Books can change your life.
Celebrities know this, and many of them have been more than willing to share their favorite reads with the public. From Beyonce to Donald Glover to Emma Roberts, here are 11 celebrities' book recommendations. They'll give you a unique window into the mind of your favorite star—and maybe they'll even catapult you onto your own path to stardom.
1. Chrissy Teigen: Ladies Who Punch
Twitter fiend Chrissy Teigen loves Ramin Setoodeh's scintillating look into the dramatic backstage world of the women of The View. "I live a fairly boring life, so I love hearing that side of it and the juicy gossip," said Teigen. "I think it's why I love The Real Housewives, because they fight so much. I would be so happy to just sit in on a dinner where other people were fighting."
▲2. Issa Rae: The Alchemist
The star of Insecure loves Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, a spiritual novel about transformation that has changed many a life. "I read The Alchemist during a transitional period in my life, and it just made me think differently," said Issa Rae.
The Alchemist is packed with wise observations such as: "We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity."
▲3. Constance Wu: The Gifts of Imperfection
It turns out that Crazy Rich Asians star Constance Wu is a Brené Brown devotee. Brown became famous for her earth-shatteringly emotional TED Talk, "The Power of Vulnerability," and has since gone on to develop one of the most genuinely helpful self-help empires around.
▲4. Misty Copeland: The Power of Now
Extraordinary ballerina Misty Copeland is a fan of Eckhart Tolle's "guide to spiritual enlightenment," a book that's changed many perspectives. It focuses on dissolving the ego in exchange for mindfulness and peace.
"The Power of Now was a book that I was not ready to read the first time I read it, when I was really just struggling to find my voice as a person and also in my career," Copeland told Bustle. "I feel like I could read that again at this point and get something else from it."
Eckhart Tolle's work has also influenced luminaries like Paris Hilton, Annie Lennox, Lana Del Rey, and the book club queen herself, Oprah Winfrey.
▲5. Yara Shahidi: When They Call You a Terrorist
Actress, model, and activist Yara Shahidi recommends When They Call You A Terrorist, written by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele, co-founders of the Black Lives Matter movement.
"Literature, from my obsession with James Blake and Toni Morrison, to my introduction to Steve Biko's work, has always been about self education and breaking the barriers of inherent isolationism by delving into the stories of others and realizing they are our own," wrote the Grown-ish star in a caption. "The one thing that traveled with me to LA/Paris/NY is [Patrisse Khan-Cullors'] memoir (which by the way, is a NY times BEST SELLER). Her personal story and beautiful telling of her growing up and into the Black Lives Matter movement is why we must #TellBlackStories."
▲6. Beyonce: What Will It Take to Make a Woman President?
Beyonce has advised her younger fans to read this book, and if Queen Bey commands, we can only act. "I would love for my younger fans to read What Will It Take to Make a Woman President?by Marianne Schnall," Beyonce said. "It's a collection of interviews and essays by great women, including Maya Angelou, Gloria Steinem, and Melissa Etheridge. They will inspire you to become a better leader."
▲7. Anna Kendrick: War Novels?
Seems like Anna Kendrick loves a good classic novel about... violence? The belter extraordinaire recommends "All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque; Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut; and The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien." Says Kendrick, "They're classics because they're f**king great."
▲8. Emma Roberts: South and West: From a Notebook
Like many, Emma Roberts adores Joan Didion. Roberts also picked the book South and West—a combination of Didion's journal entries from the 1970s—as the first installment of her book club. But unlike most, Roberts was able to conduct a personal interview with Didion. "I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see, and what it means," Joan told Emma. "What I want and what I fear."
The American Horror Story star also penned an essay about what Didion means to her. "From that moment, I fell in love with Joan and not in a casual way," Roberts wrote. "You don't just read Joan Didion. Joan Didion begins to inform your life."
▲9. Sarah Jessica Parker and Stephen King: The Nix
NPR,
Both Sarah Jessica Parker and Stephen King have recommended the same book: The Nix by Nathan Hill. This 620-page doozy tells the story of a boy named Samuel who grows into a man, gets obsessed with video games, joins Occupy Wall Street, and encounters a Norwegian house spirit. "The Nix is about a lot of things — about politics and online gaming, about the tenuous friendships of adult men and the 1968 Democratic National Convention," writes Jason Sheehan for NPR. "It is a vicious, black-hearted and beautiful satire of youth and middle-age, feminine hygiene products, frozen foods and social media. But more than anything, it is a treatise on the ways that the past molds us and breaks us and never lets us go."
The author of The Shining and the writer of NYC's best fictional sex column endorsed this message.
▲10. Donald Glover: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
The Atlanta creator/star and artist known as Childish Gambino has a preference for novels about non-neurotypical thought.
"I have an obsession with books about kids with Asperger's syndrome," he once said. "I like the way they think — it suits me. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon is great. That and [Jonathan Safran Foer's] Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close — they're on a separate bookshelf. They don't understand what the other books are saying by their facial expressions, but they're perfectly lined-up."▲11. Lady Gaga: Letters to a Young Poet
It seems that even if you're Lady Gaga, you still need some grounding words of encouragement.
"I read Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet every day," Gaga once said. She's shown her love for the German philosopher in many forms, once reading a verse from the book onstage, and she even has a tattoo of a quote of his that reads:
Prüfen Sie, ob er in der tiefsten Stelle Ihres
Herzens seine Wurzeln ausstreckt, gestehen
Sie sich ein, ob Sie sterben müßten, wenn es Ihnen
versagt würde zu schreiben. Muss ich schreiben?
That translates to:
"In the deepest hour of the night,
Confess to yourself that you would die if you were forbidden to write.
And look deep into your heart where it spreads its roots, the answer,
and ask yourself, must I write?"
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