Two friends have had a book club for a very very long time. It was mostly an excuse to drink and gossip. In January of 2016, they found renewed purpose in their sadness over the death of David Bowie. They decided to stop mucking around and actually get some reading done – from the list of books that he loved.
The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi
Nov 25, 2024
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi, which might be the most Bowie of the Bowie books we've read so far, in some ways.
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
Oct 21, 2024
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol a picaresque novel of a grifter being grifty in Old Russia.
Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Anger
Sep 30, 2024
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Hollywood Babylon a cruel and carnal compilation of old Hollywood tragedies written by Kenneth Anger, who apparantly shares our disdain for thorough research!
Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
Aug 26, 2024
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Roadside Picnic by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, a hard-boiled story of mysterious realms, stiff drinks and super-powered artifacts. Apologies for the jingling sounds in the background - we had a very active feline collaborator on this one.
Psychic Self-Defense by Dion Fortune
Jul 22, 2024
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild
speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has
reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read a book mostly about conferences on the astral plane, Psychic Self-Defense by Dion Fortune.
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Orlando by Virginia Woolf, a book that essentially proves that David Bowie and Tilda Swinton are one person.
A Grave for a Dolphin by Alberto Denti (and the end of Season One!)
May 20, 2024
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read (sort of) A Grave for a Dolphin by Ally Teeth (or Alberto Denti, Duke of Pirajno, if you must), a story about a manic pixie dream fish and the marine biologist (at least that's what AI thinks) who loved her.
Zanoni by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Apr 22, 2024
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Zanoni by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, an overheated occult pot-boiler that manages to keep the hot esoteric gobbletygook flying for over 400 pages! Spoiler alert: Greg wrote this description and it may (does) not reflect the views of the other half of this podcast.
Nowhere to Run by Gerri Hirshey
Mar 25, 2024
Welcome to another episode of the **Bowie Book Club**, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Nowhere to Run by Gerri Hirshey - interviews with foundational artists of soul music asthey deal with aging, and (in the case of Screaming Jay Hawkins) serve drinks out of a skull or something.
Private Eye
Feb 26, 2024
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild
speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has
reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Private
Eye, a half-serious, half-silly
British political magazine that is the ultimate in IYKYK.
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Darkness at
Noon by Arthur Koestler, a tale of human pyschology under duress that makes a fitting end to the Russian books that
Bowie had on his list.
The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard
Dec 18, 2023
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild
speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has
reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read The Hidden
Persuaders
by Vance Packard, a quaint little preview of the non-stop psychological prodding we endure now.
Beyond the Brillo Box by Arthur C. Danto
Nov 27, 2023
Welcome to another episode of the **Bowie Book Club**, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Beyond the Brillo Box by Arthur C. Danto - if you like art, philosophy and the philosophy of art, you might get through this a little easier than we did.
Strange People by Frank Edwards
Oct 30, 2023
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild
speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has
reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Strange
People
a rundown of all the freaks, geeks and mentalists you'll ever want to
encounter.
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie
Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about
Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we
read Writers at Work: The First Series,
a compendium of interviews with writers that proves to be as dazzling as a round of George Plimpton's Video Falconry.
Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby, Jr
Aug 28, 2023
The Beano
Jul 24, 2023
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read The Beano, a British comic that has been teaching the fundamentals of anarchy to the youth of the UK decades before Johnny Rotten gave his first snarl.
The 42nd Parallel by John Dos Passos
Jun 26, 2023
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read we read The 42nd Parallel by John Dos Passos, a big sweeping tale of America at the turn of the 20th century, including getting chased by a farmer with a shotgun, which happened all the time back then.
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
May 22, 2023
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for
straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Lady
Chatterly's
Lover
by D.H. Lawrence, which has all the bowels and loins anyone could ask for.
Infants of the Spring by Wallace Thurman
Apr 24, 2023
Welcome to another episode of the **Bowie Book Club**, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Infants of the Spring by Wallace Thurman - if you're a fan of gin n' ginger ale or of extremely stylized dialog, you're going to love this one.
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Mar 27, 2023
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read * Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, a novel of deception, doublecross, and people being absolute fucksters to each other.
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read White Noise by Don DeLillo, a very funny, very timely book about death, among other concerns.
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read a doorstop of a history of the Russian Revolution: Orlando Figes' "A People's Tragedy".
Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonders by Lawrence Weschler
Dec 19, 2022
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Mr. Wilson's Cabinet O' Wonders by Lawrence Weschler, a short, sharp treatise on a weird, weird museum.
