Keith Richards Autobiography, Life, and His "Secret Longing" to Be a Librarian

Keith Richards' autobiography, Life, will no doubt contain some surprises and shocking details of the legendary musician's hard-rocking lifestyle. Publishers Little, Brown, and Co. reportedly paid Richards, 66, a $7.3 million advance to give up the juicy secrets of his career as a rock musician with The Rolling Stones, and apparently, there's an unexpected characteristic of the rock icon. According to London's The Sunday Times, those in the publishing business who have seen an outline of the upcoming autobiography available October 2010 have already disclosed one of these surprises.

Keith Richards is a lifelong book lover.

Just when you thought Keith Richards couldn't get any cooler, he reveals that he is a bookworm with a library so extensive he once considered "professional training" so he could better manage it. He began organizing his many books according to the Dewey Decimal System, but gave it up as too much hassle, preferring to shelve them with his favorites close at hand and the rest gathering dust where they may fall.

In fact, much of Life will reveal how books have always been important to Richards, from his childhood in 1950s post-war London, to his current role as amateur librarian, attempting to manage the vast literary collections in his homes in West Sussex and Connecticut. Histories of early American rock music and World War II, as well as novels by Bernard Cornwell and Len Deighton are part of Richards' library, and he often lends his personal books out to friends and leaves favorite books on the nightstand for his guests.

However, Life promises to be more than a literary discussion. A description of the autobiography on Amazon.com assures that, along with contributor James Fox (author of White Mischief), Keith Richards will display his "trademark disarming honesty" in subjects such as The Rolling Stones' first fame and subsequent drug busts, the women in his life, his feud and reconciliation with Mick Jagger, and his addictions.

Richards, a man who once admitted to snorting his father's ashes with a line of cocaine and who, not so long ago, fell out of a coconut tree, continues to prove he is a man of many dimensions-wizened rocker, free spirit, and, surprisingly, author and humble academic.

Life is available for pre-order at Amazon.com.

Sources:

Harlow, John. "It's only books 'n' shelves but I like it" http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article7086815.ece

Cable, Simon. "How hell-raising Rolling Stone Keith Richards wanted to become a librarian" http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1263492/How-hell-raising-Rolling-Stone-Keith-Richards-wanted-librarian.html