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Neil Peart’s mammoth reading list: The drummer’s favourite books of all time

Tue 14 September 2021 14:00, UK

It’s a cliché of music that the drummer is, ahem, the least well-read member of the band, to put it mildly. Fortunately, for the sticksmiths who have been beleaguered by this trope since time immemorial, Rush’s late thunderous groove engine Neil Peart crafted a hefty tome of texts to disavow the prejudice for good.

It is notable in Peart’s case, that he was also the lyricist for Rush which represents a fairly rare double act in music. In order to keep his quill sharp so to speak, the drumming extraordinaire was forever delving into books and prising any wisdom that he could. As ardent fans might already know, the works of Ayn Rand and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain are both recurring touchstones in the band’s back catalogue, but there was a lot more than that evidently floating in the wheelhouse of inspirations, a whole lot more!

For many years, the drummer who sadly passed away in 2020, ran a section on his website called Bubba’s Book Club headed with the Aldous Huxley quote: “The proper study of mankind is books.” Peart then expands upon this with his own analysis, writing: “First reading that quote some years ago, I was perplexed, and thus unenlightened. I liked the implied reverence for books, which I have shared all my life, but—what did it mean?”

He then goes on to say: “Now, with the benefit of a few more years of living, reading, and learning to understand how great minds express themselves, I realize those few chiselled words have to be parsed with Aristotelean precision. An intellect as cultivated and rigorous as Aldous Huxley’s would weigh and measure each word that way.”

In the lengthy write-up that follows Peart reveals himself as a sagacious literary mind and reflects on how novels have influenced his life and work in one of many lengthy reviews he penned for the site; all of which have been collated in the mammoth list of mentions that he doled out over the years in his own impassioned prose.

From his take on the Cormac McCarthy novel No Country for Old Men that was later adapted into the Coen brothers movie of the same name, that Peart describes as: “[McCarthy’s most ambitious myth yet, and like many myths, it also has a lot to say about the world around us now. In the familiar McCarthy landscape of West Texas, along the Mexican border, the fate of two men and those around them are affected by a drug deal gone fatally bad. The ageing Sheriff Bell reflects on the changes he has known through his life and career, while a young man, Llewelyn Moss, finds himself swept into a vortex of evil and violence.”

To his rather thought-provoking take on David Foster Wallace who he links to a fellow musical trailblazer, Brain Wilson. “Wallace suffered from the pressures of having the word ‘genius’ lobbed in his direction,” he writes, “And struggled to live up to his own expectations for his work (another musical echo, of Brian Wilson, a fragile, burning spirit of pure ambition weighed down by the need to ‘measure up’ to some imagined expectation).”

You can check out the full list of the books he felt stirred enough by to review below.

Neil Peart’s favourite books:

Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe
The Man With the Golden Arm, by Nelson Algren
Inés of My Soul, by Isabel Allende
Scattered Suns, by Kevin J. Anderson
Metal Swarm, by Kevin J. Anderson
Resurrection Inc, by Kevin J. Anderson
The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born, by Ayi Kwei Armah
Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America’s Class War, by Joe Bageant
The Book of Ten Nights and a Night, by John Barth
Every Third Thought: A Novel in Five Seasons, by John Barth
More Die of Heartbreak, by Saul Bellow
Henderson the Rain King, by Saul Bellow
The Adventures of Augie March, by Saul Bellow
Humboldt’s Gift, by Saul Bellow
The Inner Circle, by T.C. Boyle
Drop City, by T.C. Boyle
Louis Riel, by Chester Brown
Bill Bruford: The Autobiography, by Bill Bruford
A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson
A Salty Piece of Land, by Jimmy Buffett
The Art of Travel, by Alain de Botton
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, by Michael Chabon
Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of A Husband, Father, and Son, by Michael Chabon
Telegraph Avenue, by Michael Chabon
The Republic of Nothing, by Lesley Choyce
The Antagonist, by Lynn Coady
The Secret Agent, by Joseph Conrad
Lord Jim, by Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad
Victory, by Joseph Conrad
Eleanor Rigby, by Douglas Coupland
The Deptford Trilogy, by Robertson Davies
Underworld, by Don DeLillo
The Sisters Brothers, by Patrick deWitt
The Old Curiosity Shop, bt Charles Dickens
Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Brothers K, by David James Duncan
The River Why, by David James Duncan
The Alexandria Quartet, by Lawrence Durrell
A Visit From the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan
What is the What, by Dave Eggers
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers
You Shall Know Our Velocity, by Dave Eggers
How We Are Hungry, by Dave Eggers
Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers
A Hologram for the King, by Dave Eggers
Middlemarch, by George Eliot
The Mill on the Floss, by George Eliot
As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
The Last Tycoon, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Everything is Illuminated, by Jonathan Safran Foer
Canada, by Richard Ford
Strong Motion, by Jonathan Franzen
Nightwoods, by Charles Frazier
Brighton Rock, by Graham Greene
Journey Without Maps, by Graham Greene
The Lawless Roads, by Graham Greene
The Heart of the Matter, by Graham Greene
The Power and the Glory, by Graham Greene
Our Lady of the Forest, by David Guterson
Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
Rebuilding the Indian, by Fred Haefele
Late Nights On Air, by Elizabeth Hay
Under Kilimanjaro, by Ernest Hemingway
To Have and To Have Not, by Ernest Hemingway
Islands in the Stream, by Ernest Hemingway
Green Hills of Africa, by Ernest Hemingway
A Moveable Feast, by Ernest Hemingway
The Garden of Eden, by Ernest Hemingway
Pike’s Folly, by Mike Heppner
The Egg Code, by Mike Heppner
The Man Talking Project, by Mike Heppner
A Long Way Down, by Nick Hornby
High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby
About a Boy, by Nick Hornby
How to Be Good, by Nick Hornby
Songbook, by Nick Hornby
Fever Pitch, by Nick Hornby
The Polysyllabic Spree, by Nick Hornby
A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World, by Tony Horwitz
After Many A Summer Dies the Swan, by Aldous Huxley
Frank Lloyd Wright, by Ada Louise Huxtable
Until I Find You, by John Irving
A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
The World According to Garp, by John Irving
The Cider House Rules, by John Irving
In One Person, by John Irving
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, by Wayne Johnston
The Custodian of Paradise, by Wayne Johnston
A World Elsewhere, by Wayne Johnston
Ulysses, by James Joyce
Critique of Religion and Philosophy, by Walter Kaufmann
The Lacuna, by Barbara Kingsolver
The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver
The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver
High Tide in Tucson, by Barbara Kingsolver
Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver
Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of A Human Obsession, by Daniel J. Levitin
The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
White Fang, by Jack London
The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London
Martin Eden, by Jack London
The Way the Crow Flies, by Ann-Marie MacDonald
Fall on Your Knees, by Ann-Marie MacDonald
Every Love Story is a Ghost Story: The Life of David Foster Wallace, by D.T. Max
No Country for Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy
Child of God, by Cormac McCarthy
Blood Meridian, or, The Evening Redness in the West, by Cormac McCarthy
The Border Trilogy, by Cormac McCarthy
Atonement, by Ian McEwan
Long Way Round: Chasing Shadows Across the World, by Ewan McGregor
The Good Life, by Jay McInerney
Bright Lights, Big City, by Jay McInerney
The Story of My Life, by Jay McInerney
Uncommon Carriers, by John McPhee
Greasy Rider: Two Dudes, One Fry-oil-powered Car, and A Cross-country Search for A Greener Future, by Greg Melville
Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
Unfinished Journey: Twenty Years Later, by Yehudi Menuhin
The Emperor’s Children, by Claire Messud
A Fine Balance, by Rohinton Mistry
Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell
Fool, by Christopher Moore
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal, by Christopher Moore
French Revolutions, by Tim Moore
Paradise, by Toni Morrison
Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov
The Big Year, by Mark Obmascik
Going After Cacciato, by Tim O’Brien
The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien
In the Lake of the Woods, by Tim O’Brien
This Is Your Life, by Tim O’Brien
In the Skin of a Lion, by Michael Ondaatje
There’s a Trick With a Knife I’m Learning To Do, by Michael Ondaatje
Coming Through Slaughter, by Michael Ondaatje
The English Patient, by Michael Ondaatje
The Cat’s Table, by Michael Ondaatje
The Motor Cycle Chums of the Northwest Patrol, by Howard Payson
Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl
The Perfect Vehicle: What It Is About Motorcycles, by Melissa Holbrook Pierson
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig
The Yellow Birds, by Kevin Powers
Zen and Now: On the Trail of Robert Pirsig and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Mark Richardson
Barney’s Version, by Mordecai Richler
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, by Mordecai Richler
St. Urbain’s Horseman, by Mordecai Richler
Birdwatcher: The Life of Roger Tory Peterson, by Elizabeth J. Rosenthal
The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
An Equal Music, by Vikram Seth
Jupiter’s Travels, by Ted Simon
So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star, by Jacob Slichter
The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein
The Winter of Our Discontent, by John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
East of Eden, by John Steinbeck
Steinbeck: A Life in Letters, edited by Elaine Steinbeck and Robert Wallsten
Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness, by William Styron
Blinding Light, by Paul Theroux
The Tao of Travel: Enlightenments From Lives on the Road, by Paul Theroux
A Complicated Kindness, by Miriam Toews
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
Rabbit, Run, by John Updike
A Good Man, by Guy Vanderhaeghe
A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, by David Foster Wallace
The Broom of the System, by David Foster Wallace
Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace
The Architects Are Here, by Michael Winter