Vanity Fair UK - 10.2019

Vanities Books

queer activists,

relive their

entangled high

school years.

3 Hurricanes

by Rick Ross

with Neil

Martinez-Belkin

(Hanover Square Press)

The rapper details

coming of age in a

financially depleted

Florida community,

his run-ins with

the law, and how he

made music—and

money—out

of personal strife.

4 Janis: Her Life

and Music

by Holly

George-Warren

(Simon & Schuster)

This gripping

biography charts

the brilliant and

troubled blues

singer, from life in

small-town Texas

to discovering

Kerouac, San

Francisco, and her

own musical self.

5 Horror Stories

by Liz Phair

(Random House)

The onetime ’90s

teen queen provides

a backstage peek

at her anxieties

and triumphs over

decades in the

spotlight. “From

the beginning,” she

writes, “my songs

have been stories.”

6 The Beautiful

Ones by Prince

(Spiegel & Grau)

An intimate

volume comprising

previously

unpublished photos

of the singular

performer and the

unfinished

memoir he was

working on just

before his death.

7 Me

by Elton John

(Henry Holt)

Following

Rocketman, this

summer’s critically

acclaimed biopic,

the Elton show

continues with

the first and only

autobiography

from the outré

glasses-loving Brit.

8 Morning Glory

on the Vine

by Joni Mitchell

(HMH)

A collection of

handwritten lyrics

and happy-hued

illustrations,

created by Mitchell

in 1971 for a few

close friends,

is publicly available

for the first time.

—KEZIAH WEIR

A chorus of new

books delves into

the minds of

musicians, from

rappers and

rockers to indie-

pop icons

THE

LIFE

MELODIC

ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALEXANDRA COMPAIN-TISSIER

1 Year of the

Monkey

by Patti Smith

(Knopf )

“I could feel the

gravitational pull of

home, which when

I’m home becomes

the gravitational pull

of somewhere else,”

writes the author

and musician in her

lyrical retelling of

one nomadic year.

2 High School

by Sara and

Tegan Quin

(MCD)

In alternating

chapters, the twins,

band members and

OCTOBER 2019 VANITY FAIR 37