Juliana Hatfield

When I Grow Up by Juliana Hatfield is two books in one. Chapters alternate between a tour diary of her all-girl rock trio Some Girls, and the memoir of an unlikely rock star who first gained recognition in the late-’80s/early-’90s as the frontwoman of the Blake Babies before finding even greater success as a solo artist. The tour diary details the events in the lives of the members of Some Girls—Hatfield, Heidi Gluck and fellow Blake Baby Freda Love. Some of this is hilarious, like her project to photograph all the graffiti images of penises she finds on all the dressing room walls she visits. Other times these diary entries are tedious, for example, the bickering between Hatfield and the rest of the group, where she comes off kind of like a brat. The alternating biographical chapters contain the events in her life that made a difference, and mainly reveal how difficult her extreme shyness, lack of confidence and general dysfunction made her rock-star life so challenging. Her proudest moments are here, too, like when she shared the stage with Exene and John Doe of X. I would recommend this book to fans, but especially to anyone thinking of a career in music.