John O'Connell

Named one of Entertainment Weekly’s 12 biggest music memoirs this fall. “An artful and wildly enthralling path for Bowie fans in particular and book lovers in general.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “The only art I’ll ever study is stuff that I can steal from.” ―David Bowie 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.

The Hundred Books that Changed David Bowie's Life

Bowie's Bookshelf

A tasty compendium of spices and a fascinating history and wide array of uses of the world's favorite flavors--The Book of Spice: From Anise to Zedoary reveals the amazing history of spices both familiar and esoteric. John O'Connell's erudite chapters combine history with insights into art, religion, medicine, science, and is richly seasoned with anecdotes and recipes.Discover why Cleopatra bathed in saffron and mare's milk, why wormwood-laced absinthe caused eighteenth century drinkers to hallucinate and how cloves harvested in remote Indonesian islands found their way into a kitchen in ancient Syria. Almost every kitchen contains a bottle of cloves or a stick of cinnamon, almost every dish a pinch of something, whether chili or cumin. The Book of Spice is culinary history at its most appetizing.

From Anise to Zedoary

The Book of Spice

Il book club di David Bowie. I 100 libri che hanno cambiato la vita della leggenda

Laura Rins Calahorra;Marta Mabres Vicens;Jofre Homedes Beutnagel;

Del anís al zumaque

El libro de las especias

Three years before he died, David Bowie made a list of the one hundred books that had transformed his life - a list that formed something akin to an autobiography. From Madame Bovary to A Clockwork Orange, the Iliad to the Beano, these were the publications that had fuelled his creativity and shaped who he was. In Bowie's Books, John O'Connell explores this list in the form of one hundred short essays, each offering a perspective on the man, performer and creator that is Bowie, his work as an artist and the era that he lived in. Brilliantly illustrated throughout and the perfect gift for Bowie fans and book lovers, Bowie's Books is much more than a list of books you should read in your lifetime: it is a unique insight into one of the greatest minds of our times, and an indispensable part of the legacy that Bowie left behind.

The Hundred Literary Heroes Who Changed His Life

Bowie's Books

una invitación a la lectura a través de los 100 libros que cambiaron la vida del mito

El club de lectura de David Bowie

Tre anni prima di morire la rockstar svelò i 100 libri che più avevano influenzato la sua carriera e cambiato il suo modo di guardare il mondo. Questa è la sua eredità: un invito irresistibile a immergerci nei libri e nel loro potere di trasformarci. Il Book Club di David Bowie è molto più di una lista di libri da leggere nella vita: è un viaggio unico nella mente di uno degli uomini più brillanti del nostro tempo. 100 brevi saggi per scoprire il lato più intimo del Bowie lettore. Dall’Iliade a Lolita, da Lo straniero all’Inferno di Dante, con Il club del libro di David Bowie John O’Connell passa in rassegna la lista dei libri preferiti da David Bowie – questo incredibile regalo dell’artista al mondo – attraverso 100 brevi saggi, ognuno dei quali offre una prospettiva diversa sull’uomo, il performer, e il creativo che è stato David Bowie, sul suo lavoro come artista e sul periodo storico in cui ha vissuto.

I 100 libri che hanno cambiato la vita della leggenda

Il book club di David Bowie

This is... Animals that Live in Europe. This book goes from the top of Iceland and Norway to the bottom of Turkey, showing beautiful colored photos of each animal with the most important or fun fact that is currently known, under each picture. There are animals such as the Pine Marten, where a group of Pine martens is called a 'richness', to other animals like the Arctic fox whose fur changes color in the winter. This is a book that is very basic, with extensive research done to make sure the reader is getting the proper information. This allows the reader an opportunity to learn something new, EVERY TIME, they read itI also use bright colors, to help stimulate memory and learning as well as a simple format to enhance the reading experience.You are definitely giving the reader in your home the continual opportunity to learn, as well as the ETERNAL GIFT of knowledge with ALL THE BOOKS I write.Come visit our website to see all our books that enhance your readers mindhttps://www.abookbyjohnnyo.com

This Is... Animals That Live in Europe

A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Brilliant. The unwritten Bowie book that needed writing' CAITLIN MORAN 'Splendid. Provides plenty of evidence of Bowie's restless, rummaging intelligence, and his pleasure in the fact that books allow readers to slip into someone else's skin and try it on for size' THE TIMES 'A witty and enlightening analysis of Bowie's 100 essential books . . . A handy, amusing, light-touch precis' OBSERVER 'What is your idea of perfect happiness?' 'Reading.' 'What is the quality you most like in a man?' 'The ability to return books.' Three years before he died, David Bowie made a list of the one hundred books that had transformed his life – a list that formed something akin to an autobiography. From Madame Bovary to A Clockwork Orange, the Iliad to the Beano, these were the publications that had fuelled his creativity and shaped who he was. In Bowie's Books, John O'Connell explores this list in the form of one hundred short essays, each offering a perspective on the man, performer and creator that is Bowie, his work as an artist and the era that he lived in. Brilliantly illustrated throughout and the perfect gift for Bowie fans and book lovers, Bowie's Books is much more than a list of books you should read in your lifetime: it is a unique insight into one of the greatest minds of our times, and an indispensable part of the legacy that Bowie left behind.

