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Title details for Bowie's Bookshelf by John O'Connell - Available

Bowie's Bookshelf

The Hundred Books that Changed David Bowie's Life

by John O'Connell
Simon Vance
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Three years before David Bowie died, he shared a list of 100 books that changed his life. His choices span fiction and nonfiction, literary and irreverent, and include timeless classics alongside eyebrow-raising obscurities.
In 100 short essays, music journalist John O'Connell studies each book on Bowie's list and contextualizes it in the artist's life and work. How did the power imbued in a single suit of armor in The Iliad impact a man who loved costumes, shifting identity, and the siren song of the alter-ego? How did The Gnostic Gospels inform Bowie's own hazy personal cosmology? How did the poems of T. S. Eliot and Frank O'Hara, the fiction of Vladimir Nabokov and Anthony Burgess, the comics of The Beano and The Viz, and the groundbreaking politics of James Baldwin influence Bowie's lyrics, his sound, his artistic outlook? How did the 100 books on this list influence one of the most influential artists of a generation?
Heartfelt, analytical, and totally original, Bowie's Bookshelf is one part epic reading guide and one part biography of a music legend.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 28, 2020

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781541442795
      • File size: 193960 KB
      • Duration: 06:44:04

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      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
    • Library Journal

      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

      Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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