08/12/2025
Brilliant! ❤️
The Man Who Read the World: David Bowie's Son Launches Online Book Club in His Honor
Few people know that David Bowie, the legendary rock star, was also an avid reader with an insatiable appetite for books. According to his son, Duncan Jones, Bowie could finish a book in just one day and was described as a "voracious reader. " In tribute to his father's passion for literature, Jones has launched an online book club, aptly named the Bowie Book Club, as announced on the official Instagram account dedicated to the late artist.
David Bowie's literary tastes were remarkably diverse. He enjoyed classics like Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert and Homer’s Iliad, as well as modern novels such as A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess and Infants of the Spring by Wallace Thurman. His interests extended far beyond fiction, encompassing a wide range of non-fiction works on history, biography, art, architecture, and more—including even the comic Beano.
Three years before his death, Bowie compiled a list of the one hundred books that had most profoundly influenced his life. This list, which was featured in the “David Bowie Is” exhibition, is considered by many to be the closest thing to an autobiography that Bowie ever produced. Some books on the list were selected because Bowie wanted to share them with his fans, while others had a deeper resonance, shaping his creativity and leaving a lasting impact on his artistic legacy.
With no formal autobiography left behind, David Bowie’s carefully curated list of favorite books offers unique insight into the mind of one of music’s most innovative icons. Through the Bowie Book Club, fans now have the opportunity to explore the literature that inspired and shaped his extraordinary career.