Reading is great and more of us ought to be doing it. To set the stage it’s good to know that plenty of your favorite celebrities have shared their love of books with the world. Many even starting their very own book clubs. From Oprah Winfrey to Reese Witherspoon, it’s cool to read!
Yep, behind all of the glitz and the glam, celebrities are actually totally relatable people. Here you’ll find our latest list of book-crazy celebrities, that you can relate to if you have a book fetish of your own.
18. Emma Watson
It doesn’t come as a surprise that the real-life Hermoine Granger is a proud bookworm? In fact, Emma Watson is such an avid reader and feminist, that in 2016 she started her own feminist book club in 2016 entitled “Our Shared Shelf.” She also promotes reading worldwide as a UN Women Goodwill ambassador. You can join her book club yourself on Goodreads; the latest pick for the group is Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge.
As a way to promote reading Watson has even hidden copies of books within the London Underground and the New York City subway for travelers to peruse. How cool would it be to find one of Watson’s gifted reads on your daily commute?
17. Will Smith
Will Smith considers reading to be one of the most important things that you can do in life. There’s no denying that. In an acceptance speech for a Kids Choice Award, Will Smith dropped some serious wisdom. He says that “the key to life is running and reading.” And he continued to give great lessons and reasons as to why reading is one of the best things especially kids can do. He points out that so many people have lived on Earth that, “there’s no new problem you could have that somebody hasn’t already solved and wrote about it in a book.”
16. Luann de Lesseps
Ok, so bookworm’s a bookworm. Even if Real Housewives of New York City‘s very own Luann de Lesseps’s love of reading may have been revealed in a kind of funny way. The reality star posed in front of what looks to be an extensive selection of books. She captioned the photo with “Might as well face it I’m addicted to books,” a play on Robert Palmer’s “Addicted To Love.” It’s no surprise that de Lesseps is “addicted” to books though. She actually wrote one herself! Her book, The Real Housewife’s Class with the Countess let readers in on all of her best kept etiquette tips.
15. Kerry Washington
Kerry Washington has sid that, “My mom gave me the gift of loving to read!” She has written on her Facebook page that she wants to spread her love of storytelling to those who need it. “You know how crazy passionate I am [about] storytelling, right?! Well, for my birthday I want to give that gift to kids who need it!” She then implored her followers to donate to First Book to lend a helping hand. A bookworm who’s also incredibly sweet? That definitely describes Kerry Washington.
14. Natalie Portman
According to Bookhub, The Harvard graduate Natalie Portman is indeed a self-professed bookworm! With a love of reading that aided her in her psychology studies, “I studied psychology in school, and the best psychology is in literature. It’s so much easier to understand a character than a theory.” She continued to say, “You can recognize yourself — or other people — in a different way.”
Portman says she’s enjoyed The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander and even the Baby-Sitters Club series, of which she said she owned around 250 books at one point.
13. Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Radcliffe has not only helped to inspire people worldwide to read the Harry Potter novels, but he also likes to read in his spare time as well.
Daniel Radcliffe has stressed the importance of reading saying, “Anything that gets kids into reading is fantastic.” His bookworm habits and words on the subject have certainly helped to inspire more people to read the Harry Potter novels. He himself enjoys a lot of classics. He counts The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky as some of his faves.
And, of course, you’re probably dying to know which Harry Potter book Radcliffe considers his favorite. Apparently, he’s a big fan of the fifth in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
12. Sophia Bush
It’s no surprise that Sophia Bush is a proud bookworm. She’s even let fans in on some very important reads. Bush spoke with Bustle about her top picks on her feminist book list. Some of the actor’s suggestions included My Life on the Road by feminist icon Gloria Steinem and We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
11. Kate Hudson
Kate Hudson is apparently such an avid reader that she can’t help but read two books at the same time! According to one of her Instagram posts, the actor was busy reading The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer and Blindness by Jose Saramago.
