David Bowie's top 100 must-read books

[Nigeyb]

David Bowie's top 100 must-read books

The Age of American Unreason, Susan Jacoby (2008)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz (2007)
The Coast of Utopia (trilogy), Tom Stoppard (2007)
Teenage: The Creation of Youth 1875-1945, Jon Savage (2007)
Fingersmith, Sarah Waters (2002)
The Trial of Henry Kissinger, Christopher Hitchens (2001)
Mr Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder, Lawrence Weschler (1997)
A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1890-1924, Orlando Figes (1997)
The Insult, Rupert Thomson (1996)
Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon (1995)
The Bird Artist, Howard Norman (1994)
Kafka Was the Rage: A Greenwich Village Memoir, Anatole Broyard (1993)
Beyond the Brillo Box: The Visual Arts in Post-Historical Perspective, Arthur C Danto (1992)
Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson, Camille Paglia (1990)
David Bomberg, Richard Cork (1988)
Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom, Peter Guralnick (1986)
The Songlines, Bruce Chatwin (1986)
Hawksmoor, Peter Ackroyd (1985)
Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music, Gerri Hirshey (1984)
Nights at the Circus, Angela Carter (1984)
Money, Martin Amis (1984)
White Noise, Don DeLillo (1984)
Flaubert's Parrot, Julian Barnes (1984)
The Life and Times of Little Richard, Charles White (1984)
A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn (1980)
A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole (1980)
Interviews with Francis Bacon, David Sylvester (1980)
Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler (1980)
Earthly Powers, Anthony Burgess (1980)
Raw, a "graphix magazine" (1980-91)
Viz, magazine (1979 –)
The Gnostic Gospels, Elaine Pagels (1979)
Metropolitan Life, Fran Lebowitz (1978)
In Between the Sheets, Ian McEwan (1978)
Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, ed Malcolm Cowley (1977)
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, Julian Jaynes (1976)
Tales of Beatnik Glory, Ed Saunders (1975)
Mystery Train, Greil Marcus (1975)
Selected Poems, Frank O'Hara (1974)
Before the Deluge: A Portrait of Berlin in the 1920s, Otto Friedrich (1972)
n Bluebeard's Castle: Some Notes Towards the Re-definition of Culture, George Steiner (1971) Octobriana and the Russian Underground, Peter Sadecky (1971)
The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll, Charlie Gillett(1970)
The Quest for Christa T, Christa Wolf (1968)
Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock, Nik Cohn (1968)
The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov (1967)
Journey into the Whirlwind, Eugenia Ginzburg (1967)
Last Exit to Brooklyn, Hubert Selby Jr (1966)
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote (1965)
City of Night, John Rechy (1965)
Herzog, Saul Bellow (1964)
Puckoon, Spike Milligan (1963)
The American Way of Death, Jessica Mitford (1963)
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace With the Sea, Yukio Mishima (1963)
The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin (1963)
A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess (1962)
Inside the Whale and Other Essays, George Orwell (1962)
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark (1961)
Private Eye, magazine (1961 –)
On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious, Douglas Harding (1961)
Silence: Lectures and Writing, John Cage (1961)
Strange People, Frank Edwards (1961)
The Divided Self, RD Laing (1960)
All the Emperor's Horses, David Kidd (1960)
Billy Liar, Keith Waterhouse (1959)
The Leopard, Giuseppe di Lampedusa (1958)
On the Road, Jack Kerouac (1957)
The Hidden Persuaders, Vance Packard (1957)
Room at the Top, John Braine (1957)
A Grave for a Dolphin, Alberto Denti di Pirajno (1956)
The Outsider, Colin Wilson (1956)
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov (1955)
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell (1949)
The Street, Ann Petry (1946)
Black Boy, Richard Wright (1945)

What do we make of it then?

