In my opinion there are three books in "The U2 Bible"!!
1) Carter Allen's "Wide Awake In America", reprinted in 1998 as "U2, The Road To Pop".
This book, by Boston DJ Allen (who was the first DJ in America to play a U2 record on air and who subsequently became a great friend and ally to U2 in their quest to break America) is the story of U2 in the USA, from their earliest days touring tiny clubs to the stadium straddling ZooTV and Pop tours. It is particularly good for descriptions of live shows and Bono's hair raising antics during them, for an insight into the Band's spirituality and attitudes in the 80's, for how they coped with their growing popularity and their sometimes overly enthusiastic fans (great description of a near riot at a Radio City gig during the War tour) and also just as a very good story of how a little band from Dublin came to take over the world. It falters in the 90's after Allen fell out of favour with the band after publishing the book without their prior approval (the story of this is covered in #2 in the bible)- and as a result the descriptions of the ZooTV era ar much less insightful and pretty perfunctory. However, you don't need any other description of the ZooTV era if you have...
2: Bill Flanagan, "U2 At The End Of The World".
Everything about this book is amazing. It is one of the most readable books I have ever known of, sweeping you up in the excitement of the Zoo era, introducing you, personally, not only to the band but to their many back up personnell, their parents, Gavin Friday, Sinead O'Conner... just a whole world of U2 which you end up feeling a part of by the last few lines. My favourite bit is in one of the last few chapters when Bono's Dad is talking about his son as a child, his hopes and fears back then and how things have panned out. You could not wish for a better insight into U2. I have read it at least 10 times and I have never tired of it. I can open the book at any page and what I read will be either funny, moving, insightful or all three at once. That is how good this book is! Go and get it now!!
3: John Waters, "Race Of Angels".
This is an odd one... a look at U2 and the Irish national Psyche, drawing links and paralells with all aspects. It's a lyrical and beautifully written book, filled with incredible insights into U2's place in the scheme of Irish culture, with links back to literature and Ireland's political coming of age. It's also a wonderful general biography of U2 which goes into great detail on their backgrounds and the places that they are from. I personally love this book though some may find it a little pretentious and pre-emptive in placing U2 on such a pedestal as to analyse their music and phenomenon almost as a fine art. I find that it has opened my mind to a much deeper understanding of U2's music and attitudes.
These are the three that I think any true U2 fan should read. There are others which I have read which don't really come close to tis "Holy Trinity"
Eamonn Dunphy's "The Unforgettable Fire" is a straight biography written around the time of Rattle and Hum. It's not bad but it is filled with minor inaccuracies and some dodgy opinions. Niall Stokes' "Into The Heart" is OK, but I find it to be too personal to the author at times and the breaking up into a song by song analysis lacks depth and coherency. B.P. Fallon's "Faraway So Close" is good in it's own way, but it is so hard to read because of all of the crazy graphics and photos. It's basically random entries from B.P.s personal diary of his time with U2 scattered throughout a collection of brilliant photos and images from the tour. The end result is almost like a hallucinogenic experience because your mind ends up being so mixed up. And that is why, I think, it works... because it is expressing the total madness of the ZooTV tour! I quite like this book actually but I think it falls well outside the top three.
OK folks, that's my book review for the night! Happy reading!