Hudson asked her fans to let her know what they think of the books, if they’ve read them. Will there be another celebrity book club on the horizon? Maybe not exactly. The actor did finish off her Instagram caption with “#LoveAGoodBook,” so she’s probably just here for the novels.
10. Bill Murray
According to Rolling Stone, Ghostbusters star Bill Murray has a “secret” love of poetry. When he was younger, he even wrote a bit of poetry himself (although, he admits that he wouldn’t dare show it his works today).
Murray is a big supporter of the Poets House in Manhatten and attended their annual walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. He also read poems from Sarah Mancuso and Cole Porter. It’s great to see Murray’s interest and inspiration he gets from poetry. You can even find clips of him supporting one of NYC’s leading poetry institutions.
9. Kim Kardashian
Along with model Chrissy Teigen and hairstylist Jen Atkin, reality TV star and business woman Kim Kardashian tweeted that together they were starting a book club. Unfortunately it “never took off,” Kardashian wrote, “because we were lazy.” However Kim’s a bookworm and there is no doubt about it.
8. Emma Roberts
In a W Magazine interview, Emma Roberts revealed that she wants everyone to read more and her book club, Belletrist, is there to help. “It’s inspiring to see that we built this community on the internet but people are enjoying having this physical thing and feeling that they are a part of something and accomplishing something,” Roberts says.
Roberts and her Belletrist partner Karah Preiss pick a new book each month. One of the picks from Belletrist, if you’re looking to add to your to-read list, is The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin.
7. Jon Hamm
According to InStyle, Jon Hamm is “bookish” but is incredibly selective about his reading choices. He said, “I don’t finish bad books. You know? If it’s bad, I’ll just pull the ripcord.” Hamm told the mag that he’d read and enjoyed The Circle by Dave Eggers and Moonglow by Michael Chabon. He also likes non-fiction books, as well. He really enjoyed reading Command and Control by Eric Schlosser, a book about America’s nuclear arsenal. And if Hamm praises it so highly, we might just have to check it out.
6. Rihanna
In an interview with Tai Lopez, singer Rihanna discussed one of her all-time favorite books, A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer. She said, “It was so emotional. It really was graphic and deep. It brought you into the world of a child that had a really tough, abusive life.” This ties into what Rihanna said later in the interview about her favorite genre of books. She said that what speaks to her are stories from real-life events. “They have to be true, real-life, things that have happened, autobiographies. I love those.”
5. Donald Glover
According to his interview with GQ UK, Donald Glover said that he enjoyed books like The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time by Mark Haddon and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. He said that he likes the “way they think” and identifies with the protagonists. Glover said in Vanity Fair that another one of his favorites was Future Shock by Alvin Toffler, as it’s “very pertinent right now.”
4. JAY-Z
According to Jay-Z‘s book list found in O, The Oprah Magazine, there are six books that he considers to be the most influential in his life. One book, The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav, he says he lives by. He describes the book as being one focused on beliefs in karma and intention, which aligns with his own viewpoints.
Jay-Z also cites the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer as one of his favorites. He says that he became lost in the rhythm of the epic and loved its themes of “strength, love, and loyalty.”
3. Beyoncé
In an interview with Garage Magazine, Beyoncé said that she would want the BeyHive to read What Will It Take To Make A Woman President? by Marianne Schnall. Her sentiments are that “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.”
2. Taylor Swift
One Billboard article even described Taylor Swift as “a lifelong lover of books and writing.” Obviously, she’s a bit more focused on the songwriting these days. But, that doesn’t mean that she can’t find some spare time to read a great book. Some of her book recommendations are The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and the Harry Potter series.
Taylor Swift loves to read so much that we might one day find her name under the title of her own novel. She does already have a 400-page unpublished novel that she wrote when she was younger. So, it’s possible!
1. Reese Witherspoon
You can join Reese Witherspoon on Instagram using #RWBookClub to read along with the Legally Blonde actor’s favorites. Witherspoon also frequently posts about what she’s currently reading and what some of her faves are. She previously posted about Alice Hoffman’s Rules of Magic. She definitely has great taste in books!
