Calliope Writing

David Bowie passed away last night at age 69 after a battle with liver cancer.

Photo Credit: Flickr user Jean-Luc Ourlin

When I heard the news, I bawled like a baby. I had no idea that a celebrity’s demise could affect me this way, but apparently, Bowie’s could–and did.

So what does this have to do with writing and/or reading?

Bowie Was a Huge Reader

Photo Credit: Flickr user Michael Sauers

Among his favorite books are:

• Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson, Camille Paglia, 1990
• Money, Martin Amis, 1984
• A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole, 1980
• In Cold Blood, Truman Capote, 1965
• A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess, 1962
• On The Road, Jack Kerouac, 1957
• Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov, 1955
• Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell, 1948
• Black Boy, Richard Wright, 1945
• The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot, 1922
• Inferno, from the Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri, about 1308-1321

He Was a Hell of a Writer

Here are just a few of my favorite Bowie-written songs.

Rest in Peace, David Bowie.

Photo Credit: Flickr user Hunter Desportes

Note: Special thanks to Flickr user Eurritimia for the featured image.