Three reading recommendations from three talented friends on a summer Monday:

There was an intense debate in our cafeteria over who would be the first rock star to make a video where he got crucified and sing his latest hit from up on the cross. Flynn thought it would be Ozzy. I argued for Billy Idol. We were both right: it was Def Leppard, in “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak.”

Rob Sheffield’s brilliant second book, Talking to Girls About Duran Duran, is out this Thursday. That means if you order it now from Amazon, you could get it the very first day it’s unleashed upon the world. Or you could line up now outside your local bookstore. Or you could pass the time by rereading his first book, Love Is a Mix Tape. Or you could check out the website. All these options are guaranteed to leave you dancing on the valentine.

Each encounter with a different fellow added to a pattern, and they all became the same man, instead of sticking in my mind as individual earth-shattering events. By and by, the tune in my head changed from “I’ve Got to Stop This” to “It’s Not Like I’m Having an Affair.”

James Hannaham’s debut novel, God Says No, remains as excellent as it was last year–funny, raw, heartbreaking–but now it’s in paperback. You can get it from Amazon or directly from the publishers, the good people at McSweeney’s. If you don’t believe me, then I hope you will trust the good people of Entertainment Weekly, who just included it in the “Best New Paperbacks” section of their “Summer Must List.”

“Say hi to 1972 for me.” That’s what a friend texted me when I told him I was at Tanglewood seeing a James Taylor/Carole King concert.”

David Handelman, gifted writer of both magazine articles and West Wing episodes, has started a wry and witty blog, called “Hands On.” Read it for accounts of writers-room mind-melding, autograph collecting, and a summer spent writing for the “Women’s Pages” of the Winston-Salem Journal.

posted 12 July 2010 in Links and tagged David Handelman, James Hannaham, Rob Sheffield. 1 comment