In Bluebeard's Castle by George Steiner
Nov 21, 2022
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read In Bluebeard's Castle by George Steiner - an eccentric polymath, kind of like a certain David Jones we all know. Plus, T.S. Eliot impersonations!
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Room at the Top by John Braine, about an angry young man in a dirty old town.
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read On the Road by everyone's high school boyfriend, Jack Kerouac. We also talk about the new Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream which we just saw IN A MOVIE THEATRE shudder!
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa, a slow, stately book about a very hot island.
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read The Coast of Utopia by Tom Stoppard - a play where a lot happens just off stage and there's a lot of talking about thinking.
In Between the Sheets by Ian McEwan
Jun 20, 2022
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read In Between the Sheets, a kind-of-sort-of creepy book of short stories by Ian McEwan.
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read a book of literary criticism/history about Gustave Flaubert that (suprise!) turns out to be a novel that's not really about a bird at all (or is it?) - Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes
Money by Martin Amis
Apr 25, 2022
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Money by Martin Amis - the literary equivalent of watching someone fall down thousands of flights of stairs and wondering why you're laughing so hard.
Awopbopaloobopalopbamboom by Nik Cohn
Mar 21, 2022
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Awopbopaloobopalopbamboom (or something like that) a intensely jaded look at the first couple decades of rock music from legendary writer Nik Cohn.
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Homer Tarantino's gory classic of bromanticism - The Iliad
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read a series of connected stories circling the post-beat, pre-hippie world of Lower Mahattan in Tales Of Beatnik Glory by Ed Saunders. Join us for a hour or two at the Total Assault Cantina!
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016.
We survived another year, and that means we get to dust off the ole Choosenator and see what new books it brings us. This time we had a little canine assistance - our trusty guide led us through the wilds of Seattle (ok, through quiet residential neighborhoods) and pointed us at the correct numbers for the books for 2022!
Greg couldn't remember that Sir Derek Jacobi read the audio version of Hawksmoor - here's our episode about that book
Buy records and books from Hex Enduction Records and Books in Lake City, Seattle. Even if you're not in Seattle, they have a giant Discogs page - they're good folks with good stuff!
Coming Up
We'll start things off next month with a relatively new, very modern tome - The Iliad. See y'all then!
1984 by George Orwell
Dec 20, 2021
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read George Orwell's classic work of numerology, 1984.
The Quest for Christa T
Nov 22, 2021
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read * The Quest For Christa T by Christa Wolf, a melancholy elegy that really got on the wrong side of the East German censors, for some reason.
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Oct 25, 2021
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read * The Master And Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, one of our favorites on the list - a fairy tale that careens through the Moscow of the 1920's, and is otherwise impossible to describe accurately. In the spirit of inaccuracy, Greg got several names and facts wrong in this episodes, which he blames on g-g-g-g-ghosts.
Welcome to another episode of the **Bowie Book Club**, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read On Having No Head by Douglas Harding, a slender guidebook to quick and painless enlightenment.
The Stranger by Albert Camus
Aug 30, 2021
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we sat in a cafe, drinking free refill after free refill, perfected our looks of total ennui and read The Stranger by Albert Camus.
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh, a careening comic novel of doomed romance, never ending parties, and rotating gossip columnists.
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read English Journey by J.B. Priestley, a gripping tale of a grump making his way around England in the dour `30s.
And we totally spaced on this, but the super nice @travelswbrindle interviewed us for an article about the Bowie list for Early Bird Books. Thanks Chelsea!
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read a book (though probably not the right book) about the incredibly prolific Japanese artist and graphic designer Tadanori Yokoo by Tadanori Yokoo.
Hall's Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art
Apr 26, 2021
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we took a little wander through
Halls Dictionary Of Subjects And Symbols In Art by James A. Hall and read about a lot of saints with swords (sometimes stuck in their heads)
Mini Episode! How To Read a Dictionary
Apr 05, 2021
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we attemped to cobble together a plan to read Halls Dictionary Of Subjects And Symbols In Art by James A. Hall
Ok, here's the plan for reading through this crazy dictionary:
Take a look at the 3 paintings below (selected in a completely scientific and statistically significant way) and make your guess as to the subject of the painting, using the dictionary as your guide.
Greg and Kristianne will take a random walk through the dictionary, using elements of Francis Bacon's paintings as a starting point.
If you need other stimuli, then we also mentioned:
Join us here around about the 18th of April as we discuss our highly academic and rigorously researched findings!
Can you guess the subject and/or title of these paintings?