At once familiar and exotic, spices are rare things, comforting us in favorite dishes while evoking far-flung countries, Arabian souks, colonial conquests and vast fortunes. John O'Connell introduces us to spices and their unique properties, both medical and magical, alongside the fascinating histories behind both kitchen staples and esoteric luxuries. A tasty compendium of spices and a fascinating history and wide array of uses of the world’s favorite flavors—The Book of Spice: From Anise to Zedoary reveals the amazing history of spices both familiar and esoteric. John O’Connell’s erudite chapters combine history with insights into art, religion, medicine, science, and is richly seasoned with anecdotes and recipes. Discover why Cleopatra bathed in saffron and mare’s milk, why wormwood-laced absinthe caused eighteenth century drinkers to hallucinate and how cloves harvested in remote Indonesian islands found their way into a kitchen in ancient Syria. Almost every kitchen contains a bottle of cloves or a stick of cinnamon, almost every dish a pinch of something, whether chili or cumin. The Book of Spice is culinary history at its most appetizing.

The Book of Spice: From Anise to Zedoary

'Thrilling. a rip-roaring addition to the extended library of all things Holmes.' Metro

Baskerville

The life and speeches of Daniel O'Connell edited by his son John O'Connell

Remember letters? They were good, weren’t they? The thrill of receiving that battered envelope, all the better for the wait . . . In this richly entertaining book, paper geek John O’Connell puts forward a passionate case for the value of letter-writing in a distracted, technology-obsessed world. Drawing on great examples from the past, he shows that the best letters have much to teach us – Samuel Richardson’s ‘familiar letters’; Wilfred Owen’s outpourings to his mother; the sly observational charms of Jane Austen. And in doing so he reminds us of the kind of letters we would all write if we had the time – the perfect thank-you letter, a truly empathetic condolence letter, and of course the heartfelt declaration of love. Was there a Golden Age of Letters? Why is handwriting so important? Can we ever regain the hallowed slowness of the pre-Twitter era? In answering these questions O’Connell shows how a proper letter is an object to be cherished, its crafting an act of exposure which gives shape and meaning to the chaos of life. *** ‘The nib touches the paper. And instinctively I follow the old formula: address in top right-hand corner; date just beneath it on the left-hand side. My writing looks weird. I hand-write so infrequently these days that I’ve developed a graphic stammer - my brain’s way of registering its impatience and bemusement. What are you doing? Just send an email! I haven’t got all night . . .’

The Joy of Slow Communication

For the Love of Letters

»David Bowie, was ist für Sie das vollkommene irdische Glück?« »Lesen«. Drei Jahre vor seinem Tod erstellte David Bowie eine Liste mit einhundert Büchern, die sein Leben verändert haben – eine Liste, die einer besonderen Autobiografie gleichkommt. David Bowie hat Literatur geliebt. Er hat immer und überall gelesen, über Bücher gesprochen und sie sogar rezensiert. Unter den einhundert Werken, die ihm am wichtigsten waren, sind »Madame Bovary«, »Clockwork Orange«, »Flauberts Papagei« und »Nachdenken über Christa T«. Manche gehören zum klassischen europäischen Kanon, andere sind nur Eingeweihten bekannt – sie alle haben ihn inspiriert und zu dem gemacht, der er war. John O’Connell stellt diese Bücher in hundert kurzen Essays vor; jeder von ihnen wirft einen neuen Blick auf den Menschen und Künstler David Bowie, auf seine Arbeit und die Zeit, in der er lebte. »Bowies Bücher« ist so nicht nur eine ungewöhnliche Liste mit Büchern, die sich zu entdecken lohnen, sondern auch eine unterhaltsame Art, einen der größten Künstler der vergangenen Jahrzehnte neu kennenzulernen.

Literatur, die sein Leben veränderte

Bowies Bücher

Based on true events in the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, this darkly thrilling tale of friendship, rivalry, and ambition tells the backstory of how one of the world’s most celebrated mysteries came to be written. Dartmoor, 1900. Two friends are roaming the moors: Arthur Conan Doyle – the most famous novelist of his age – who has recently killed off his most popular creation, Sherlock Holmes; and Bertram Fletcher Robinson – Holmes aficionado and editor of the Daily Express. They are researching a detective novel, a collaboration starring a new hero, set in the eerie stillness of ancient West Country moorland, and featuring a monstrous dog. They already have a title… London, 1902. The Hound of the Baskervilles is published, featuring Sherlock Holmes back from the dead. Conan Doyle and Fletcher Robinson have not spoken for two years and the book is credited to just one author. It will become one of the most famous stories ever written. But who really wrote it? And what really happened on those moors, to drive the two friends apart?

John O'Connell

About

Books

Join the club