you get what you need. Bullies and school shooters don't stand a chance.

Yes, we all love Wonder Woman, Black Widow, and Jessica Jones, but Barbara is the hero her high school deserves.

Truth. Justice. Rock & Roll.


Book cover of Iggy Pop: Open Up and Bleed

Ian Gittins Author Of The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star

From my list on rock biographies that go the extra mile.

Why am I passionate about this?

After years as a London-based music journalist for publications such as Melody Maker, Q, and The Guardian, I turned to ghostwriting rock autobiographies and discovered how much more satisfying it is to tell someoneā€™s full, unadulterated life story rather than to feed on carefully cultivated scraps gleaned from half-hour interviews. I never imagined anybody would be as lewdly transparent as my first memoir subject, Nikki Sixx, but many others have run him closeā€”not least Judas Priest singer Rob Halford, in 2020ā€™s appositely named Confess. Its follow-up, Biblical, is imminent. Does it go the extra mile? I donā€™t think it will disappointā€¦

Ian's book list on rock biographies that go the extra mile

Ian Gittins Why did Ian love this book?

Itā€™s not an easy task to convey the carnal intensity and animal abandon of a performer whose default mode has always been unadulterated excess, but Paul Trynkaā€™s masterful study of Iggy Pop hit the motherlode. Trynka went the extra mile and then some, tracking down hundreds of key witnesses to, and victims of, Popā€™s creative chaos, and even attending his high school reunion (which is more than Iggy did). Jaw-dropping anecdotes were legion (taking a mid-gig dump behind the speakers, anyone?) and Trynka captured the driven essence of this brittle soul, perennially fighting the world while never even knowing why.

By Paul Trynka,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Iggy Pop as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

ā€œFellow rock stars, casual members of the public, lords and media magnates, countless thousands of people will talk of their encounters with this driven, talented, indomitable creature, a man who has plumbed the depths of depravity, yet emerged with an indisputable nobility. Each of them will share an admiration and appreciation of the contradictions and ironies of his incredible life. Even so, they are unlikely to fully comprehend both the heights and the depths of his experience, for the extremes are simply beyond the realms of most peopleā€™s understanding.ā€

ā€”from the Prologue

The first full biography of one of rockā€¦


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Book cover of The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever

The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier,

The coaching book that's for all of us, not just coaches.

It's the best-selling book on coaching this century, with 15k+ online reviews. BrenƩ Brown calls it "a classic". Dan Pink said it was "essential".

It is practical, funny, and short, and "unweirds" coaching. Whether you're a parent, a teacher,ā€¦

Book cover of Fire in the Night Sky

AM Scott Author Of Lift Off

From my list on sci-fi adventures with strong teen heroines.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™ve published eleven classic-style space opera novels, a novella, and many short stories. Before becoming a writer, I spent twenty years in US Air Force in space operations; even though my books are light on science, I really was a rocket scientist! Plus, Iā€™ve read science fiction since I was barely a teen, starting with Heinlein and McCaffery, and am always looking for my next favorite author!

AM's book list on sci-fi adventures with strong teen heroines

AM Scott Why did AM love this book?

Clair Johnson is determined to prove herself and find out what really happened to her mother. Neither of those things happen the way she expects. 

This is an easy read, with interesting world building, and a realistic set of characters. I enjoyed the setting, the friend group, and the intrigue a lot!

By Chris J. Pike, M. D. Cooper,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Fire in the Night Sky as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In a world of music videos on television, punk rock, and roller derby, the race for space is finally on in this young adult SF adventure!

The United Federation has set a goal of sending a manned rocket to the moon; but rival countries will stop at nothing to plant their flags firstā€”no matter the cost.

For Claire Johnson, that cost might be her life.

The seventeen-year-old spunky waitress wants nothing more than to honor her mother's memory by gaining entrance to the United Federation Space Program and doing her part for the mission. Yet her father wants Claire asā€¦


Book cover of Just Kids
Book cover of Rat Girl: A Memoir
Book cover of All I Ever Wanted: A Rock 'n' Roll Memoir

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