Thursday, October 03, 2013

David Bowie's reading list

According to Open Book Toronto, this is a list of David Bowie's Top 100 must read books as discussed with the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Let's see how I'm doing with the list.  If I read it, it's in bold, if it's on my reading list it's light, and if I have no interest, it's in strikethrough.

David Bowie's Top 100 Must Read Books:

The Age of American UnreasonSusan Jacoby, 2008
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar WaoJunot Diaz, 2007
The Coast of Utopia (trilogy)Tom Stoppard, 2007
Teenage: The Creation of Youth 1875-1945, Jon Savage, 2007
FingersmithSarah Waters, 2002
The Trial of Henry KissingerChristopher Hitchens, 2001
Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of WonderLawrence Weschler, 1997
A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1890-1924Orlando Figes, 1997
The InsultRupert Thomson, 1996
Wonder BoysMichael Chabon, 1995
The Bird ArtistHoward Norman, 1994
Kafka Was The Rage: A Greenwich Village MemoirAnatole Broyard, 1993
Beyond the Brillo Box: The Visual Arts in Post-Historical PerspectiveArthur C. Danto, 1992
Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily DickinsonCamille Paglia, 1990
David BombergRichard Cork, 1988
Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of FreedomPeter Guralnick, 1986
The SonglinesBruce Chatwin, 1986
HawksmoorPeter Ackroyd, 1985
Nowhere To Run: The Story of Soul MusicGerri Hirshey, 1984
Nights at the CircusAngela Carter, 1984
MoneyMartin Amis, 1984
White NoiseDon DeLillo, 1984
Flaubert’s ParrotJulian Barnes, 1984
The Life and Times of Little RichardCharles White, 1984
A People’s History of the United StatesHoward Zinn, 1980
A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole, 1980
Interviews with Francis BaconDavid Sylvester, 1980
Darkness at NoonArthur Koestler, 1980
Earthly PowersAnthony Burgess, 1980
Raw (a ‘graphix magazine’) 1980-91
Viz (magazine) 1979 –
The Gnostic Gospels, Elaine Pagels, 1979
Metropolitan LifeFran Lebowitz, 1978
In Between the SheetsIan 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 GloryEd Saunders, 1975
Mystery Train, Greil Marcus, 1975
Selected PoemsFrank O’Hara, 1974
Before the Deluge: A Portrait of Berlin in the 1920sOtto Friedrich, 1972
In Bluebeard’s Castle : Some Notes Towards the Re-definition of CultureGeorge Steiner, 1971
Octobriana and the Russian UndergroundPeter Sadecky, 1971
The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll, Charlie Gillete, 1970
The Quest For Christa TChrista Wolf, 1968
Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock, Nik Cohn, 1968
The Master and MargaritaMikhail Bulgakov, 1967
Journey into the WhirlwindEugenia Ginzburg, 1967
Last Exit to BrooklynHubert Selby Jr. , 1966
In Cold BloodTruman Capote, 1965
City of Night, John Rechy, 1965
HerzogSaul Bellow, 1964
Puckoon, Spike Milligan, 1963
The American Way of DeathJessica Mitford, 1963
The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The SeaYukio Mishima, 1963
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin, 1963
A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess, 1962
Inside the Whale and Other EssaysGeorge Orwell, 1962
The Prime of Miss Jean BrodieMuriel Spark, 1961
Private Eye (magazine) 1961 –
On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the ObviousDouglas Harding, 1961
Silence: Lectures and WritingJohn Cage, 1961
Strange PeopleFrank Edwards, 1961
The Divided SelfR. D. Laing, 1960
All The Emperor’s HorsesDavid Kidd,1960
Billy Liar, Keith Waterhouse, 1959
The LeopardGiuseppe Di Lampedusa, 1958
On The RoadJack Kerouac, 1957
The Hidden PersuadersVance Packard, 1957
Room at the TopJohn Braine, 1957
A Grave for a DolphinAlberto Denti di Pirajno, 1956
The OutsiderColin Wilson, 1956
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov, 1955
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell, 1948
The StreetAnn Petry, 1946
Black BoyRichard Wright, 1945
The Portable Dorothy ParkerDorothy Parker, 1944
The Outsider, Albert Camus, 1942
The Day of the LocustNathanael West, 1939
The Beano, (comic) 1938 –
The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell, 1937
Mr. Norris Changes TrainsChristopher Isherwood, 1935
English JourneyJ.B. Priestley, 1934
Infants of the SpringWallace Thurman, 1932
The BridgeHart Crane, 1930
Vile BodiesEvelyn Waugh, 1930
As I lay DyingWilliam Faulkner, 1930
The 42nd ParallelJohn Dos Passos, 1930
Berlin AlexanderplatzAlfred Döblin, 1929
PassingNella Larsen, 1929
Lady Chatterley’s LoverD.H. Lawrence, 1928
The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925
The Waste LandT.S. Eliot, 1922
BLAST, ed. Wyndham Lewis, 1914-15
McTeagueFrank Norris, 1899
Transcendental Magic, Its Doctrine and RitualEliphas Lévi, 1896
Les Chants de Maldoror, Lautréamont, 1869
Madame BovaryGustave Flaubert, 1856
ZanoniEdward Bulwer-Lytton, 1842
Inferno, from the Divine ComedyDante Alighieri, about 1308-1321
The Iliad, Homer, about 800 BC

Not doing very well, am I? The article says it proves David Bowie is a genius, so I guess I'm not one. 

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