While not reading endless pages for my English classes, and when I’m not typing paper after paper for said classes, I like to kick back, turn on my iPod shuffle and grab a good book. And for me, a good book is anything that revolves around – what else? Music. So I’ve decided to share with you some of my favorite music-related authors with the hopes that you may pick up a book or two from my list.

Chuck Klosterman – senior writer at Spin magazine. Klosterman wrote “Fargo Rock City” and documented his childhood growing up in rural North Dakota and his obsession with 1980s hair bands. From “Shout at the Devil” to “1984,” Klosterman rips apart every band only to piece them back together seconds later with critiques of their music and backstage antics. His second book, “Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs” is a collection of stories that he wrote before going to bed and ranged from such subjects as why he hates Coldplay to deconstructing “Saved by the Bell” episodes.

Greg Kot – Chicago Tribune columnist. Kot penned “Wilco: Learning How to Die” and follows the band up to early 2004. Starting with the early days of frontman Jeff Tweedy and following through the days of Uncle Tupelo. Kot documents in words what the Sam Jones film “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” does on the big screen. Kot offers a look into Tweedy’s personal life and allows the reader and true fan into the personal life of the band.

Andy Greenwald – Dubbed the “punk rocker’s Bible,” “Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo” is Greenwald’s masterpiece. Greenwald began the emo movement coverage while working at Spin and, slowly, the interviews and concerts turned into a book that true punk fans read like an old man reading the morning paper. Greenwald devotes a good portion of the book to Dashboard Confessional and frontman Chris Carrabba as well as bands like Jimmy Eat World and Weezer and shows the world that Rivers Cuomo is an ass.

Marc Spitz – This New York writer lets the reader into his life and showcases his love of The Smiths, going so far as to track down Morrissey at his home in California. “How Soon is Never” shows the fine line between loving a band and “loving” a band. Spitz is a typical music lover who takes his addiction a little too far when he tries to reunite The Smiths, but beyond the two most notable members, Morrissey and Johnny Marr. His love of the bottle and his constant problem for falling for co-workers interrupts his conquest, and the book ends on a rather somber note.

Nick Hornby – “High Fidelity” put Hornby on the map years ago when his coming of age story involving a record store owner’s love life and musical life collide and sends him into a world of top five lists and heartbreak. The John Cusack movie would go on to to be a cult classic and allow Jack Black to further his career.