Bowie's Bookshelf

Narrator Simon Vance uses a professorial tone as he introduces the wide-ranging stable of authors, from Albert Camus to Howard Zinn, who affected musician David Bowie's evolution. Divided into 100 3-4-minute segments, this audiobook lecture illuminates Bowie's creative process. For example, THE ILIAD is compared to Bowie's work with Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, 1984 is viewed in relation to Bowie's "Diamond Dogs," and THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE is linked to Peter Frampton's father. (You'll need to listen to learn the connections.) Adding to the enjoyment are "pairing" suggestions, which Vance delivers like a sommelier--for example, "Read Anthony Burgess's CLOCKWORK ORANGE while listening to Bowie's 'Scary Monsters.'" The result is a literary mosaic that will satisfy Bowie devotees and possibly create new fans. R.W.S � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

April 1, 2020

Three years before his death, music icon David Bowie published a list of the 100 books he counted as his favorite and most influential works. Music journalist O'Connell presents an essay about each title on Bowie's list, with commentary about the titles's cultural significance, as well as when and how it might have fit into the artist's personal and creative life. The range of books on display from Bowie's personal library ranges from Japanese and Russian literary fiction to nonfiction historical essays, esoteric occultism to comics, with a heavy emphasis on English and American novelists. O'Connell finds interesting questions to ask about each book on the list, speculating about what the titles might have said about Bowie the man and the artist, and ends each short essay with suggested pairings: a Bowie song to accompany each title, and a recommended title to read as a followup. Simon Vance lends a tone of warmth and intelligence to the narration. Verdict Recommended for rock history and criticism readers who are fans of Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain's Please Kill Me, and Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung by Lester Bangs. --Jason Puckett, Georgia State Univ. Lib, Atlanta

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