Author name: hubs

David Bowie’s Top 100 Must Read Books

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Earlier this year, before the “David Bowie Is” retrospective opened in Toronto, David Bowie revealed his top 100 must read books. The list provides a captivating look into the mind behind Ziggy Stardust and Major Tom. I like that Bowie’s list is expansive and diverse – including comics, autobiography, history, counter-culture, travel writing, poetry and lots of fiction. I also like that the books are relatively new, with only two selections being written before he was born. Bowie is known as “a voracious reader” who is reputed to read as much as “a book a day”. Here they are in reverse chronological order.

  • The Age of American Unreason, Susan Jacoby, 2008
  • The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz, 2007
  • The Coast of Utopia: Voyage, Shipwreck, Salvage, Tom Stoppard, 2007
  • Teenage: The Creation of Youth 1875-1945, Jon Savage, 2007
  • Fingersmith, Sarah Waters, 2002
  • The Trial of Henry Kissinger, Christopher Hitchens, 2001
  • Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder, Lawrence Weschler, 1997
  • A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1890-1924, Orlando Figes, 1997
  • The Insult, Rupert Thomson, 1996
  • Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon, 1995
  • The Bird Artist, Howard Norman, 1994
  • Kafka Was The Rage: A Greenwich Village Memoir, Anatole Broyard, 1993
  • Beyond the Brillo Box: The Visual Arts in Post-Historical Perspective, Arthur C. Danto, 1992
  • Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson, Camille Paglia, 1990
  • David Bomberg, Richard Cork, 1988
  • Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom, Peter Guralnick, 1986
  • The Songlines, Bruce Chatwin, 1986
  • Hawksmoor, Peter Ackroyd, 1985
  • Nowhere To Run: The Story of Soul Music, Gerri Hirshey, 1984
  • Nights at the Circus, Angela Carter, 1984
  • Money, Martin Amis, 1984
  • White Noise, Don DeLillo, 1984
  • Flaubert’s Parrot, Julian Barnes, 1984
  • The Life and Times of Little Richard, Charles White, 1984
  • A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn, 1980
  • A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole, 1980
  • Interviews with Francis Bacon, David Sylvester, 1980
  • Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler, 1980
  • Earthly Powers, Anthony Burgess, 1980
  • Raw (a ‘graphix magazine’), 1980-91
  • Viz (magazine), 1979 –
  • The Gnostic Gospels, Elaine Pagels, 1979
  • Metropolitan Life, Fran Lebowitz, 1978
  • In Between the Sheets, Ian 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 Glory, Ed Saunders, 1975
  • Mystery Train, Greil Marcus, 1975
  • Selected Poems, Frank O’Hara, 1974
  • Before the Deluge: A Portrait of Berlin in the 1920s, Otto Friedrich, 1972
  • In Bluebeard’s Castle : Some Notes Towards the Re-definition of Culture, George Steiner, 1971
  • Octobriana and the Russian Underground, Peter Sadecky, 1971
  • The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll, Charlie Gillete, 1970
  • The Quest For Christa T, Christa Wolf, 1968
  • Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock, Nik Cohn, 1968
  • The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov, 1967
  • Journey into the Whirlwind, Eugenia Ginzburg, 1967
  • Last Exit to Brooklyn, Hubert Selby Jr. , 1966
  • In Cold Blood, Truman Capote, 1965
  • City of Night, John Rechy, 1965
  • Herzog, Saul Bellow, 1964
  • Puckoon, Spike Milligan, 1963
  • The American Way of Death, Jessica Mitford, 1963
  • The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea, Yukio Mishima, 1963
  • The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin, 1963
  • A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess, 1962
  • Inside the Whale and Other Essays, George Orwell, 1962
  • The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark, 1961
  • Private Eye (magazine) 1961 –
  • On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious, Douglas Harding, 1961
  • Silence: Lectures and Writing, John Cage, 1961
  • Strange People, Frank Edwards, 1961
  • The Divided Self, R. D. Laing, 1960
  • All The Emperor’s Horses, David Kidd,1960
  • Billy Liar, Keith Waterhouse, 1959
  • The Leopard, Giuseppe Di Lampedusa, 1958
  • On The Road, Jack Kerouac, 1957
  • The Hidden Persuaders, Vance Packard, 1957
  • Room at the Top, John Braine, 1957
  • A Grave for a Dolphin, Alberto Denti di Pirajno, 1956
  • The Outsider, Colin Wilson, 1956
  • Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov, 1955
  • Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell, 1949
  • The Street, Ann Petry, 1946
  • Black Boy, Richard Wright, 1945
  • The Portable Dorothy Parker, Dorothy Parker, 1944
  • The Outsider, Albert Camus, 1942
  • The Day of the Locust, Nathanael West, 1939
  • The Beano, (comic) 1938 –
  • The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell, 1937
  • Mr. Norris Changes Trains, Christopher Isherwood, 1935
  • English Journey, J.B. Priestley, 1934
  • Infants of the Spring, Wallace Thurman, 1932
  • The Bridge, Hart Crane, 1930
  • Vile Bodies, Evelyn Waugh, 1930
  • As I lay Dying, William Faulkner, 1930
  • The 42nd Parallel, John Dos Passos, 1930
  • Berlin Alexanderplatz, Alfred Döblin, 1929
  • Passing, Nella Larsen, 1929
  • Lady Chatterley’s Lover, D.H. Lawrence, 1928
  • The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925
  • The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot, 1922
  • BLAST, ed. Wyndham Lewis, 1914-15
  • McTeague, Frank Norris, 1899
  • Transcendental Magic, Its Doctrine and Ritual, Eliphas Lévi, 1896
  • Les Chants de Maldoror, Lautréamont, 1869
  • Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert, 1856
  • Zanoni, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1842
  • Inferno, from the Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri, about 1308-1321
  • The Iliad, Homer, about 800 BC

    • Tweets From The 144 Republicans Who Voted To Send The U.S. Into Default

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    Earlier this week a vote was held in congress on HR 2775. This was a vote to reopen the federal government and temporarily raise the debt limit. Despite the dire consequences of this senate amendment not passing, there were 144 republican representatives who voted against it. Below is a twitter timeline of all those representatives.


