John O’Connell Interviewed by Matthew Stadlen

Music journalist John O’Connell throws new light on the life of the rock star David Bowie through the reading list that he composed before he died.

O’Connell says Bowie was a voracious reader. He would travel with a mobile bibliothèque and wrote book reviews for the US bookstore Barnes & Noble. The list of 100 books he drew up three years before he died were like an autobiography. O’Connell explains how the books, from childhood reads such as the Beano to adult reads and authors such as The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Fingersmith, Christopher Isherwood and John Rechy, fuelled Bowie’s creativity and shaped who he was.

O’Connell is a former senior editor at Time Out and columnist for The Face. He interviewed David Bowie in New York in 2002.

Here he talks to LBC radio host Matthew Stadlen, a former Telegraph interviewer and BBC presenter.