Grimes/Books

Grimes reading the Communist Manifesto

This is a list of Grimes' favourite books, as well as other books recommended or posted by c on her social media. This is not to be confused with her scrapped album, Book 1.

Favourite Books

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Grimes: Have you ever read The Mists of Avalon? That is one of my ultimate favourites. When I was probably seven or eight, I was obsessed with the painting on the cover. My whole fashion sense is based on the Mists of Avalon cover. It’s this sick babe in a purple, medieval, Sansa kind of gown, holding a big sword on a white steed. And there’s all this mist, and there are all these white birds. It’s so creepy and gorgeous. She’s got this long black hair that goes down to her butt. I just literally judged the book by its cover. But the book is definitely as good as the cover. It’s a feminist retelling of Arthurian legends from the point of view of Morgan le Fay. And it’s amazing. Then last year I was like, 'I’m going to re-read it,’ and then I found out the author is a pedophile who raped her daughter.

Ann Friedman: Oh, I did not know that.

Grimes: Like to me, that’s my Woody Allen. One of the biggest influences on my life was created by a terrible, terrible person. I guess it’s one of the reasons why the book isn’t considered more of a classic. When it came out it was a bestseller with lots of accolades, but it’s kind of been shamed out of the culture.

Friedman: Wow, so does that colour how you feel about the book?

Grimes: I think not? I think it’s one of the best books ever written, that it’s a masterpiece and everyone should read it. It’s also just really informative. You learn all about Arthurian legends. It’s a couple of thousand pages at least– it’s really heavy and hard to read in bed.

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Dune by Frank Herbert
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin^{[citation needed]}
Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks (considers it the greatest science fiction book ever written and the best imagined future)
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor (thought it was the most unique piece of fiction she's ever read) (In Grimes' words: "(..) it is perhaps the most singularly unique piece of science fiction I've ever encountered and the absolute best character study of an archetype I really relate to that seems to barely exist in literature")
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (one of the most readable books; couldn't put it down)
BOOK 2 by Grimes
Nikolai Gogol by Vladimir Nabokov (Amazing; maybe her favourite Nabokov book)

Grimes: The Books That Made Me

1. THE IDIOT by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
“I really relate to the particular type of mental instability that Dostoyevsky describes in pretty much all of his work. A character starts talking, and things start getting out of control and become increasingly animated, intense and disturbing. It reads like an extreme version of how I feel whenever I have to interact with humans. The Idiot is probably my favourite of his works, because I love Nastasya Filipovna, Aglaya Ivanovna Epanchin, Rogozhin... I think a lot of my friends think I’m a bit like Nastasya! Anyway, it’s the most cartoonish and absurd of everything I’ve read by Dostoyevsky, and the best distillation of insanity as a virtue. A Baz Luhrmann-esque treatment of this book would make an incredible film.”

2. THE GOOD EARTH by Pearl S. Buck
“For some reason I became enraptured by this book as a teenager. It smelled really amazing and dusty. I think our copy was from the 1940s and the pages would crumble as I turned them. I’ve never been so careful while reading a book, and I think that really endeared it to me. I’m very calmed by methodical descriptions of farming. The images of opium addiction amongst the wealthy Chinese aristocracy, who ‘smoked the flesh off their bones’, always come back to my mind; it’s so decadent and horrifying.”

3. SOLARIS by Stanislaw Lem
“This book scared the shit out of me. I picked it up after watching the film adaptation by Tarkovsky, which is one of my favourite movies. Sometimes I feel like the only explanation for human life is that our planet is a terrible god. I like thinking that planets are living, sentient behemoths that we completely misunderstand. I’m horrified to think what it would be like if such an abstract sentience had no regard for us, or enjoying toying with us. The act of repeatedly killing a doppelganger or a loved one seems so horrific; how could anyone think of something so awful? Whenever people pour cream into coffee in a clear glass, it reminds me of this book, because that’s what I imagine the surface of Solaris to look like.”

4. MY FIGHT/YOUR FIGHT by Ronda Rousey
“I was so touched by this book. I relate to Ronda in such an intense way, like I’ve almost never related to anybody my age – at least in the media. As a female producer who won’t work with co-producers, sometimes I feel like I don’t have any peers. When I first discovered Ronda, I was so moved that she was literally responsible for women entering the Ultimate Fighting Championship; that she walked into a man’s world and made it her own, even though everybody acted like she was crazy and didn’t think she could do it, or claimed that she only got there because of her looks. Everything, from being constantly exhausted because of eating issues, to the shame at being considered too masculine, to having no coach or mentor willing to train you, is something I have dealt with being a woman in a man’s industry. I also completely understand the commitment to being an entertainer whilst simultaneously perfecting your craft, and the kind of vitriol that this inspires from people on either end of the spectrum. Her dedication to being an autodidact, and the degree to which she has to train mentally to deal with the long hours and exhausting work, really struck me as both instructive and deeply relatable. This book changed my life, and made me feel so much less alone. I think all girls should read it.”