The reading list, with books presented in chronological order rather than order of preference, provides Ontario with a new angle. American classics of the 50s and 60s are strongly represented – On the Road byJack Kerouac, Truman Capote's In Cold Blood – as are tales of working-class boys made good, which emerged in the postwar years: Keith Waterhouse's Billy Liar and Room at the Top by John Braine, and The Outsider by Colin Wilson, a study of creativity and the mindset of misfits.RD Laing's The Divided Self speaks to a fascination with psychotherapy and creativity, as does The Origin of Consciousness in the breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, by Julian Jaynes. There is no evidence that Bowie's scientific inquries extend beyond psychology – Stephen Hawking's cosmic theories are out – but his tastes are otherwise broad.

Political history features, in titles such as Christopher Hitchens' The Trial of Henry Kissinger, and Orlando Figes' A People's Tragedy, as well as collections of interviews.

A broad taste for fiction emerges, too, from early Ian McEwan (In Between the Sheets) and Martin Amis's definitive 1980s novel, Money, to 21st-century fictions such as Sarah Waters' Fingersmith and Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.

He also displays a penchant for irreverent humour, with the inclusion of Spike Milligan's comic novel Puckoon, and the entire oeuvres of Viz andPrivate Eye.

And, of course, there's music – with soul music especially prominent. Bowie selects Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom by Peter Guralnick, and Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music by Gerri Hirshey, as well as Charlie Gillett's The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll.

More info and article here.

[Lobstergirl]

I've read 7.

My own list would be quite different.

[Nigeyb]

Thanks Lobstergirl.

Lobstergirl wrote: "I've read 7."

I've read these ones....

Mystery Train, Greil Marcus (1975)
A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess (1962)
On the Road, Jack Kerouac (1957)
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark (1961)
Money, Martin Amis (1984)
Last Exit to Brooklyn, Hubert Selby Jr (1966)
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote (1965)
The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov (1967)
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov (1955)
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell (1949)
A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole (1980)
Viz, magazine (1979 –)
In Between the Sheets, Ian McEwan (1978)

13 in total - probably could have added Private Eye mag too though it's only ever been sporadic. Viz is an interesting choice. To varying degrees I have enjoyed all of the ones that I have read above. It gives me confidence that I'd probably enjoy the rest.

I would be especially keen to read these ones, on the basis I have read other titles by the same authors and I enjoyed them...

Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock, Nik Cohn (1968)
Teenage: The Creation of Youth 1875-1945, Jon Savage (2007)
Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom, Peter Guralnick (1986)
Inside the Whale and Other Essays, George Orwell (1962)
Hawksmoor, Peter Ackroyd (1985)
Interviews with Francis Bacon, David Sylvester (1980)

Lobstergirl wrote: "My own list would be quite different."

Mine too.

[Tosh]

I think I share similar taste (like a lot of people) with Bowie. The Nic Cohn book is pretty great.

[Nigeyb]

Thanks Tosh.

Tosh wrote: "The Nic Cohn book is pretty great."

I must read it soon.

[Tosh]

Nic Cohn is an interesting character. He was one of the original Mods, and was/is a close friend to Pete Townshend of the Who. In fact he wrote "Pinball Wizard" after Cohn. Cohn eventually wrote Saturday Night Fever for New York Magazine which became the iconic disco film of the 70's. The funny thing is he made up the whole story, and is actually based on his Mod London years.

[Nigeyb]

Tosh wrote: "Cohn eventually wrote Saturday Night Fever for New York Magazine which became the iconic disco film of the 70's. The funny thing is he made up the whole story, and is actually based on his Mod London years. "

Yes, I'd heard that Tosh. Amazing how stories can travel about the world and yet still translate in different places, contexts and eras. I keep meaning to rewatch Saturday Night Fever. For all the fun disco scenes it's got quite some pretty dark aspects too.

I've got Nik Cohn's Yes We Have No: Adventures in the Other England on my shelf waiting to be read. Must get round to that one, in addition to Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock.

[Nigeyb]

Nigeyb wrote: "I've got Nik Cohn's Yes We Have No: Adventures in the Other England on my shelf waiting to be read. Must get round to that one, in addition to Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock."

