Transcript for Sara’s book report with ‘Daisy Jones and the Six’ author Taylor Jenkins Reid
I have spent the past week living a life of sex, drugs and rock and roll all thanks to this book, “Daisy Jones & the six.” By Taylor Jenkins Reid. This is a new novel that’s told like a juicy rock bio. It takes you backstage and on the tour bus with a fictitious 1970s band as they become the biggest group in the world. And if you like sexual tension, have I got a couple for you. The dynamic between the band’s leaders feels like you’re watching Bradley cooper and lady gaga sing a sexy duet for 330 pages. Reese Witherspoon herself said she devoured it herself in a day and just named it to her book club for March. I’m so thrilled to talk with the author. I’m thrilled to talk with the please welcome Taylor Jenkins Reid. Hello. Thank you so much. Now there is nothing I love more than when you have read a book, to finally meet the author that had this playing out in her head because this so perfectly captures being in a band. How did you do that? Did you binge watch “Behind the music” or something? I did. I did that. I did a lot of “Behind the music,” a lot of documentaries, and I read Bruce Springsteen’s memoir “Born to run.” Everyone loves the boss. And I really tried to consume any story that was about romantic rock couples because, you know, the story is about the rise and fall of the ’70s rock band, but as you said, it’s really specifically about these two lead singers, Daisy and Billy who have this explosive chemistry where they create their best work together, but they have a really hard time being in the same room together for a number of complicated and tortured reasons. I know. It’s so good. So I did. I read a lot about, you know, romantic rock couples, like, Stevie nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, Johnny cash and June Carter and even Beyonce and Jay-Z. They are taking their romantic relationship and they are creating art from it. I studied all those people. Right. Now I think any time Reese Witt — Witherspoon endorses she has a great book club and only picks the best, but she wants to turn this into a TV show. Yes. Yeah. It’s going to be a 13-episode series on Amazon which is really, really exciting. I know. I know. And it’s — it’s funny because as an author, you always want to see your books come to life. That’s really exciting, but also there is so much music in this book, and they’re going to make the album, and I’m, like — I’m first in line to want to hear that album. I want to know what it sounds like. The first thing I asked when we’re talking about what would you want to know, as I read it, I could hear the music and I kept thinking, you can’t describe it or someone will call you out on it if you are falsely saying these things. I was, like, she had to have known the music. You know what? I did — I listened to a lot of ’70s rock and I formed in my head an idea of what this fake band would sound like, and, you know, there is somewhere in that, you know, Fleetwood Mac, Tom petty, Springsteen place, right? And so that was really important to me. I wanted you to feel like you could hear the music even though it was a book and technically you could not. I could. You talk about coming in on a certain note. There is no way you can fake that in the writing. How did you get started writing? You know, I — I did not know that I wanted to be a writer for awhile. I actually thought I wanted to be a casting director and so I moved to Hollywood, became a casting director. An assistant. Really explaining my resume here. The title. And I found out one day that Jennifer aniston was coming to the office and I was completely obsessed with her and I had been for years and I called my friends and it’s, like, I’m meeting her. They were, like, you have to tell us what happens and so she came in and she was lovely and funny and charming. But there wasn’t much of a story. Just met her and she was, like, hi. I’m Jennifer and I’m, like, hi, I’m Taylor. I wasn’t going to call my friends and be, like, she said her name’s Jennifer. So I decided I’ll just send everybody an e-mail. But I wrote it as a story. I said, this is the day I met Jennifer aniston and I thought everyone was going to e-mail me back and be, like, cool. That’s awesome, but they said that and they said, you should be a writer, and so I thought, oh wow. Okay. And that was — that was the beginning of it. Well, we are glad that Jennifer aniston did that because I loved the book. Thank you so much. Congratulations. Thank you. Now “Daisy Jones & the six” is available everywhere tomorrow. In a few weeks, the next edition of Sara’s book report will focus on “The silent patient.” It’s an incredible thriller. Pick it up, read it and we’ll be talking with the author later this month.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
