{"id":311377,"date":"2026-05-26T07:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T11:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/?p=311377"},"modified":"2026-07-21T13:40:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T17:40:45","slug":"your-next-read-based-on-your-favorite-00s-indie-songs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/your-next-read-based-on-your-favorite-00s-indie-songs\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Next Read, Based on Your Favorite \u201900s Indie Songs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Researching my debut novel, The Maidenheads<\/a>, <\/em>which is set in the DC music scene from the late 1990s until 2012, sent me down some curious rabbit holes. I toured backstage at venues in DC, read all I could about the DC punk scene of the 1980s and 1990s, and listened to so much music from the years when my book takes place. The \u201900s were a period when guitar-heavy bands like the Strokes and the White Stripes existed alongside more electronic, Brit Pop-inspired groups like Interpol and MGMT; what held it all together was that you could dance to it. The bands I created for my novel\u2014the Maidenheads, a raw but promising art-punk duo, and Les Somnambules, a more introspective and polished indie-folk group\u2014are less pop-inflected, but they have some of the same influences. <\/p>\n\n\n

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As I immersed myself in this period of music, I also read books that felt in conversation with my own, which tells the story of two queer musicians falling in and out of love, repeatedly, over the course of about a decade. Specifically, I read novels about queer heartache. I was hungry for books that showed queer characters making morally complex choices around romance and experiencing the painful consequences. Over time, my playlist and my reading list agglomerated in my head, becoming a mutant beast of \u201900s indie rock and sad gay novels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below is the unholy result: eight queer heartache novel recommendations, based on your favorite \u201900s indie anthem. The protagonists of these novels aren\u2019t always sympathetic\u2014which is part of the pleasure\u2014but we are still drawn into their struggle, even when it\u2019s clearly their own fault, and cheering for them to emerge whole, if perhaps chastened, on the other side. In truth, whatever your musical preferences, you should just read them all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n