5. POACHER'S PRIDE by Nicole Dollanganger
“When I first saw these lyrics written down I remember being shocked by how well they worked as a poem, which even great lyrics rarely accomplish. I appreciate how metaphorical this song is, how many things it can mean, but taken at face value it reads like a Frida Kahlo painting. Magical realism at its best. A small girl taking her father's rifle, shooting an angel, crucifying it, watching it die and getting a sick pleasure out of it. It's so vivid and horrifying... Simultaneously detestable and weirdly relatable.”

6. THE MISTS OF AVALON by Marion Zimmer Bradley
“Before I could read, I was obsessed with the cover art for this book, and would stare at it for hours at a time until I was finally old enough to read it and instantly devoured it. Being rased Christian and obviously in the patriarchy, a retelling of one of my favourite stories from the perspective of a female pagan protagonist was pretty much the best thing I could have imagined as a kid. I know the author is extremely controversial, but I know the proceeds of this book go to Save the Children... I guess everyone takes a differest stand on separating art from the artist, but I think taking this book out of the fantasy canon is a real shame.”

7. THE FLOWERS OF EVIL by Charles Baudelaire
“I’m not typically interested in poetry, but I discovered The Flowers of Evil in high school as I was just becoming a goth and getting into Trent Reznor – and everyone else was getting into the Beat poets, who I find comparably boring if we’re going to discuss druggy, surrealist poetry. This work is so visceral, filthy and gorgeously written. It feels like a distillation of the opium scenes from Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth, but more abstract and extensively documented. This one poem is just a disgusting, sexual description of a corpse that is permanently burned into my mind.”

FURTHER READING
“I don't think there is any page-turner quite like One Thousand and One Nights, other than maybe Harry Potter. I read it when I was living in Russia and it was my only escape into the English language at the time (obviously I was reading an English translation). I brought it because it was the biggest book I could find in my house; I only had room for a few books, and luckily it turned out ot be awesome. It's incredibly surreal, dark, optimistic, dirty, and you're at the edge of your seat the entire time. As a child I used to go to the library a lot - I read mostly fantasy, sci-fi or historical fiction, and I got into Russian literature too, because my dad said it was cool. These days I usually get books from friends, but Pulpfiction Books in Vancouver is great, and Drawn & Quarterly in Montreal.”

Anonymous, THE ARABIAN NIGHTS: TALES OF 1001 NIGHTS. Penguin Classics, 2010.
Anonymous, DAS NIBELUNGENLIED (THE SONG OF THE NIBELUNGS). Yale University Press (translated by Burton Raffel), 2008.
B, David, EPILEPTIC (1996). Jonathan Cape, 2006.
Bulgakov, Mikhail (1928-1940), THE MASTER AND MARGARITA Penguin Classics (translated by Larissa Volokhonsky and Richard Pevear), 2007.
Dostoyevksy, Fyodor (1864), NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND. Penguin Modern Classics (translated by Ronald Wilks), 2009.
Gogol, Nikolai (1835), ARABESQUES. Ardis Publishing, 1982.
Herbert, Frank (1965), DUNE. Ace, 1990
Nabokov, Vladimir (1959), NIKOLAI GOGOL. New Directions, 1961.
Otomo, Katsuhiro (1982), AKIRA. Titan, 2991.
Pushkin, Alexander (1833), EUGENE ONEGIN. Oxford World Classics (translated by James E Falen), 1998.
Salinger, JD (1961), FRANNY AND ZOOEY. Little, Brown, 1991.
Uris, Leon (1958), EXODUS. Turtleback Books, 1983.

Winter Reads

Claire knows the pleasures of a good read during chilly weather, and handed us a list of her favourites.

SAGA (2012)
Brian K. Vaughan
   If graphic novels are your bag, you should know about Saga. As the author describes it, this space-opera-fantasy comic-book series is ' Star Wars for perverts', with a generous dollop of Game of Thrones. If Romeo and Juliet had it hard with their family tiff, try a co-parenting arrangement between long-warring extraterrestrial tribes.

MY FIGHT/YOUR FIGHT (2015)
Ronda Rousey
   Ronda Rousey is a boss. She is one of the most dominant mixed martial artists of all time, an Ultimate Fighting Champion and Olympic medallist in judo. Oh, and she's a Hollywood starlet, a driver of change, and the first woman ever signed by the UFC. From intimate losses to highly public trials, her autobiography reveals an inspiring depth of strength in every sense of the word.

A CAMBODIAN ODYSSEY (1988)
Haing Ngor
   Haing Somnang Ngor was born in Samrong Yong, Cambodia, in 1940 and was murdered fifty-five years later outside his LA home. In between, he became a physician, was imprisoned in a concentration camp by the Khmer Rouge with his wife - who subsequently died in childbirth - moved to the US and won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Dith Pran in The Killing Fields. This memoir speaks of Ngor's nigh-on unspeakable struggle for survival.

