Mark E. Smith’s Essential Reads: Books That Shaped The Fall’s Frontman

Mark E. Smith was never one for convention—whether in music, interviews, or his literary tastes. The Fall’s frontman was an avid reader, drawing inspiration from an eclectic mix of books that shaped his lyrics and worldview. From classic literature to obscure philosophy, his reading habits were as unpredictable as his music. This list explores some of the books that influenced MES—whether he praised them in interviews, referenced them in lyrics, or simply had them stacked on his shelves.

August 15, 1981 edition of NME. “Portrait of the Artist as a Consumer”

READS

Gulcher – Richard Meltzer
A Small Town in Germany – John Le Carré
A Scanner Darkly – Philip K. Dick
The Sirens of Titan – Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
The Deer Park – Norman Mailer
The Black Room – Colin Wilson
Ritual in the Dark – Colin Wilson
Cogan’s Trade – George V. Higgins
At the Mountains of Madness – H.P. Lovecraft
Beyond Good and Evil – Frederich Nietzsche

AND
U.S. Civil War Handbook – William H. Price
How I Created Modern Music – D. McCulloch (a weekly serial)
True Crime Monthly
Private Eye
Fibs About M.E. Smith by J. Cope (a pamphlet)


Mark E Smith's Favourite Reads

The Fall
by Albert Camus

The Stranger The Stranger
by Albert Camus

Gulcher: Post-Rock Cultural... Gulcher: Post-Rock Cultural Pluralism in America 1649-1993
by Richard Meltzer

A Small Town in Germany A Small Town in Germany
by John le Carré

A Scanner Darkly A Scanner Darkly
by Philip K. Dick

The Sirens of Titan The Sirens of Titan
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

The Deer Park The Deer Park
by Norman Mailer

The Black Room The Black Room
by Colin Wilson

Ritual in the Dark Ritual in the Dark
by Colin Wilson

Cogan's Trade Cogan's Trade
by George V. Higgins

At the Mountains of Madness At the Mountains of Madness
by H.P. Lovecraft

Beyond Good and Evil Beyond Good and Evil
by Friedrich Nietzsche

Source: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/132623.Mark_E_Smith_s_Favourite_Reads

Books mentioned so far...

The Bible - God?
Colours Of My Life - Malcolm Allison
The Drowned World - JG Ballard
Borstal Boy - Brendan Behan
The Book of Thel - William Blake
Jerusalem, The Emanation of the Giant Albion - William Blake
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell - William Blake
Fascist Scotland - Gavin Bowd
Cities of the Red Night - William S. Burroughs
The Fall - Albert Camus
The Outsider - Albert Camus
Breakfast At Tiffany's - Truman Capote
Sartor Resartus - Thomas Carlyle
A Small Town in Germany - John Le Carre
Journey To The End of the Night - Louis-Ferdinand Celine
North - Louis-Ferdinand Celine
Killer in the Rain - Raymond Chandler
The Fall of Crete - Alan Clark
The Divine Feud - Shaun Considine
Book of Lies - Alesteir Crowley
A Clown Too Many - Les Dawson
The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick
The Man Whose Teeth Were All The Same Size - Philip K. Dick
A Scanner Darkly - Philip K. Dick
Time Out Of Joint - Philip K. Dick
The Circle - Dave Eggars
British Tastes: an enquiry into the likes and dislikes of the regional consumer - D. Elliston Allen
Faust - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Dead Souls - Nikolai Gogol
The Nose - Nikolai Gogol
The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula Le Guin
Hunger - Knut Hamsun
No Retreat - Dave Hann and Steve Tilzey
The Mayor of Casterbridge - Thomas Hardy
Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris
Kingdom of Evil - Ben Hecht
Tor!: The Story of German Football - Ulrich Hesse-Lichtenberger
Cogan's Trade - George V. Higgins
The Friends of Eddie Coyle - George V. Higgins
Ghost Stories - M. R James
Casting the Runes - M. R James
Ubu Le Roi - Alfred Jarry
My Autobiography - Kevin Keegan
The Shining - Stephen King
Immortality - Milan Kundera
The Joke - Milan Kundera
The Seven Pillars of Wisdom - T. E. Lawrence
The Knight, Death and the Devil - Ella Leffland
The Apes of God - Wyndham Lewis
Blast 1 - Wyndham Lewis
Rotting Hill - Wyndham Lewis
Rude Assignment: An Intellectual Autobiography - Wyndham Lewis
At the Mountains of Madness - H.P. Lovecraft
The Call Cthulhu - H.P. Lovecraft
The Colour Out of Space - H. P. Lovecraft
The Dunwich Horror - H.P. Lovecraft
Ultramarine - Malcolm Lowry
Under the Volcano - Malcolm Lowry
Shoot the Women First - Eileen MacDonald
The Great God Pan - Arthur Machen
The Novel of the White Powder - Arthur Machen
The Deer Park - Norman Mailer
Doctor Faustus - Christopher Marlowe
Gulcher: Post-Rock Cultural Pluralism in America - Richard Meltzer
Mank: The Wit, World, and Life of Herman Mankiewicz - Richard Meryman
The Warhound and the World's Pain - Michael Moorcock
Bend Sinister - Vladimir Nabokov
Beyond Good and Evil - Friedrich Nietzsche
Thus Spake Zarathustra - Friedrich Niezsche
Burmese Days - George Orwell
Shooting An Elephant - George Orwell
The Morning of the Magicians - Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier
The Raven - Edgar Allan Poe
U.S. Civil War Handbook - William H. Price
The Dice Man - Luke Rhinehart
Blindness - Jose Saramago
The Illuminatus! Trilogy - Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - William Shirer
Satan in Goray - Isaac Bashevis Singer
The Adventures of Luther Arkwright - Bryan Talbot
Pan Book(s) of Horror Stories (anthologies) - ed. Herbert Von Thal
1280 - Jim Thompson
The Getaway - Jim Thompson
The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh
The Fighting Barbel - Peter Wheat
The Black Room - Colin Wilson
The God of the Labyrinth - Colin Wilson
The Outsider - Colin Wilson
Ritual in the Dark - Colin Wilson
In God's Name - David Yallop
The Deepening Pool - Peter YatesThe Fall of Crete - Alan Clark
The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick
Killer in the Rain - Raymond Chandler

Source: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/thefall/the-mark-e-smith-book-club-t28033.html