I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen

This was an interesting experience because I was definitely not the intended audience - not only was I not one of Leonard Cohen's legions of fans, I'd never even heard of him until picking up the book. Why I picked up the book in the first place is a bit of a mystery, really. Maybe it was just pure voyeuristic impulse, the joy of crawling through someone's life and turning over all the stones. The position of un-anticipation, of not being able to say “well we're in 1973 so pretty soon THIS must happen” or “when is he finally going to write THAT ONE song”, was refreshing. It left me completely open for whatever came along, at whatever pace and in whatever detail it chose.

Partway through the book I listened to one of the famous old Leonard Cohen songs, and then put on an album of his hits to understand better what the book was describing. I can't say that it did anything for me, but the book was still enjoyable through to the very last page.