Saturday, April 14, 2012

Recommended Reading - Life


With so many great pieces of literature based around music, either biographies or autobiographies, we are adding a new monthly feature to the site to showcase some of the best for you to read. Much like what we do with "Great Soundtracks," it will be a mid-monthly feature to display some of the best out there.

To start the new section, we figured we would start with an autobiography that does to rock and roll what The Godfather does to movies - 2010's autobiography from Keith Richards, Life. Unlike the typical autobiography that starts in chronological order and showcases how Richards goes from point A to B and so on, Life starts with him on a high speed chase with the cops with Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood in the car. Then eventually settles into his upbringing, formation of The Stones and then his side project in the 80's X-Pensive Wino's. It features everything you would expect - the fights, the women, the drugs, the music and of course how the hell he has managed to stay alive all of this time. The brilliant thing about Life is the honesty Richards has, he holds nothing back, from his drug use to even bashing Mick Jagger and it truly feels as if he is sitting down talking to you and telling you his life story rather than reading it. Even if you are not a fan of The Rolling Stones, to read about a life as full and forceful as Richards, is something that anyone would be curious in.