Nov 10, 2010 at 11:56 am by Emily

A photo of Eminem's Rolling Stone cover

Even though Eminem is known for his impressive word usage in his songs, he’s not much of a reader.  In fact, he’s only ever read one book from cover to cover.  Was it one of the Twilight or Harry Potter books?  Perhaps Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle? Maybe some book he read back in school, like Flowers for Algernon or Where the Red Fern Grows?  Perhaps …

But no.  The only book Eminem’s ever read is LL Cool J’s book, I Make My Own Rules, and even though he’s not that into books, he’s “always been good at English and I always had a lot of words in my vocabulary.”

I don’t mean to sound like some kind of reading elitist, but that makes me sad.  Books have given me so, so much, and to think that this guy’s only read LL Cool J’s autobiography just hurts.  Besides, think about how awesome it would be if Eminem could toss in some clever literary allusions in his songs.  I know it would make me smile.

I’m thinking of compiling a reading list for Eminem.  So far I have Where the Red Fern Grows (I don’t know why I keep thinking of this book for him, but there’s something there) and maybe Flowers in the Attic, just for funzies.  What would you guys recommend for Eminem?

9 Responses to “Eminem’s Only Read One Book – Can You Guess Which One?”

  1. Joelle says:

    Marilyn Manson’s “A Long Hard Road Out of Hell” was really amazing. Although it’s another autobiography, it’s actually really well written and motivational.

  2. mireee says:

    The Bonfire of the Vanities — the miseries of New York in the 80s, well good. I’m loving it.

  3. blah says:

    1984 – for some reason I think he’d like it

    East of Eden – say what you will about Steinbeck, but it’s by far his best book

    Huckleberry Finn – the language would appeal to him, and the message is amazing.

    • Harriet Meadow says:

      I was going to suggest East of Eden, too! Amazing book, and for some reason I can see Eminem loving it, probably because it’s so angsty.

  4. Chuck says:

    Eminem is a tool.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Eminem should read something that teaches him not to be such an obnoxious, homophobic, wife beating douchebag. C’mon! Are you really surprised that this guy’s never read a damn book?

    • cj says:

      dude you need to shut the fuck up ur just a hating litttle prick and need to take the dick out your ass because you dont understand freedom of speach and Eminems musical genius, coming from a music producer he is a musical genius you dont know man you have no clue. By the way if you think that everything that is in an artists lyrics he or she does, man you need to take a dose of reality.

  6. kinsey says:

    Em should read Darran Shan, any Shan book realy, he’s very dark. I think Em would get ino it.

  7. victor says:

    He should read MY SON MARSHALL MY SON EMINEM BY HIS MOTHER

Leave a Reply

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.