Riot Recommendation

14 Of Your Favorite Books About Fictional Pop Stars

Jamie Canaves

Contributing Editor

Jamie Canavés is the Tailored Book Recommendations coordinator and Unusual Suspects mystery newsletter writer–in case you’re wondering what you do with a Liberal Arts degree. She’s never met a beach she didn’t like, always says yes to dessert, loves ‘80s nostalgia, all forms of entertainment, and can hold a conversation using only gifs. You can definitely talk books with her on Litsy and Goodreads. Depending on social media’s stability maybe also Twitter and Bluesky.

This Riot Recommendation listing for your favorite books about fictional pop stars is sponsored by Famous People: A debut novel by Justin Kuritzkes and Henry Holt & Co.

Famous People cover imageOur uber famous twenty-two year old narrator has it all. A teen idol since he was twelve, when a video of him singing went viral, his star has only risen since. Now, haunted by the suicide of his manager-father, unsettled by the very different paths he and his teenage love (and girl pop-star counterpart) “Mandy” have taken, and increasingly aware that he has signed on to something he has little control over, he begins to parse the divide that separates him from the “normal people” of the world. Sneakily philosophical, earnest and funny, Justin Kuritzkes’s Famous People is an unforgettable look at the clash between fame and the human condition.


You were already a fan and we wanted to be fans, too, so we’re making Robin Sparkles proud by sharing your favorite books about fictional pop stars! We’ve picked out our outfits for their concerts and have our lighters in the air—or is that just #teamold and instead we do iPhones now?! Anyhoo, here are your favorite books about fictional pop stars!

The Idea of You by Robinne Lee

Space Opera by Catherynne M Valente

War for the Oaks by Emma Bull

The New Guy by Amy Spalding

Somewhere Only We Know by Maurene Goo

Fall by by Kristen Callihan

The Wicked + The Divine by Jamie McKelvie, Kieron Gillen

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Spin by Lamar Giles

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby

The Armageddon Rag by George R.R. Martin

The Stand by Stephen King

Rock Chick Revenge by Kristen Ashley