David Bowie's 100 Favourite books: How many have you read?

[Foxaèr]

I much prefer nonfiction, myself. You can find writing just as evocative, but deep in your mind is the realization that this shit really happened.

Boring.

[Thumpalumpacus]

To you, sure.

[Foxaèr]

Obviously.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Obviously.

[Excited Penguin]

Gatsby, Madame Bovary, Lolita, Clockwork Orange.

[Crossless2.0]

I've read twenty books on the list. I also tend to read much more non-fiction than fiction.

[abaris]

Not that many, actually. But keep in mind that I don't come from the Anglo Saxon culture. I copied them out of the full list so as to not clutter up my reply.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess - once or twice

Iliad by Homer - very often as a child.

Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin - once

The Stranger by Albert Camus - at school, part of my French classes.

1984 by George Orwell - too often to count

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote - twice or three times

On The Road by Jack Kerouac - once when I probably was too young to understand it.

[Whateverist]

This is part of why I haven't read more on this list. Classic literature is held up on a high pedestal simply because they are classics. While they may be well-written, the culture they are important to isn't always universal or timeless. Some of them still certainly stand out, though. 1984 is absolutely still important.

My problem is that whenever I am tempted to read a novel, I find a nonfic book I'd rather read.

That was the way it was for me until I retired.  Plus for most of my life I've just been a natural history nut.  Now I'm a total fiction slut.  

On my last trip to the library I brought home "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" along with "The Corrections" (didn't see it on the list).  I've started in on The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen.  I found both on a list of the 100 best fiction since 2000.  The Wao book was top ten but the Corrections was number one.  It's about about a midwest family with three adult children.  The father has Parkinsons disease, the wife is neurotic and the kids all have troubles.  I keep thinking, at least I have it better than that guy.

[TheRealJoeFish]

That's an awesome list. I am a big Bowie fan and this certainly reinforces my love of the man.

Here are the ones I've read:

A Clockwork Orange
As I Lay Dying
The Stranger
Lolita
The Great Gatsby
Darkness at Noon
The Waste Land
1984

A Confederacy of Dunces is on my bedside table and is next in line. A number of these are certainly books I have explicitly singled out o read.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Oh, I missed that On the Road was on there. Read that too, loved it. Wanted to name my son Salvadore for a brief moment, until Momma laid down the law.