About Nik Cohn's Yes We Have No: Adventures in the Other England ....

This is a collection of the wild and the absurd, of the underbelly of society and over-the-top characters. Cohn searches out the stories of rabid soccer fans, earnest karaoke enthusiasts, prostitutes, hippies, faith healers, transvestites, Rastafarians, a Chinese Elvis impersonator, and a gent who claims to be the Antichrist. By eliciting their tragedies, emotions, and master plans, Cohn takes away the stiff upper lip of English society and replaces it with something raunchier, yet more humane.

What's not to love about that description?

[Tosh]

I also recommend his book "Triksta: Life and Death and New Orleans Rap." It's an incredible book about him managing a New Orleans rap artist - as a British 60 something years old - once a Mod always a Mod!

[Nigeyb]

Thanks Tosh. I'll have a look at that one.. As you say, once a Mod...

[Nigeyb]

Tosh wrote: "I also recommend his book "Triksta: Life and Death and New Orleans Rap" It's an incredible book about him managing a New Orleans rap artist - as a British 60 something years old"

Interesting array of reviews for Nik Cohn's Triksta: Life and Death and New Orleans Rap on here. Definitely another one for the reading pile. Thanks again Tosh.

[Tosh]

I am not into the hip-hop or rap world at all. What interested me in this book is its by Nik Cohn, and two, its a great narrative about an aging British citizen who goes into the New Orleans rap world. His take on that world and who he deals with is totally fascinating.

[Nigeyb]

Thanks Tosh.

Tosh wrote: "I am not into the hip-hop or rap world at all. "

Me neither. Odd tracks here and there notwithstanding.

Tosh wrote: "It's a great narrative about an aging British citizen who goes into the New Orleans rap world. His take on that world and who he deals with is totally fascinating. "

I think that would be what would intrigue and interest me too. It's interesting reading the reviews. The more negative reviews seem to come from fans of New Orleans Rap (or Bounce as it appears to be known locally).

[Tosh]

I think what the negative reviewers are missing is that its not an objective book on Bounce, but Cohn's take on it. Totally subjective and personal.

[Nigeyb]

Has the school of pop shut its doors?

An article by Andrew Collins, and inspired in part by David Bowie's top 100 reading list.

Click here to read it.

Andrew Collins argues that for his generation, raised on literate pop music, it was like being given homework by the coolest teacher in the world. I agree. Back in the 1970s and 1980s there were so many cultural references being thrown about I felt compelled to be forever in and out of the library with my latest reading list.

Art and film students like Bowie, John Lennon, Lou Reed and Brian Eno (and their punk successors Adam Ant, Ian Dury, Bauhaus, the Human League and Gang of Four) marinated their music in the rich juices of education, whether higher or self-taught. The Cure's debut single, Killing an Arab, inspired me to seek out the Albert Camus novel L'Étranger, and the Human League's Being Boiled taught me the word "sericulture". This was rock'n'roll with footnotes. Good heavens, even Boney M had disco hits about tsarist Russia and the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

We kept up with music's intellectual content by reading NME, which at the time assumed the style of "the philosophy department of a small provincial university," according to Pat Long's History of the NME. What I hadn't learned about philosophers from my Monty Python LPs, I learned from Paul Morley. In the 80s, Morrissey turned literacy into Top Trumps ("Keats and Yeats are on your side, but you lose 'cause weird lover Wilde is on mine") and Echo & the Bunnymen began the track My White Devil like an English lit lesson: "John Webster was one of the best there was/ He was the author of two major tragedies …"

That all rings true for this 1970s pop kid. What about you?

Sadly Andrew Collins reports both a decline in literate pop and also in kids reading for pleasure. The culprit? Technology. Books are old hat now, daddio.

[Antonomasia]

(Not a reader of PH, just joined for this discussion)

Beautiful Bowie picture!

I've only read 20 of those, got another 12 unread, mostly in storage which, now I've seen the list, is a little frustrating.

re. the Collins article etc

The 90s in Britain had a similar effect I think. The musician who seemed to push books most was Richey Manic, though I found some of his choices too dark for me at the time. Blur and Pulp would reference books in interviews - I remember being smug that I'd already read London Fields before Parklife was ever mentioned. Morrissey & The Smiths were still very very important though personally I always found him more of an influence on my film choices (British New Wave etc) than on reading. And Oscar Wilde I think I'd already got into before I listened to a whole Smiths album.
The Divine Comedy was the most significant one for me - his song The Booklovers is a list of authors which came to form my idea of "how to be well read" and there are numerous other references in lyrics. Though I've since met friends who were into TDC at that time, prior to 1996 he had very low sales - I bought the album Promenade a week or two after its release, in a chain store in a Northern city and the assistant - a fan - said it was the first one they'd sold!

Some of the friends who were into TDC early also had similar influences in the 90s from Momus, who I only got into much later. He has a lot of literary references in lyrics and also a book list song, Bluestocking.

The NME & Melody Maker (and my personal favourite Select magazine) still had a lot of fantastic writers - some of whom are still going, esp on websites like The Quietus (which I highly recommend if you like literate, opinionated music journalism) but for me the big thing was the Mark Radcliffe show on Radio 1 which had a cult book slot from Will Self (which basically formed my idea of what an intelligent indie tenager should read) and also an equivalent cult film slot. (Andrew Collins & Stuart Maconie had a show which for a while preceded Radcliffe - also very much figures of that time for me. Maconie's review of the above Divine Comedy album 100% sold it to me.)

I'm not sure it's declined as much as some of us would think. On Tumblr you can catch sight of communities of teenagers who are into both reading and pop culture. Many of them still seem to be taking cues from stars of the 60s - 90s in terms of book & film influences, but it may just seem so because those were the pages I ended up on given my own interests. Patrick Wolf is a younger artist who seems to interest the same crowd a lot, also quite literary. I think some very bright teenagers use an "internetty" style of writing for shorter posts, which can look to those of us who are older and write everything long-form as a bit illiterate - when it is actually just one of the dialects they use.

I wouldn't like to assume that literate pop is dead - after all the 90s looked very laddish on the outside and it was the artists with more cultish appeal who were the most literary, those who are more easily missed by not following the current scene intensively.
(And think how niche punk was compared with disco in the 70s, and so on with equivalent scenes in the 80s and 90s).
A friend who grew up on a lot of the same stuff as I did now works for 4AD and hears tons of new stuff - may ask him about it since I have currently given up on keeping up with music.

[Nigeyb]

Antonomasia wrote: "(Not a reader of PH, just joined for this discussion)"

Hurrah. Great to see you here Antonomasia. Thanks for your stimulating and interesting post - I really enjoyed it.

Perhaps your visit might inspire you to investigate the wonderful world of Patrick Hamilton?

Antonomasia wrote: "Beautiful Bowie picture!"

I love it too. It's extremely rare to see a photo of David Bowie looking anything other than beautiful. Beautiful and talented. Some guys have all the luck.

Antonomasia wrote: "re. the Collins article etc

The 90s in Britain had a similar effect I think. The musician who seemed to push books most was Richey Manic, though I found some of his choices too dark for me at the time. Blur and Pulp would reference books in interviews - I remember being smug that I'd already read London Fields before Parklife was ever mentioned. Morrissey & The Smiths were still very very important though personally I always found him more of an influence on my film choices (British New Wave etc) than on reading. And Oscar Wilde I think I'd already got into before I listened to a whole Smiths album."

Richey Manic was indeed an inspiring person in terms of books. Morrissey was a one man cultural recommendation machine: books, films, icons, poetry, etc. in addition to single handedly converting more people to vegetarianism than anyone else.