THE IDIOT (1869)
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
   It seems in nineteenth-century Russia, to be decent, if a little naive, is tantamount to idiocy. With this singular novel, Dostoyevsky set out to create a Christ-like protagonist with 'a truly beautiful soul' who faces the inevitably brutal reality of urban society. Young, epileptic and quick to love, Prince Myshkin is lured into a web of deceit and violence he is severely ill-equipped to deal with.

Other Books

These are organized by the year she mentioned them, however, this is not necessarily when she read them, if at all.

2011

Future Shock by Alvin Toffler
A book by Noam Chomsky

2013

Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, by the Sieur Louis de Conte by Mark Twain
Rookie Yearbook Two by Tavi Gevinson (contributed to it)

2014

Galveston by Nic Pizzolatto
Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
The Umbrella Academy: Dallas by Gerard Way
The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite by Gerard Way
Dolly My Life and Other Unfinished Business by Dolly Parton
The World of Ice and Fire by Elio M. Garcia Jr and Linda Antonsson
Rookie Yearbook Three by Tavi Gevinson (contributed to it)
Saga by Brian K. Vaughan (comic series)
I Will Never Be Beautiful Enough to Make Us Beautiful Together by Mira González

2015

Selected Tweets by Mira Gonzalez
Nikolai Gogol by Vladimir Nabokov (Her favourite book by Nabokov)
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Jack Weatherford’s books about medieval Mongolia
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy ("Hated" it)
Ginsberg by Jack Kerouac
Y: The Last Man and Saga by Brian K. Vaughan
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley and Malcolm X (Unfinished; lost the book)
The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood (Unfinished; lost the book)
Magic Knight Rayearth II by Clamp

Violence music video's uncensored book

2016

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One and Two by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne

2019

IDORU by William Gibson
Art of War by Sun Tzu
Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark (recommends reading; super interesting)

2020

Neuromancer by William Gibson (started reading during quarantine)
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Stellaris: People of the Stars by Les Johnson (great book)

2021

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
Excession by Iain M. Banks
Odyssey by Homer

2022

Novacene by James Lovelock (felt that it was the best representation of spirituality that she could vibe with)
The Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich Nietzsche
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer
The History of Science: 1700-1900 by Frederick Gregory (listened to it on Audible half asleep)
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

2023

A Girl Corrupted by the Internet is the Summoned Hero?! by Eliezer Yudkowsky
The OA by Brit Marling
The Gay Science by Friedrich Nietzsche (said is one of the best books ever written)

2024

There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm (Unfinished) (was "thus far like [her] favorite book ever")
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Title Unknown by Nnedi Okorafor (so honored and ecstatic to have new iconic unreleased lore in [her] hands)
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations that Transform the World by David Deutsch (great book, would make it mandatory reading in classrooms)
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

2025

The Elephant in the Brain by Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson (great book)

If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares (recommends)

❝ Long story short I recommend the new book by Nate and Eliezer.

I feel like the main thing I ever get cancelled/ in trouble - is for is talking to people with ideas that other people don't like.

And I feel a big problem in our culture is that everyone feels they must ignore and shut out people who share conflicting ideas from them. But despite an insane amount of people trying to dissuade me from certain things I agree with eliezor and Nate about- I have not been adequately convinced

I also simultaneously share opposing views to them. But many of the arguments people use to discredit them with - like oh he said bomb data centers, oh we won't foom

Well, we should still consider foom. We should also consider what to do in emergency situations

And we can't deny that this smart thing will become exponentially smarter and slowly develop any capability we have.

Half the shit people said it would never do it now does

U think in 50 years it'll just stagnate? U think u can build a super intelligence and control it?

High chance it's amazing and benevolent. My dream is culture ships

It just also realistically could not be, and it will eventually not be in anyone's control even if that's 500 years from now.

So plz grab a copy! I don't judge u if u finish it and hate it and I'd be so happy if you can prove it wrong. But so far the thesis can't technically be proven wrong

Food for thought

I'm not an expert btw - ❞ - Grimes on X

❝ My write up for their book:

"Humans are lucky to have Nate Soares and Eliezer Yudkowsky because they can actually write. As in, you will feel actual emotions when you read this book. We are currently living in the last period of history where we are the dominant species. We have a brief window of time to make decisions about our future in light of this fact.

Sometimes I get distracted and forget about this reality, until I bump into the work of these folks and am re- reminded that I am being a fool to dedicate my life to anything besides this question.

This is the current forefront of both philosophy and political theory. I don't say this lightly." ❞ - Grimes on X

❝ All I can say with certainty - is that I have either had direct deep conversations with many of the top people in ai, or tried to stay on top of their predictions.

I also notice an incongruence with what is said privately vs publicly.

A deep wisdom I find from these co authors is their commitment to the problems with this uncertainty and lack of agreement. I don't think this means we have to be doomers nor accelerationists ❞ - Grimes on X

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