    It should be noted that representatives John Mica, Tom Petri, and Sam Graves are not included because they don’t have twitter accounts. Here is the complete list of republican representatives that voted to send the United States into default.

    Selling Banksy’s Art

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    Since October 1st, elusive street artist Banksy has been leaving his mark in New York during a month-long residency called “Better Out Than In“. This weekend, as part of his live exhibition, Banksy set up a stall in Central Park where an unknown man sold “100% authentic original signed Banksy canvases” to the general public for $60 each. The stall contained about 25 spray art canvasses – eight paintings were sold (two were bargained down to $30 each).

    Banksy NYC StallPhoto courtesy of Banksy.

    For comparison, in 2007 Banksy’s work “Space Girl & Bird” was purchased for $576,000, and in 2008 his canvas “Keep it Spotless” was sold for $1,870,000. The BBC estimates the pieces sold yesterday could be worth as much as $31,000 each. Accompanying video can be seen on BanksyNY youtube account.

    Top 10 Most Banned Books: 2012

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    Another year has gone by and it is Banned Books Week once more. I have been listing the top 10 most challenged books annually on my blog since 2009. I’d be remiss not to do it again. 2012 saw an increase in challenged books. Last year there were 464 challenges reported by the Office for Intellectual Freedom (compared to 326 in 2011 and 348 in 2010). You can see the top 10 list below.

    2012

    1. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey.
      Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group
    2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie.
      Reasons: Offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group
    3. Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher.
      Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited for age group
    4. Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James.
      Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit
    5. And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson.
      Reasons: Homosexuality, unsuited for age group
    6. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini.
      Reasons: Homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit
    7. Looking for Alaska, by John Green.
      Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group
    8. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
      Reasons: Unsuited for age group, violence
    9. The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls
      Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit
    10. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
      Reasons: Sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence

    Click these links if you are looking for the top 10 lists for previous years with easy links to Amazon: 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001.

    Additionally, in 2010, I put together a list of the 100 Most Banned & Challenged Books Of The Decade by aggregating several lists from the American Library Association.

    Bruce Springsteen <–> Dolly Parton

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    If you take Dolly Parton’s song about temptation and slow it down to 33.3 RPM it sounds a lot like Bruce Springsteen. Dolly Parton – Jolene Slowed 33 RPM

    If you take Bruce Springsteen’s song about temptation and speed it up to 45 RPM it sounds a whole lot like Dolly Parton. Bruce Springsteen – I’m on Fire 45 RPM

    There has to be some sort of secret meaning here but I haven’t been able to figure out yet.

    Amazing Grace On The Matryomin Sounds Strangely Wonderful

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    A matryomin is an unusual instrument. It’s a cross between a miniature, pitch-only, theremin and a matryoshka doll (a Russian nesting doll). The instrument has a cult following in Japan.

    This video shows a matryomin ensemble called “Da” at the auditorium of Jiyugakuen Myonichikan in Tokyo on 22 Jan. 2011. The ensemble consisted of 167 musicians playing Amazing Grace. It sounds wonderful – in a strangely creepy sort of way.

    Recently the ensemble group Da broke a world record for the “Largest Matryomin Ensemble” by gathering over 277 musicians in concert.

    via youtube

    Here is a link to the mp3 if you want it: Amazing Grace by Da

    How To Easily Turn Your Twitter Stream Into A Linkblog Of Your Friends

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    Since Twitter allows you to search the tweets of just the people you follow (in addition to “all” and “top” tweets), it is easy to create a Linkblog of all your friends. Simply enter “filter:links http” into your search bar. Easy and productive. This is great little trick if you are the type of user that gets on twitter to find cool links to read, watch, or listen to.

    I, For One, Welcome Our New Robot Overlords

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    My buddy Howard has posted version 1.9 of his “For the Love of Our Robot Overlords Mix” over at his blog. It a great mix of songs all about robots. The heart of the mix is a suite of songs about female lovebots, but collection also includes themes such as Man Becomes Robot and Robot As Pet. Give it a Listen and check out the track list below. Then go grab your copy before the robots take over or they’ll vaporize you with their heat ray.
    …

    I, For One, Welcome Our New Robot OverlordsRead More »

    The Best Two Second Slayer Video Ever

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    I was upset to read that Slayer’s guitarist Jeff Hanneman died yesterday morning at age 49. In honor of Jeff’s passing I present to you my most favorite two second Slayer video ever.

    These two ushers had a hell of a night during the August 25th 2010 Slayer show at Magness Arena in Denver, CO. They stood like that the entire night. Magness Arena really doesn’t have a lot of concerts (Though I have seen Pixies and Jane’s Addiction there) and I don’t think these poor ladies had any idea what they were in for.

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