Stranger Than Fiction

The two-disc Stranger than Fiction assembles tracks sung by dozens of best-selling authors like Norman Mailer, Stephen King, Dave Barry and Maya Angelou, and yes, it's just as bad as you might expect. Backed by the Don't Quit Your Day Job house band — a group including the likes of Warren Zevon and Jerry Jeff Walker — the writers dismantle rock classics like "Wild Thing," "Proud Mary" and "Hit the Road, Jack"; it's all innocent fun, of course, but just because karaoke night at the last American Booksellers Association convention was a hoot doesn't mean this 32-track compilation should ever have seen the light of day. Since it's clear that no one connected with the project takes it even remotely seriously, it's tough to work up too much ill will toward Stranger than Fiction — still, even as novelty records go, it's a singularly grueling experience.