Interviews with Francis Bacon by David Sylvester
Mar 22, 2021
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Interviews with Francis Bacon, a beautifully constructed cut and paste job from the noted art critic David Sylvester.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Feb 22, 2021
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a jazzy tale of the very American art of self-invention.
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Mystery Train, Griel Marcus' expansive summation of rock music as American culture.
Apologies for the weird clicking noise that sounds like its coming from Greg's mandibles (he forgot to wax them) - we'll have the audio hiccups fixed for next time!
The infamous Mazatlan agenda found in Kristianne’s copy!
Our Books for 2021!
Jan 11, 2021
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we chose our books for 2021, in the great outdoors, and in our typical shambolic fashion!
We'll be talking about Mystery Train by Greil Marcus later this month
Journey Into the Whirlwind by Eugenia Semyonovna Ginzburg
Dec 28, 2020
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Journey Into the Whirlwind by Eugenia Ginzburg, a memoir of one incredibly strong woman's survival in Stalin's Reign of Terror.
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read The Street by Ann Petry, a harsh but gripping tale, which **almost** led to the worst song choice in the history of this podcast.
A People's History of the United States
Oct 26, 2020
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn, who's not really down with the SYSTEM, MAAAAAAN.
(And apologies for the audio issues at the end - it's the Man trying to keep us down!)
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club* where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Teenage by Jon Savage and you JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW WE'RE FEELING ABOUT IT OK? /slams bedroom door/
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
Aug 24, 2020
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark, which is really not like Dead Poets Society at all.
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Black Boy, Richard Wright's searing story of growing up in the Jim Crow south and his further self-education as a young man in Chicago and his further self-education as a young man in Chicago.
The Life and Times of Little Richard by Charles White
Jun 22, 2020
Welcome to another episode of the **Bowie Book Club**, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read The Life and Times of Little Richard - the Authorized Biography by Charles "Dr. Rock" White, which contains lots of scatalogical pranks, sermons and stories of debauchery from one of the wildest voices ever. Rock and roll.
Sexual Personae by Camille Paglia
May 25, 2020
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read
Sexual Personae by Camillia Paglia, which left us feeling a bit...cthonic.
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot, and tried to talk about anything else beside the poem (and you know...that other thing that's going on).
Apologies again for the recording weirdness! We're such a bunch of fireworms (that'll make more sense after you listen to this one). We'll get it together at some point.
Welcome to another episode of the **Bowie Book Club**, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read McTeague by Frank Norris, which is surprisingly not about a rogue cop who's always getting kicked off the force and reinstated because he's just too damn good out on those streets. Apologies for the sound quality - we're still figuring out how to do this whole remote thing!
The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby
Feb 25, 2020
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read a wide-ranging screed on the intellectual wasteland of current American culture - Susan Jacoby's The Age of American Unreason. And Greg reveals his ignorance of fairly recent presidential elections. Fun! #tuesdaygoths
The Day of the Locust by Nathaniel West
Jan 20, 2020
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Day of the Locust by Nathaniel West, a grim fable of the darker side of Hollywood in the 30's - and reveal our books for 2020!
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read The Bird Artist by Howard Norman, a tale from the frosty realm of Newfoundland, where women are women and men are mopey.
Book lists are really hard to put together - this from books that we read over the last decade (not necessarily books that came out in the last 10 years).
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read
The Insult by Rupert Thomson, a book about pyschosis and the seedy underbelly of society that turns out to be two books in one, much to Greg's chagrin.
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Dante's Inferno, which has been inspring haunted hayrides for centuries. Happy Halloween!
The Trial of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens
Sep 23, 2019
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read The Trial of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens, a book-length legal argument that helpfully reminded us of our ignorance of history.
The Trial of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens Amazon | IndieBound
Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter
Aug 26, 2019
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read a book that WE REALLY REALLY LIKED - Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus.
Trial of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens Amazon | IndieBound
What Song Did We Choose?
Kafka was the Rage by Anatole Broyard
Jul 22, 2019
This time we read Kafka Was the Rage - Anatole Broyard's unfinished memoir of life in Greenwich Village just after WWII, where everyone was an intellectual and sex had just been discovered.
Metropolitan Life by Fran Lebowitz
Jun 17, 2019
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Metropolitan Life by Fran (not Annie) Lebowitz, a snarky little collection of vignettes about life in the big city way back when.
Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and Ritual by Éliphas Lévi
May 20, 2019
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read a really weird D & D manual called Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and Ritual by Éliphas Lévi, half-poet, half-socialist, and all beard.
Sound of the City by Charlie Gillett
Apr 29, 2019
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Sound of the City by musicologist and BBC DJ Charlie Gillett, a veritable bible for pop music nerds. Spoiler alert: Greg does not sing in this one (or any one, ever).
