Artists & musicians

Books recommended by David Bowie

Singer, songwriter and actor (1947–2016)

English singer-songwriter and actor, and a famously heavy reader. His official site published his 100 favourite books in 2013.

95 books from 1 source · 13 also picked by others

On lists:Authors Musicians

Fiction & literature History Writing, art & ideas Philosophy & how to live Politics & society

Photo: Adam Bielawski, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

This is a selection of sourced recommendations, not a complete list of everything David Bowie has read or praised. How we choose.

Recommendations

Books David Bowie recommends

95 books from 1 source. Each one links to the place where David recommended it.

Bowie's top 100 books - the complete list

Organization page · davidbowie.com (official site) · 1 Oct 2013 · View source ↗

The complete list of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, published on his official website in 2013.

Interviews with Francis Bacon

David Sylvester · 1975
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Billy Liar

Keith Waterhouse · 1959
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Room at the Top

John Braine · 1957
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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On Having No Head

Douglas Harding · 2013
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Kafka Was the Rage

Anatole Broyard · 1993
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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A Clockwork Orange

Anthony Burgess · 1962
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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City of Night

John Rechy · 1963
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Junot Díaz · 2007
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Madame Bovary

Gustave Flaubert · 1856
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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+1 other recommender: Mark Manson
The Iliad

Homer
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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+4 other recommenders: Stewart Brand, Neal Stephenson, Stephen Fry, Mark Manson
As I Lay Dying

William Faulkner · 1915
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Tadanori Yokoo

Tadanori Yokoo · 1977
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Berlin Alexanderplatz

Alfred Döblin · 1929
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Inside the Whale and Other Essays

George Orwell · 1962
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Mr. Norris Changes Trains

Christopher Isherwood · 1935
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Hall's Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art

James A. Hall · 1985
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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David Bomberg

Richard Cork · 1987
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Blast

Wyndham Lewis · 1937
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Passing

Nella Larsen · 1929
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Beyond the Brillo Box

Arthur C. Danto · 1992
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

Julian Jaynes · 1976
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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In Bluebeard's Castle

George Steiner · 1971
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Hawksmoor

Peter Ackroyd · 1975
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The Divided Self

R. D. Laing · 1959
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The Stranger

Albert Camus · 1980
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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+1 other recommender: Mark Manson
Infants of the Spring

Wallace Thurman · 1932
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The Quest for Christa T

Christa Wolf
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The Songlines

Bruce Chatwin · 1987
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Nights at the Circus

Angela Carter · 1984
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The Master and Margarita

Mikhail Bulgakov
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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+1 other recommender: Mark Manson
Lolita

Vladimir Nabokov · 1777
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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+1 other recommender: Mark Manson
Herzog

Saul Bellow · 1961
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Puckoon

Spike Milligan · 1963
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Black Boy

Richard Wright · 1945
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald · 1920
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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+1 other recommender: Mark Manson
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea

Yukio Mishima · 1990
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Darkness at Noon

Arthur Koestler · 1941
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The Waste Land

T. S. Eliot · 1922
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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McTeague

Frank Norris · 1899
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One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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+1 other recommender: Armistead Maupin
Money

Martin Amis · 1984
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The Outsider

Colin Wilson · 1956
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Strange People

Frank Edwards · 1961
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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English Journey

J.B. Priestley · 1934
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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A Confederacy of Dunces

John Kennedy Toole · 1980
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The Day of the Locust

Nathanael West · 1939
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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1984

George Orwell · 2003
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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+2 other recommenders: Mark Manson, Jordan Peterson
The Life and Times of Little Richard

Charles White · 1984
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom

Nik Cohn · 1996
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

Listed in the source as “Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock”.

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Mystery Train

Greil Marcus · 1975
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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White Noise

Don DeLillo · 1984
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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+1 other recommender: Mark Manson
Sweet Soul Music

Peter Guralnick · 1986
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

Listed in the source as “Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom”.

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Silence

John Cage · 1961
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

Listed in the source as “Silence: Lectures and Writing”.

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Writers at Work

Malcolm Cowley · 1958
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

Listed in the source as “Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews”.

