Celebrity Reading List: The Page-Turners That Mindy Kaling, Sarah Jessica Parker And More Can't Put Down
Call it the Oprah effect. Celebrity book lovers are everywhere these days, and they’re sharing their favourite reads with fans. Here, your star-inspired reading list.
celeb late summer book picks
Sarah Jessica Parker: No One Is Coming To Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts
SJP has recently started working with the American Library Association in the hope that fans will follow her taste in books the way we followed her taste in urban tutus. Her first pick is a modern retelling of The Great Gatsby with African American characters. “Miss Watts has a gift for allowing her readers to feel deeply for her characters,” Parker said. “I feel jealous of anyone who will read it for the first time.”
Mindy Kaling: Before the Fall by Noah Rawley
When she’s not writing her own books, the director/actor/author/mom-to-be is an avid reader, frequently sharing her faves on social media. She recently posted a selfie recommending this multi-narrative thriller that starts when a private plane crashes on a trip from the Hamptons back to NYC. The story then flashes back on the romantic entanglements, political tension and mysterious stranger that may have caused the crash.
Hillary Clinton: The Jersey Brothers by Sally Mott Freeman
Speaking at the 2017 Book Expo of America, the could-a-been POTUS (sigh) joked that she’s had more time for reading this year than she had anticipated. “I just finished a terrific book that I was totally captivated by called The Jersey,” said HRC. The non-fiction tome covers the extraordinary experiences of three brothers during World War II and what happens when the youngest, Barton, goes missing after a Japanese attack in the Philippines and his brothers begin the journey to bring him home.
Reese Witherspoon: The Lying Game by Ruth Ware
… plus dozens of other amazing reads. Reese has pretty much reinvented herself as America’s go-to book maven (sorry Oprah). If you love sharp, gripping and female-focused narratives, her social media is basically a frequently updated must-read list, and includes this thriller by the author of 2015’s bestselling psychological thriller In A Dark, Dark Wood. “Can you imagine something you did as a teenager coming back to haunt you 17 years later?” Reese asks on her Insta-post. Sold!
Emma Watson: The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf
Last year, the actress and UN Goodwill Ambassador launched a feminist book club called Our Shared Shelf. This summer the group is reading Wolf’s classic cultural criticism that explores the oppressiveness of beauty standards.
Kate Hudson: All About Love by bell hooks
Like her besties Reese and Gwyneth, fitness-guru Hudson is a devoted bookworm. One of her recent reads is this non-fiction rumination about romantic relationships that is part social criticism, part philosophy, part self-help. “#SoFarSoGood,” Hudson captioned a bikini/book selfie last spring.
Justin Trudeau: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Canada’s leader describes himself as a lifelong reader. Lately, he hasn’t had much time for fiction, but he did enjoy this genre-busting sci-fi-slash-dystopian-fiction novel that is set inside a video game and takes place in the year 2044. This page-turner is a comment on the looming global energy crisis, and the movie version, directed by Steven Spielberg, is coming next spring.
Khloe Kardashian: Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong
You may be surprised to learn that the youngest Kardashian sis has a summer reading list that’s worth keeping up with (ha!), including this moving and funny novel about a 30-year-old woman who moves back in with her parents after a bad breakup. This bittersweet drama focuses on how her mom can barely handle her father’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis and still resents her for not coming home sooner.
Whoopi Goldberg: Final Girls by Riley Sager
On her summer reading list, The View panelist included this thriller about a girls’ trip turned tragedy when all but one of the women are the victims of horrible massacre. Stephen King called it “the first great thriller” of the year, adding that if you liked Gone Girl (who didn’t?), you’ll love this.
Lena Dunham: Sour Heart by Jenny Zhang
The Girls creator (and memoir author) loves books so much that she started her own publishing imprint (which is the new celeb status symbol, btw), called Lenny, with Random House. The first offering is collection of short stories, each exploring the Chinese-American adolescent experience from a different angle.
Sarah Michelle Gellar: The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena
Who knew Buffy was such a book fan? “I can’t put this down,” SMG wrote on Instagram of this compulsively readable thriller (by a Canadian author!) about what happens when a couple decides to venture next door for a drink while their baby is sleeping, only to discover she’s gone missing when they get back.
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