While 2016 is now in the rearview mirror, critics are looking back for their year end lists. The New York Post recently identified its top reading choices, naming, “The 40 best books of 2016 you must read immediately.” Included on the list is John Popper’s memoir, Suck and Blow: And Other Stories I’m Not Supposed to Tell. Written with Relix editor Dean Budnick, the book traces Popper’s story from Princeton, NJ through his fame with Blues Traveler, struggles with obesity and other health issues—you can read an excerpt on Relix.com). The Post’s picks also included Rita Coolidge’s autobiography Delta Lady, which explores her life in music with some revelatory sections on Delaney & Bonnie, Leon Russell and her uncredited role in writing a portion of “Layla”—she spoke with Relix on all these subjects earlier in the year. Other music books on the Post 40 include Leon Wildes’ John Lennon vs. the U.S.A.: The Inside Story of the Most Bitterly Contested and Influential Deportation Case in United States History and Shep Gordon’s They Call Me Supermensch: A Backstage Pass to the Amazing Worlds of Film, Food, and Rock ’n’ Roll.

Both Popper and Coolidge’s books were among Billboard’s 10 recommendations for holiday gifting along with such titles as Bob Boilen’s Your Song Changed My Life and James McBride’s Kill ‘Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul.