David Bowie Reading Challenge

“I’m a real self-educated kind of guy. I read voraciously. Every book I ever bought, I have. I can’t throw it away. It’s physically impossible to leave my hand! Some of them are in warehouses. I’ve got a library that I keep the ones I really really like. I look around my library some nights and I do these terrible things to myself—I count up the books and think, how long I might have to live and think, ‘Fuck, I can’t read two-thirds of these books.’ It overwhelms me with sadness.”

Is there anything more relatable? Well, except for those warehouses full of books. I never knew David Bowie was such a big reader until after his unfortunate passing. It was during this time of Bowie retrospectives that I came upon his list of 100 favorite books curated for the David Bowie Is exhibit in 2013. In an attempt to make my TBR list sky-high, I am going to try reading all of David Bowie’s favorite books. Some of these titles I’ve been meaning to read for a while, some I’ve never heard of, but I’m determined to make a considerable dent.

Join the reading challenge: Use #ReadingDavidBowie and tag @eatingb00ks on social media to join the conversation.

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David Bowie’s 100 Favorite Books

- 1. Interviews With Francis Bacon by David Sylvester
  2. Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse
  3. Room At The Top by John Braine
  4. On Having No Head by Douglass Harding
  5. Kafka Was The Rage by Anatole Broyard
  6. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess ✓
  7. City Of Night by John Rechy
  8. The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
  9. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert ✓
  10. Iliad by Homer ✓
  11. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner ✓
  12. Tadanori Yokoo by Tadanori Yokoo
  13. Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin
  14. Inside The Whale And Other Essays by George Orwell
  15. Mr. Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood
  16. Dictionary Of Subjects And Symbols In Art by James A. Hall
  17. David Bomberg by Richard Cork
  18. Blast by Wyndham Lewis
  19. Passing by Nella Larson
  20. Beyond The Brillo Box by Arthur C. Danto
  21. The Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes
  22. In Bluebeard’s Castle by George Steiner
  23. Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd
  24. The Divided Self by R. D. Laing
  25. The Stranger by Albert Camus ✓
  26. Infants Of The Spring by Wallace Thurman
  27. The Quest For Christa T by Christa Wolf
  28. The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
  29. Nights At The Circus by Angela Carter
  30. The Master And Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
  31. The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
  32. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov ✓
  33. Herzog by Saul Bellow
  34. Puckoon by Spike Milligan
  35. Black Boy by Richard Wright
  36. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald ✓
  37. The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea by Yukio Mishima
  38. Darkness At Noon by Arthur Koestler
  39. The Waste Land by T.S. Elliot
  40. McTeague by Frank Norris
  41. Money by Martin Amis
  42. The Outsider by Colin Wilson
  43. Strange People by Frank Edwards
  44. English Journey by J.B. Priestley
  45. A Confederacy Of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole ✓
  46. The Day Of The Locust by Nathanael West
  47. 1984 by George Orwell ✓
  48. The Life And Times Of Little Richard by Charles White
  49. Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock by Nik Cohn
  50. Mystery Train by Greil Marcus
  51. Beano (comic, ’50s)
  52. Raw (comic, ’80s)
  53. White Noise by Don DeLillo
  54. Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm And Blues And The Southern Dream Of Freedom by Peter Guralnick
  55. Silence: Lectures And Writing by John Cage
  56. Writers At Work: The Paris Review Interviews edited by Malcolm Cowley
  57. The Sound Of The City: The Rise Of Rock And Roll by Charlie Gillete
  58. Octobriana And The Russian Underground by Peter Sadecky
  59. The Street by Ann Petry
  60. Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon
  61. Last Exit To Brooklyn by Hubert Selby, Jr. ✓
  62. A People’s History Of The United States by Howard Zinn
  63. The Age Of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby
  64. Metropolitan Life by Fran Lebowitz
  65. The Coast Of Utopia by Tom Stoppard
  66. The Bridge by Hart Crane
  67. All The Emperor’s Horses by David Kidd
  68. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
  69. Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess
  70. The 42nd Parallel by John Dos Passos
  71. Tales Of Beatnik Glory by Ed Saunders
  72. The Bird Artist by Howard Norman
  73. Nowhere To Run: The Story Of Soul Music by Gerri Hirshey
  74. Before The Deluge by Otto Friedrich
  75. Sexual Personae: Art And Decadence From Nefertiti To Emily Dickinson by Camille Paglia
  76. The American Way Of Death by Jessica Mitford
  77. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote ✓
  78. Lady Chatterly’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence ✓
  79. Teenage by Jon Savage
  80. Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh
  81. The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard
  82. The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
  83. Viz (comic, early ’80s)
  84. Private Eye (satirical magazine, ’60s — ’80s)
  85. Selected Poems by Frank O’Hara
  86. The Trial Of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens
  87. Flaubert’s Parrot by Julian Barnes
  88. Maldodor by Comte de Lautréamont
  89. On The Road by Jack Kerouac ✓
  90. Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonders by Lawrence Weschler
  91. Zanoni by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
  92. Transcendental Magic, Its Doctine and Ritual by Eliphas Lévi
  93. The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels
  94. The Leopard by Giusseppe Di Lampedusa
  95. Inferno by Dante Alighieri ✓
  96. A Grave For A Dolphin by Alberto Denti di Pirajno
  97. The Insult by Rupert Thomson
  98. In Between The Sheets by Ian McEwan
  99. A People’s Tragedy by Orlando Figes
  100. Journey Into The Whirlwind by Eugenia Ginzburg

#ReadingDavidBowie

Bowie's Books 3 - Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom

The short: Reading the 100 books from David Bowie's 2013 curated list of influential works.

The long: Here we are, days away from a new album release by The Rolling Stones, of which Nik Cohn wrote: "They most likely won't last... they weren't made to get old. If they have any sense of neatness, they'll get themselves killed in an air crash, three days before their thirtieth birthdays." Written in 1968 and published in 1969, this was the first 'serious' piece of writing on pop/rock music by a then 22-year-old Nik Cohn. It's a great read, even if you disagree with the notion that The Pink Floyd was extremely boring. Cohn loves the great pop single and is really not interested in the introspective acid era and pretty much everything that came after that. As a primer on the early history of popular music, this is a must-read. There may be lots to disagree with, but there's also lots to learn.

Nik Cohn - Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom (1969)

#nikcohn #bookstagram #davidbowie #readingdavidbowie #bowiesbooks #booklovers #books #booklover #book #bookworm #bookaddict #reading #bookish #bookstagrammer #booknerd #booksofinstagram #bibliophile #instabook #booklove #readersofinstagram #read

Bowie's Books 2 - The Outsider

The short: Reading the 100 books from David Bowie's 2013 curated list of influential works.

The long: This novella, the first work published by Albert Camus, is a classic piece rooted in absurdism and existentialism. Its protagonist, Meursault, is an outsider in multiple ways: a Frenchman living in Algiers, an atheist in a still very religious world, and emotionally detached from his environment. Meursault kills an Arab on a beach, has to stand trial, and eventually faces the gallows in this short but dense novel.

David Bowie references "The Stranger" in a lyric on the song "The Next Day"

"Here I am
Not quite dying
My body left to rot in a hollow tree
Its branches throwing shadows
On the gallows for me
And the next day
And the next
And another day"

Another fun tidbit: The Cure song "Killing an Arab" was based on this novel as well...

Albert Camus - The Outsider (L'Étranger, 1942)

#albertcamus #bookstagram #davidbowie #bowiesbooks #readingdavidbowie #booklovers #books #booklover #book #bookworm #bookaddict #reading #bookish #bookstagrammer #booknerd #booksofinstagram #bibliophile #instabook #booklove #readersofinstagram #read

Bowie's Books 1 - A Clockwork Orange

The short: Reading the 100 books from David Bowie's 2013 curated list of influential works.

The long: Not exactly an easy start into this project. "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess is famous for it's movie adaptation by Stanley Kubrick and it's use of the invented "Nadsat"language used by it's protagonist Alex. So, when finishing the cancer I shut my rot, finished the Moloko and started reading this real horrorshow. Undoubtedly the combination of this novel and Kubrick's movie was an inspiration for Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" album. The novel follows the adventures in rape and ultraviolence of young droog Alex who then becomes a victim of the state through the rehabilitation program called the Ludovico Technique, supposedly curing him of his violent tendencies.

Bowie would use Nadsat once again in "Girl Loves Me" from the "Blackstar"album.

Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange (1962)

#anthonyburgess #bookstagram #davidbowie #bowiesbooks #readingdavidbowie #booklovers #books #booklover #book #bookworm #bookaddict #reading #bookish #bookstagrammer #booknerd #booksofinstagram #bibliophile #instabook #booklove #readersofinstagram #read

He terminado de leer "All The Songs: The story behind every track" de Benoit Clerc. Hay una admirable cantidad de investigación detrás del libro, lo cual se agradece bastante. Benoit no se limitó a describir las canciones únicamente sino que también provee un panorama bastante informado sobre la grabación de los álbumes, los proyectos que Bowie tenía en esa época y su relación con los respectivos colaboradores. Clerc también se esforzó en identificar a los musicos, productores e ingenieros de cada canción, una tarea avasallante. En términos de ilustraciones, el libro está repleto de fotografías excelentes, tanto del propio Bowie (un balance entre fotografías clásicas y otras mucho menos vistas) colaboradores, instrumentos, así como objetos, lugares y personas relevantes a cada canción, lo que le da al libro un semblante de mini-enciclopedia. Fue muy divertido recorrer las páginas de este libro y aprender un par de cosas nuevas. Como único detalle, me habría gustado que el autor se hubiera extendido más en algunas canciones. Mi calificación: 8/10.
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#davidbowie #benoitclec #allthesongs #davidbowieallthesongs #davidbowieallthesongsbook #davidbowiebooks #davibowiebookcollector #davidbowiebookcollection #readingdavidbowie #davidbowiecollector #davidbowiecollectionmexico

hope not ever to see heaven. i have come to lead you to the other shore; into eternal darkness; into fire and into ice. // dante alighieri, inferno 🔥

final thoughts on “the divine comedy: inferno” …

the last time i talked about this book i wondered why punishments for certain sins didn’t seem that bad. in particular gluttony...then i went back and reread some of the passages i wasn’t too clear on, and oh i seemed to have missed that this eternal “filthy muck” is SHIT, they are literally wallowing in excrement. having finished the book now, the punishments do seem to fit the crimes, sometimes in ironic ways or within the framework of certain imagery. soothsayers’ heads are turned around to forever face the past, sowers of discord are torn apart as they tore apart communities and relationships, violent sinners are boiled in blood. it’s amazing what a little reading comprehension can do. this is why i always like to engage with the text as i read it, looking up discussions and articles or essays discussing themes, etc. also i will be covering this book in a future newsletter (all those tabs are mostly food related), because there is a lot of interesting food/eating content unrelated to just gluttony. like cannibalism! and flatulence! it’s going to be fun. #readingdavidbowie

the poets leave hell and again behold the stars. // dante alighieri, inferno 🔥

i am half-way through dante’s “inferno,” canto xi, the sixth circle of hell (heretics.) at this point i am mostly wondering why punishments are doled out for certain sins. for instance, gluttony (the third circle of hell) finds gluttons eternally battered by hail, rain, and snow, mired in a filthy muck forever. that doesn’t seem *that* bad. wouldn’t it be more ironic if they were just forced to keep eating? to the point that their pleasure is now a punishment? lost opportunity, dante. I’m sure the legendary poet needs my advice, but let’s be real. if this existed, i would be in the third circle of hell. and i just want more food. #readingdavidbowie

i started on the next #readingdavidbowie book pick, dante's "inferno," at the height of the heat wave in new york city. it was oddly fitting. i don't actually plan these things, but somehow i find my way to it. i also began reading albert camus's "the plague" after the pandemic first started. i think i just like to indulge in my miseries…

have you ever found yourself gravitating towards inappropriately timed literature or am i the only one? 👀

life was created in the valleys. it blew up into the hills on the old terrors, the old lusts, the old despairs. that’s why you must walk up the hills so you can ride down. // william faulkner

🥀spoilers ahead🥀

"as i lay dying" is the second book by william faulkner that i've read, though technically the first i ever finished (i was 75% of the way through "the sound and the fury" before i put it down and forgot about it.) so with my (almost) two book expertise on faulkner, i have concluded that he liked giving a voice to rural southern folks and writing in stream-of-consciousness. i have a complicated relationship with this writing style. on one level i respect it. to explore a character or a story in the same way a person would experience it as thoughts flood their mind is just an interesting choice. i don't exactly *love* it though (and based on my very scientific instagram poll yesterday, neither do the rest of you. 49% were all for it. 51% against.) i do happen to love most of virginia woolf's work, nearly all of it stream-of-consciousness, so i don't know how to explain that one...

having said all that, i started to *get* the book the more i read it. there are 15 characters, all with distinct personalities and ways of speaking, and the subtle variations of style depending on which character was narrating was masterful. i started to pick up on things that weren't fully realized until later, in another character's chapter, giving a different viewpoint of a previous event. it's even kind of humorous in a way (did faulkner really just have this dead lady narrate a chapter? also, anse is a sonofabitch, he married a new wife immediately after burying the old one? after all that!?) i understand why this novel is so acclaimed. i wouldn't call this enjoyable reading, however, more of an experience (worth taking, in my estimation.) thanks for putting it on my radar, bowie, you smart, beautiful, intergalactic man, you.

next on my list: "the divine comedy: inferno" by dante alighieri. to join the david bowie reading challenge go to eatingbooks.com to view the full list of his favorite books and choose one to read. use #readingdavidbowie to share your thoughts.

“the dead air shapes the dead darkness, further away than seeing shapes the dead earth.” // faulkner

i’m not a slow reader. i just read too many books at one time. i won’t finish anything for months, and then i’ll finish 10 books all at once. it’s a terrible habit. if you are able to read one book at a time, tell me how because i don’t believe you.

p.s. i will finally finish “as i lay dying” this week (+ a bunch of other books. see, my system works.) thoughts forthcoming. #readingdavidbowie

i could just remember how my father used to say that the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time. // william faulkner #readingdavidbowie

in the winter everyones hate was bare if you looked. she saw hate in the icicles that hung from her window; she saw it in the dirty slush on the streets; she heard it in the hail that scratched her window and bit her face; she could see it in the lowered heads hurrying to warm homes. // hubert selby jr.

over a year ago (before I started working in publishing and my tbr list was a helluva lot lighter), i started reading last exit to brooklyn as part of my attempt to tackle david bowie’s 100 favorite books. we all know how well that turned out, but hey at least i’m sticking with it. i finally finished it a few months ago, and here are my thoughts:

if you want to feel as though someone punched you in the face (and i don’t mean figuratively, i mean loose teeth, broken nose, metallic taste of blood) then this book is for you. it’s a hard, gritty look at 1950s brooklyn, and though it feels exaggerated at times, it seems to capture a certain sense of new york life that lives below the surface. moments linger on violence and degradation. people’s lives are presented without judgement, without sympathy or sentiment. i can see why a rockstar would like this book. i wouldn’t read it again, but it was certainly a trip. a harsh, gut punching, knuckle breaking trip.

next on my list: as i lay dying by william faulkner. #readingdavidbowie

Remember when I thought I was going to read David Bowie’s 100 favorite books and then I got a job in publishing? Uh yeah, that’s going to have to wait 😶 I need to finish two books before Monday so I’m devoting this weekend to reading. I love that this is my homework now. Zero complaints 📚🖤 How are you spending your weekend? #readingdavidbowie

Rebecca Ritchey

Writer & Creator of Eating Books.

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