Hit The Bookshelf: Top Must-Read Books Recommended By Celebrities

Books. Books. More books, and more books. If you’re an avid reader of the unknown and enigmatic, then you’ve definitely come to the right place.

These celebrities have book recommendations worth putting on your TBR list and FINALLY get out of your reading slump. From gripping thrillers to profound memoirs, these stars share their must-reads that have inspired them. Dive into their top 3 books and find your next great read.3 Celebrities and their top 3 reading list. We think they have the best book taste.

Let’s judge celebrities based on their reading lists 😈

Our very own resident BookTok influencer: Chris Pine

Chris Pine is usually mentioned when it comes to Celebrity+Literature, and he’s an English major, which sheds light on his obsession with books, because dude loves to read.

From Lucy Ellman’s Ducks, Newburyport—a stream-of-consciousness novel told in a single run-on sentence that stretches over 1,000 pages—to Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner’s page-turner Heat 2, he’s dabbled in every genre. 

BookTok fans wouldn’t be disappointed to know that he’s read the popular, critically-acclaimed, and depressingly haunting book A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. And after reading it ourselves, it makes sense that it “left him angry.”

His Top 3 Reads:

1. The Naked and The Dead

Pine had a huge Norman Mailer phase, and his favorite book by the best-selling novelist is his debut novel, The Naked and The Dead. Praising it, he said: “I mean, a book about an unrequited homosexual love affair between a sergeant and a general in 1947, when the war’s just ended?”

2. Lady Joker by Kaoru Takemura

“Kaoru Takemura…She’s like the grande dame of Japanese detective fiction.” Said the Wonder Woman actor. Lady Joker is based 1995 Japan, this novel was inspired by an unsolved true-crime kidnapping incident involving the “Monster with 21 faces.” It covers five men with different plights trying to survive in a post-war Japan where humans are treated as corporate behemoths.

3. The Magician

Pine has been known to praise Colm Tóibín a lot. His favorite from the Irish author is, he says, The Magician, A dazzling, epic family saga set across a half-century spanning World War I, the rise of Hitler, World War II, and the Cold War.

Our take: From one English Major to Another, not a bad list.

Read books on the go like Amber Heard

Two-year old relationship drama aside, Amber Heard seems like a real reader. You can always find her reading interesting books on the go. Whether she’s having her makeup done for shooting a scene of Aquaman, or sitting on the floor with a glass of wine in one hand and a book in the other. 

Amber Heard’s Top 3 Picks:

1. Bad Feminist by Roxanne Grey

The author takes us through a journey of her evolution as a woman of color while also giving an insight about the culture of the last few years.

2. The Fire Is Upon Us by Nicholas Buccola 

The historic televised debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley Jr. that shaped not only the American movement but also the American Negro community. It tells the story of the clash between the leading literary voice of the civil rights movement, and the fierce critic of the movement.

3. Stalin: A Court of Red Tsar

Finally, we get to heard’s favorite author, British historian, Simon Sebag Montefiore. He has won literary awards for his books and has been praised by critics. 

Her favorite book by the author is Stalin: A Court of Red Tsar which follows the private life of Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, and his closest associates from the late 1920s to his death in 1953. This covers the period of collectivization, the Moscow show trials, the purges, World War II and the beginning of the Cold War.

Our take: For those of us looking for tales of gender and identity, freedom and addiction, rebellion and survival, should take her recommendations.

Another reason to love Lupita Nyong’o

As if we needed another reason to love Lupita Nyong’o, she has a delectable reading list with meaningful and binge-y books that will leave you with a book hangover.

Lupita Nyong’o’s Top 3 Picks:

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This is the one book, Lupita claims, that she’s read the most times. She’s said that she loves the “decadent melancholy” of the relationship between Gatsby and his unrequited love, Daisy.

2. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

English majors would know Adichie as the author of “We Should All Be Feminists,” a unique, seen-for-the-first-time take on feminism. Americanah is a dramatic romance and a coming-of-age story, a class narrative, and a comedy of manners. 

Commenting on Adichie’s postcolonial feminist literature, Lupita said: “I related to Adichie’s depiction of the contemporary African immigrant experience. She captures it, expresses it, analyzes it, and celebrates it.”

3. The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton and Lara Love Hardin

The Sun Does Shine is a hopeful, but disarming take on Hinton’s life in the death row for 28 years for a crime he did not commit. It talks about the reality of injustice in the legal system. “Hinton expresses himself with a heart incomprehensibly swollen with love and gives meaningful insight into his alienating experience,” said Lupita.

Our take: Aren’t you convinced already?

Get Inspired, Start Reading

Well, what are you waiting for? Get out of your reading slump, read these books recommended by your favorite celebrities and tell us how you liked them. Let’s exchange our thoughts and opinions on the books because we’re surely going to be reading these books too.