April Gossip
Apr 22, 2019
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This episode, we chat about what we've been reading besides the book we're supposed to be reading.
New book club member Maggie the Dog is not impressed.
Silence by John Cage
Mar 27, 2019
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Silence by John Cage, an intensely charming (though sometimes confusing!) book about music theory (sort of) and mushroom hunting (definitely)
Our guest is Mark Schlipper - experimental/improv musician (and Moon Knight aficionado) whose current projects include drone rockers The Luna Moth, improv stoner-doom-noise-mininmalism Perish The Island, and various other other solo projects.
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This is another gossipy episode with a little bit about the tome we're about to read - Silence by John Cage
Sweet Soul Music by Peter Guralnick
Feb 25, 2019
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Sweet Soul Music by Peter Guaralnick a compendium of all things related to the musical genre, and most emphatically NOT about Motown.
February Gossip
Feb 18, 2019
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we just gossiped about this and that - though it all seems to come back to Bowie, as usual.
2019 Book List - Live from Podcon2!
Jan 28, 2019
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016.
This time we do a super quick roundup of our 2019 books and shout out some folks who are WAY ahead of us on the book list live from the floor of Podcon2, where we saw a bunch of great pdocasts and learned how to make this a little bit less of a mess.
The American Way of Death by Jessica Mitford
Jan 15, 2019
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read The American Way of Death by Jessica Mitford - a cheery little tome that's been called the "Consumer Reports of the Funeral Industry".
Our guest this episode is the hardest working man in show business, or at least the hardest working person who's been on this show - Levi Fuller, who's known for his bands Levi Fuller and the Library and the Luna Moth, and his quarterly Ball of Wax compilation, which gathers great music from all sorts of directions.
Levi presented us with his take on the book in "The Funerals Profession"
With these cut-up lyrics
At family contribute the funerals profession
Through the special and navigated benefit
no plenty able sadness
and always with notice and more
without family tribute family back already
With many services friends we direct him
here and with music
consistently dignity always
The Here about a body icon’s family memorial
fans broke cremation gems funeral
so the vast lots that public place be traditional
We’ll next headline England
People want crematorium and legal occasion
ignorance conscious call news a simply life
ashes remember church unselfconscious
throughout vast families
The Here about a body icon’s family memorial
fans broke cremation gems funeral
so the vast lots that public place be traditional
We’ll next headline England
And his choice from Bowie:
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Dec 28, 2018
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read In Cold Blood, a non-fiction novel about a gruesome killing in Kansas by Truman Capote who may have shared our fancy for wild speculation.
The Divided Self by R.D. Laing
Nov 19, 2018
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time, we read The Divided Self by R.D. Laing, a treatise about schizophrenia and injecting humanism into the science of psychology. And Greg says "So yeah" about 50 times.
Viz
Oct 29, 2018
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Viz, the scatological UK comic that rose from hand-stapled obscurity to become a titan of juvenilia in the '80s and '90s. Plus, we reveal our ill-conceived conspiracy theories about the Bowie List, or lack thereof.
Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Doblin
Sep 24, 2018
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Berlin Alexanderplatz, a classic of German modernism by Alfred Doblin, and another trip to Berlin in the 'twenties for us.
Mr. Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood
Aug 21, 2018
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Mr. Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood, a (semi-)fictional look at one of Bowie's obsessions - Berlin between the wars.
Raw by Art Speigelman and Francoise Mouly
Jul 16, 2018
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read three issues from the second volume of the underground/art/indie/lowbrow/highbrow comic book compliation Raw, edited and published by Art Speigelman and Francoise Mouly. Also, Greg proves that an insufferable child becomes an insufferable adult.
The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels
Jun 28, 2018
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read the Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels, a surprisingly accessible book about the discovery of documents from the very foundation of Christianity with a surprisingly unorthodox viewpoint. And, of course, we shirk the opportunity to learn something in favor of making terrible gnu puns.
Art Spiegelman and Francois Mouly's hugely influential comics anthology Raw), which ran from 1980 to 1991. Greg was lucky enough to buy a couple issues of and DUMB ENOUGH to not keep them.
What Song Did We Choose?
June Miscellany
Jun 18, 2018
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we're catching up on what we're reading and what magical things ONLY KRISTIANNE gets to see, and then we kvetch a bit about ebooks and audio books.
We're reading the Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels, a surprisingly accessible book about the discovery of documents from the very foundation of Christianity with a surprisingly unorthodox viewpoint.
Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse
May 21, 2018
This time we read Keith Waterhouse's Billy Liar - the story of a dreamer in Northern England who just can't keep his stories straight.
May Catch Up - We Chat with @bowiesongs!
May 14, 2018
We catch up with @manmademoon's choice for this month - Down and Out in Paris and London - George Orwell's (not H. Lewis Allways') masterful piece of reporting on poverty AND talk to our Virgilian guide through the songs of David Bowie - Chris O'Leary, whose Rebel Rebel is an essential reference for any Bowie fan.
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Apr 30, 2018
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Madame Bovary a groundbreaking (and salacious, we guess?) novel of one woman's struggle against bourgie norms. And Greg really apologizes about his Vitamin Flintheart.
Puckoon by Spike Milligan
Apr 16, 2018
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Puckoon by Spike Milligan - a comic (well, you be the judge) tale of the troubles brought to a fictional Irish village by the Partition.
Oh, and there's a Puckoon movie that we totally forgot to mention!
Excellent Tweets
@bowiebookpod On a recent pod you suggested that @ManMadeMoon might’ve picked Puckoon for March because of St Patrick’s day. Given it focuses on the impact of a hard border in Ireland the choice may also be topical for other reasons https://t.co/ffsQZf4VNH
Three Stooges meets Comedy of Errors meets Father Ted, alternating between total slapstick, sharp satire, and wit so dry you start to wonder if it’s coming to a joke at all until you realize that you yourself might be the butt of it. And of course it’s broadly offensive to all.
This time we read Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess, a giant, sprawling look at the 20th century, featuring one of the most romantic exorcisms every committed to print.
March Catchup Episode: The Fire Next Time, Vacation Envy and More!
Mar 12, 2018
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we catch up on the discussion of The Fire Next Time on the socials media, talk about other stuff we've been putting in our eyes, and looking forward to what's next on @manmademoon's list - Puckoon by Spike Milligan, and what's next on ours - Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess.
Our next book is Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess, a favorite of Bowie's - we covered Clockwork Orange the other Burgess book on the list way back when in our first episode! We'll publish our discussion at the end of the month - including more discussions of romantic exorcisms!
Before the Deluge by Otto Friedrich
Feb 22, 2018
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read a history of Berlin in the 1920's that is as diverse and roiling as its subject. And mispronounced many things.
We'll be back with an episode to catch up on the #bowiebookclub, who are reading James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time, which we talked about last August - listen to the episode here
I thought of Outside a lot, also the Man Who Sold The World, and I can hear Quicksand playing over the closing credits. Side two of Heroes fits nice also. (@eclecticbob) (we nicked Quicksand for our closing credits, thanks!)
Peter Ackroyd has a new book coming out in May - Queer City
If you're in the mood for creepy minimalist ambient music, check out the Hawksmoor episode of Greg's other podcast Too Tired to Say Anything
We had a nice chat on Bookhub last week about Bowie and books
To be clear, Ian Sinclair is NOT DEAD. (whew). Greg just finished his Ghost Milk and is excited to start The Last London once his brain recovers.
Derek Jacobi doesn't believe in Shakespeare - he may be right
The next #bowiebookclub book is The Fire Next Time, an incredible, powerful book that we discussed last summer. Really looking forward to revisiting it. Folks outside the US are still looking for a copy if you want to help out.
We're reading some other books for Black History Month:
Our next book is Before the Deluge by Otto Friedrich, a portrait of Berlin in the 1920s, which we'll discuss in great and discursive detail at the end of the month as is our wont.
There' a LOT to this book!
Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd
Jan 25, 2018
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd, a wildly entertaining story of occultism, the churches of London, police procedures and how time isn't as straightforward as you might think.
Inside the Whale by George Orwell
Jan 01, 2018
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read Inside the Whale, a book of literary criticism by George Orwell, who we've decided was a time traveller (Netflix, get in touch).
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes
Nov 27, 2017
Welcome to another episode of the **Bowie Book Club**, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read a very entertaining tract about consciousness, hallucinations, poetry, religion and a crackpot theory that ties them all together - in short, what you expected to read in college as a liberal arts major. It's Julian Jayne's magnum opus - The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read The Bridge a series of high-falutin' modernist poems written in the late 1920's by the apparantly oft-inebriate scion of a candy empire, Hart Crane.
Welcome to another episode of the Bowie Book Club, where wild speculation and grasping for straws about Bowie’s favorite books has reigned supreme since 2016. This time we read a book that was published in 1962, but speaks with incredible clarity to the events of this month and to the essential question that our country has never been able to resolve - The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
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