Antonomasia wrote: "The Divine Comedy was the most significant one for me - his song The Booklovers is a list of authors which came to form my idea of "how to be well read" and there are numerous other references in lyrics. Though I've since met friends who were into TDC at that time, prior to 1996 he had very low sales - I bought the album Promenade a week or two after its release, in a chain store in a Northern city and the assistant - a fan - said it was the first one they'd sold!"

Ah yes. I didn't hear about him/them until they got famous, but have stuck by them ever since. I'm ashamed to say that I wasn't familiar with the Booklovers. I've just had to go onto YouTube for a quick listen. Marvellous stuff. Lyrics here for anyone who is interested.

Antonomasia wrote: "Some of the friends who were into TDC early also had similar influences in the 90s from Momus, who I only got into much later. He has a lot of literary references in lyrics and also a book list song, Bluestocking."

I was never that into Momus, though enjoyed what I heard. Bluestocking is another new one for me. A playful and saucy ditty. Thanks for highlighting it.

Antonomasia wrote: "The NME & Melody Maker (and my personal favourite Select magazine) still had a lot of fantastic writers - some of whom are still going, esp on websites like The Quietus (which I highly recommend if you like literate, opinionated music journalism) but for me the big thing was the Mark Radcliffe show on Radio 1 which had a cult book slot from Will Self (which basically formed my idea of what an intelligent indie tenager should read) and also an equivalent cult film slot. (Andrew Collins & Stuart Maconie had a show which for a while preceded Radcliffe - also very much figures of that time for me. Maconie's review of the above Divine Comedy album 100% sold it to me.)"



Ah yes Select magazine. I was a reader too. The mere mention of it evokes a strong feeling of that time and era. I love Mark Radcliffe but don't recall that cult book slot. How amazing is it, in retrospect, that he and Lard got to host the Radio 1 breakfast show for a brief period?

I remember Collins and Maconie more clearly. Their stock was already high with me given their NME background. I still enjoy them both to this day - I always listen to the Radcliffe and Maconie podcast which is a neat 27 minute cultural round up.

The Quietus is my home page. I read most of their output.

Antonomasia wrote: "I'm not sure it's declined as much as some of us would think. On Tumblr you can catch sight of communities of teenagers who are into both reading and pop culture. Many of them still seem to be taking cues from stars of the 60s - 90s in terms of book & film influences, but it may just seem so because those were the pages I ended up on given my own interests."

I'm sure there's still plenty of literate teens, and you're right about Tumblr, it's chock full of book and film influences. That said, I do wonder how many Tumblr users then sit down and plough through each and every reference.

The Collins article quotes the National Literary Trust study which states 28.4% of children in Britain read for pleasure outside of school - down from 38.1% in 2005. If that is correct, it's quite a fast and dramatic decline.

Antonomasia wrote: "Patrick Wolf is a younger artist who seems to interest the same crowd a lot, also quite literary. "

I like Patrick Wolf. To me he harks back to the Glam era - and Bowie in particular.

Antonomasia wrote: "I think some very bright teenagers use an "internetty" style of writing for shorter posts, which can look to those of us who are older and write everything long-form as a bit illiterate - when it is actually just one of the dialects they use. "

A good point.

Antonomasia wrote: "I wouldn't like to assume that literate pop is dead - after all the 90s looked very laddish on the outside and it was the artists with more cultish appeal who were the most literary, those who are more easily missed by not following the current scene intensively. "

Yes, it's hard to discern what's really going on, especially now everything is so much more fragmented.

Antonomasia wrote: "And think how niche punk was compared with disco in the 70s, and so on with equivalent scenes in the 80s and 90s"

True. There's always stuff happening at the margins that many miss.

Antonomasia wrote: "A friend who grew up on a lot of the same stuff as I did now works for 4AD and hears tons of new stuff - may ask him about it since I have currently given up on keeping up with music. "

That would be interesting. Please report back.

I still retain a pretty strong interest in music and am struggling to think of newer artists who are current torch bearers for literary pop - but perhaps I just don't know where to look?

Thanks again Antonomasia. I really enjoyed reading your thoughts.