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As a teenager, on a train platform, Keith Richards ran into a boy he had known at primary school in Dartford, who was carrying records by Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters. The boy was Mick Jagger, and in 1962 they were founding the Rolling Stones. Life, the memoir Richards published in 2010 with the journalist James Fox, starts from there: the band, the songwriting, the drugs and the arrests, and the long partnership with Jagger, told in his own voice. It went straight to No. 1 on the New York Times non-fiction list. Four years later he wrote a picture book about the grandfather who first handed him a guitar. This guide covers his 2 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 2 key books · 2010–2014 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Keith Richards has written two books: the memoir Life (2010), written with James Fox, and the picture book Gus & Me (2014), illustrated by his daughter Theodora. Start with Life, in print or as the audiobook read by Johnny Depp, Joe Hurley and Richards himself. Read on for what it covers.
Where to Start with Keith Richards
If you want his life and the Rolling Stones
→ Life (2010) — the 2010 memoir.
If you want to read with a child
→ Gus & Me (2014) — the story of his first guitar.
2 Keith Richards Books, in Order
Life
Published on 26 October 2010 and written with the journalist James Fox. Richards covers his childhood in Dartford, meeting Mick Jagger again as a teenager over a shared love of the blues, the founding of the Rolling Stones in 1962, Brian Jones, his drug use, arrests and convictions, his relationships with Anita Pallenberg and others, and his marriage to Patti Hansen. The audiobook, read by Richards, Johnny Depp and Joe Hurley, won two Audie Awards, including Audiobook of the Year.
Gus & Me
Published in September 2014. A picture book about his grandfather Augustus Theodore Dupree, known as Gus, who toured Britain with a jazz big band and gave the young Richards his first guitar. He made it with his daughter, Theodora Richards, who illustrated it.
In What Order to Read Keith Richards
Life is the main book and is told roughly in order, from his childhood in Dartford to his life in Connecticut at the time of writing. The audiobook, read by Johnny Depp, Joe Hurley and Richards himself, won two Audie Awards and is a good way into it.
Gus & Me is a children’s book, but the grandfather it describes also appears in the early chapters of Life, so the two can be read together.
A reading path
1. Life (2010)
2. The audiobook of Life, read by Johnny Depp, Joe Hurley and Keith Richards
3. Gus & Me (2014)
The years · 1943–2014
Quick facts about Keith Richards
- Known for
- Keith Richards is the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Rolling Stones, whose 2010 memoir Life told the band’s story from his side.
- 1943
- Born in Dartford, Kent
- 1962
- The Rolling Stones form in London
- 1977
- Arrested for heroin in Toronto
- 2010
- Life
- 2014
- Gus & Me
- Born
- 18 December 1943, Dartford, Kent
- Band
- The Rolling Stones, from 1962
- Songwriting
- With Mick Jagger, the band’s songwriting partnership
- Married
- Patti Hansen, on 18 December 1983
- Co-writer
- The journalist James Fox, on Life
- Books
- Life (2010) and Gus & Me (2014)
The red mark is 2010: Life, his memoir of the Rolling Stones years.
How Keith Richards Writes
Life was written with James Fox, a journalist who had known Richards since interviewing him in 1973; he spent hundreds of hours over five years interviewing Richards and people around him, and shaped the conversations into a first-person book. The result keeps Richards’s speaking voice: slang, digressions and blunt opinions, including about his bandmates.
Much of the book is about music: the records his mother played at home, the blues he shared with Jagger, the early gigs at the Ealing Jazz Club and the Crawdaddy Club, and his work outside the Stones with the X-Pensive Winos, Chuck Berry and Gram Parsons, alongside his account of the drug cases.
Gus & Me goes back to the start: the grandfather who gave him his first guitar. For other musicians who have written about their lives and their work, see the guides to Patti Smith and Nick Cave.
Frequently asked questions about Keith Richards’s books
How many books has Keith Richards written?
Two: the memoir Life (2010) and the picture book Gus & Me (2014).
What are Keith Richards’s books in order?
Life (2010), then Gus & Me: The Story of My Granddad and My First Guitar (2014).
Where should I start with Keith Richards?
With Life (2010), his memoir, in print or as the audiobook.
What is Keith Richards’s most famous book?
Life, his memoir of his childhood, the Rolling Stones and his years of addiction.
Did Keith Richards write Life himself?
He wrote it with the journalist James Fox, who interviewed him and the people around him over five years. It is told in Richards’s own first-person voice.
Who narrates the Life audiobook?
Richards himself, with the actor Johnny Depp and the musician Joe Hurley. It won two Audie Awards, Audiobook of the Year and Best Biography/Memoir.
What does Life say about Mick Jagger?
Richards writes about their friendship from childhood and their songwriting partnership, and also about their difficulties. Reports when the book came out focused on his account of Jagger becoming “unbearable” in the early 1980s.
Is Life worth reading if you are not a Rolling Stones fan?
It is a first-hand account of British rock music from the early 1960s on and of addiction and recovery, and explains the music and people as it goes.
Is Keith Richards still alive?
Yes. He was born on 18 December 1943 in Dartford, Kent.
Footnotes
- Keith Richards — Wikipedia
- Life (Keith Richards book) — Wikipedia
- Life, audiobook read by Keith Richards, Johnny Depp and Joe Hurley — Kirkus Reviews
- Keith Richards: Life, sex, drugs and Brown Sugar — NPR
- Keith Richards’ latest collaborator: his daughter — Daily Herald (AP)
- Gus & Me — Hachette Book Group
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
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