A collection of Johnny Cash’s favourite books
One thing that people might not know about Johnny Cash is that he was quite the bookworm.
In fact, the Man in Black might have appeared to be a larger-than-life figure of an outlaw with a hardened exterior, but all of that was merely surface-level observations that distracted from the pure storytelling lover he truly was at heart.
It’s also part of the reason why he developed the empathy to be able to give a voice to working-class heroes, and part of why his black attire image became so important, even if it emerged from something more casual at first, like wanting to match his band on stage. Over time, the black clothing came to symbolise something more sociological, an association that Cash took in his stride whenever confronted with the question.
He addressed many of these points in his song, ‘Man in Black’, when he sang the words: “I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down / Livin’ in the hopeless, hungry side of town /I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime /But is there because he’s a victim of the times.“
In the song – and the broader associations with the moniker and colour of clothing – Cash delves into what his eldest daughter, Rosanne Cash, once deemed the “many levels” of her father: on the one hand, Cash was representing the poor, and on the other hand, he was letting people into the hardships he had suffered himself, and the reasons why he took on the burden of a darkened soul.
Much of this understanding and empathy of the world around came from the art that Cash consumed and the books that he read. A shier person than perhaps most realise, Cash was endeared to societal stories with a powerful message, and often saw himself in the eyes of those who had been through the grinder on their journey on the righteous path.
One was John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, which he was once asked about while discussing his cover of Kris Kristofferson’s song ‘Here Comes That Rainbow Again’, which was inspired by the 1939 classic. When asked if he knew of it by The Guardian sometime in the 1990s, he’d responded with an enthused, “Know that book? I was that book.”
It’s relatively easy to come across other books that Cash enjoyed, and it’s even easier to notice the pattern with his specific tastes. In 2013, his daughter, Kathy, mentioned that among his collection were books on the Civil War, prison, and Roman history. Cash’s son, John Carter Cash, also previously told ABC News that two of his father’s favourite books were Og Mandino’s Greatest Salesman in the World and Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet.
He mentioned reading books by the likes of Stephen King, James Joyce, and JD Salinger, but one that stood out for him later in life was Gary Jennings’ Aztec. According to Rosanne, he was also a big fan of Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove and Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. So, while there were clearly some he leaned towards more than others, in the end, Cash would get stuck into anything – as long as he could see a bit of himself in the story.
Johnny Cash’s favourite books:
- The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
- Greatest Salesman in the World – Og Mandino
- The Prophet – Kahlil Gibran
- Aztec – Gary Jennings
- Lonesome Dove – Larry McMurtry
- One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel García Márquez