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The Sound of the City

Charlie Gillett · 1970
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

Listed in the source as “The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll”.

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Octobriana and the Russian Underground

Peter Sadecky · 1971
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The Street

Ann Petry · 1946
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Wonder Boys

Michael Chabon · 1995
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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A People's History of the United States

Howard Zinn · 1980
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The Age of American Unreason

Susan Jacoby · 2008
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Metropolitan Life

Fran Lebowitz · 1975
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The Coast of Utopia

Tom Stoppard · 2003
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The Bridge

Hart Crane · 1930
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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All the Emperor's Horses

David Kidd · 1960
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Fingersmith

Sarah Waters · 2002
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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+1 other recommender: Kate Mosse
Earthly Powers

Anthony Burgess · 1980
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The 42nd Parallel

John Dos Passos · 1930
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Tales of Beatnik Glory

Ed Sanders · 1975
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The Bird Artist

Howard Norman · 1994
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Nowhere to Run

Gerri Hirshey · 1984
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

Listed in the source as “Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music”.

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Before the Deluge

Otto Friedrich · 1972
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Sexual Personae

Camille Paglia · 1990
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

Listed in the source as “Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson”.

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The American Way of Death

Jessica Mitford · 1901
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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In Cold Blood

Truman Capote · 1965
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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+2 other recommenders: David Baldacci, Mark Manson
Lady Chatterley's Lover

D.H. Lawrence · 1900
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Teenage

Jon Savage · 2007
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Vile Bodies

Evelyn Waugh · 1930
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The Hidden Persuaders

Vance Packard · 1957
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The Fire Next Time

James Baldwin · 1962
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Selected Poems

Frank O'Hara
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The Trial of Henry Kissinger

Christopher Hitchens · 2001
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Flaubert's Parrot

Julian Barnes · 1984
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Les Chants de Maldoror

Comte de Lautréamont · 1874
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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On the Road

Jack Kerouac · 1957
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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+2 other recommenders: James Clear, Mark Manson
Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonders

Lawrence Weschler · 1995
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Zanoni

Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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Transcendental Magic

Eliphas Lévi · 1923
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

Listed in the source as “Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and Ritual”.

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The Gnostic Gospels

Elaine Pagels · 1979
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

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The Leopard

Giusseppe Di Lampedusa · 2000
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

Bowie's top 100 books - the complete list Organization pagedavidbowie.com davidbowie.com (official site) · 1 Oct 2013 · checked 13 Nov 2026

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Inferno

Dante Alighieri · 1767
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

Bowie's top 100 books - the complete list Organization pagedavidbowie.com davidbowie.com (official site) · 1 Oct 2013 · checked 13 Nov 2026

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A Grave for a Dolphin

Alberto Denti di Pirajno · 1956
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

Bowie's top 100 books - the complete list Organization pagedavidbowie.com davidbowie.com (official site) · 1 Oct 2013 · checked 13 Nov 2026

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The Insult

Rupert Thomson · 1996
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

Bowie's top 100 books - the complete list Organization pagedavidbowie.com davidbowie.com (official site) · 1 Oct 2013 · checked 13 Nov 2026

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In Between the Sheets

Ian McEwan · 1978
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

Bowie's top 100 books - the complete list Organization pagedavidbowie.com davidbowie.com (official site) · 1 Oct 2013 · checked 13 Nov 2026

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A People’s Tragedy

Orlando Figes · 1996
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

Listed in the source as “A People's Tragedy”.

Bowie's top 100 books - the complete list Organization pagedavidbowie.com davidbowie.com (official site) · 1 Oct 2013 · checked 13 Nov 2026

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+1 other recommender: Thomas Keneally
Journey Into the Whirlwind

Eugenia Ginzburg
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

Bowie's top 100 books - the complete list Organization pagedavidbowie.com davidbowie.com (official site) · 1 Oct 2013 · checked 13 Nov 2026

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Posted

Joey Porterfield
Explicit recommendation
One of David Bowie's 100 favourite books, from the complete list on his official website.

Bowie's top 100 books - the complete list Organization pagedavidbowie.com davidbowie.com (official site) · 1 Oct 2013 · checked 13 Nov 2026

Order this book