Rip It Up And Start Again - Simon Reynolds

This stupendous overview of post-punk music between 1978 and 1984 works brilliantly thanks to the author's obvious command of the subject and a canny mix of history, anecdote and personal opinion. It spans the thrillingly fecund period from the disintegration of the Sex Pistols up to the triumph of the mainstream in the form of Duran Duran and Wham!

Reynolds' basic thesis is that punk had already run into an artistic dead end by the end of 1977 but a vast range of musicians were spurred on by punk's DIY spirit but unwilling to be restricted by the Clash/Pistols rock revivalist format. He casts the net extremely widely, focussing on a few key players (PiL, Talking Heads, Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire) but taking the time to look into such scenes as NYC's " no wave", 2-Tone, hardcore, goth and so on.

The musical range is extremely diverse, but the common ground between the artists discussed is a determination to experiment and innovate and a thorough understanding of the broader social and cultural context in which they operated. It's a far cry from most of today's pop aristocracy.

I read it with a pen and paper next to me throughout and now I'm inspired to track down a huge range of amazing-sounding records. Here's my favourite discovery so far:

A Buyer's Market - Anthony Powell

The second novel in the Dance to the Music of Time sequence, and the main themes and characters are beginning to fall into focus.

This is an exquisitely written portrait of aristocratic and artistic life between the wars. Although the world of debutantes is unfamiliar, and there is some uncomfortable stuff about a black diplomat, I swiftly fell under Powell's spell and I can't wait to get stuck into number three.