Celebrities who read a lot of fiction

Julie Christie loves reading so much she could have worked far more in her old age than she did, but says she'd rather be reading.

I’m assuming Uzo must have some love of reading, otherwise it’s inexplicably that she’s hosting this program.

Apparently the mean girls on White Lotus always reading was Mike White’s jab at James Franco always deep in a book on the set of Freaks and Geeks.

Jackie O

And of course, the tree guy from Twilight, as pictured in this exhaustive list:

My organization, The American Library Association, has for decades been doing a “Reads” poster campaign, and while some are blatant tie ins with PR campaigns, cough, Twilight, cough, many of them must on some level appreciate literature to have participated.

Kit Harington is a big reader.

Gabriel Byrne, judging by today’s interview in The Guardian. He says he is reading Trio, by William Boyd. I am always suspicious to take serious as readers people who when asked what they are currently reading answer some classic book or other.

R7 The big tell to me is people who claim to be reading some self-improvement nonfiction or something like Malcolm Gladwell. When a celeb says they’re reading Danielle Steele or some other kind of comfort reading, that’s a reader.

R8, completely agree. I meant those attempting to be more highbrow in interviews are always re-reading Proust, or Joyce or Middlemarch. As quite a reader myself, i know i read lots of good books but also quite an amount of crap

^ r7

Me too R9!

[quote] I am always suspicious to take serious as readers people who when asked what they are currently reading answer some classic book or other.

Okay, but are you saying this as a comment on Byrne's reading choice? Because Trio is a brand new book by the author, so hardly a classic.

Also, it's quite funny you posted that because Boyd is exactly who Harington references in the video at R6. He's also a big fan of Ursula LeGuin, however, and was recently raving about re-reading one of his favourite books, The Dispossessed.

R12, i am saying his choice indicates he is a reader. Kit Harington too, apparently , but what a terrible interviewer.

Tom Hanks

Tori Amos seems to be an avid reader, fiction and non-fiction, so many references to things she's read appear in her songs in unique ways that you feel her lyrics should probably have footnotes sometimes.

Natalie Merchant strikes me as a big reader and she even played a concert at the annual library association conference.

I fear this will not be a big thread

One of the few things I like about Lena Dunham is that she's a big reader and is always recommending books. Samye with Mindy kaling.

One of the most surprising celebrity readers is Kate Hudson. one of the things she and Reese Witherspoon became close friends over was their deep love of books.

Mayim Bialik (to no one's surprise) is a big reader.

Wasn't Laura Bush a librarian before marrying W?

Courtney Love. In between rambling about everything she recommends books, movies & music.

From October 6, 2021:

[quote]#TedHughes - This had to be so hard. Mesmerizing & he knew these poems would be. Voyeurs paradise . It makes me sick to read these poems, but they’re brutal , honest , genius so I can’t stop . He knew he had to do it , So he waited til the end. I feel you Ted.

[quote]#amanforallseasons Paul Scofield , forever icon 🏆The way he uses English in this fim, #sublime #righteousness oh & #johnhurt❤️

[quote]#KateBush - I recently saw a young hack , compared to Kate Bush... in a fairly fancy magazine . Let’s go back to vigilante gate keeping , if people sloppily violate these sacred artist spaces of genius .

[quote]Start by rhyming “apple blossom” with ”wassailing“- proceed to straight genius from there .

[quote]#DonnaTartt (if you follow me you’ve probably read “#thesecrethistory“) which is why I love you ❤️ - if you have not. Please do , it’s my favorite book written in my lifetime. ❤️But listen to her read it in her lilting, accented voice #sublime

[quote]#AnneTeresaDeKeersmaeker - icon. #RosasDanstRosas 🩰

[quote]#CarylChurchill 🇬🇧🙏⚔️⚔️ greatest living British playwright and efficient with ( my abyssmel record of falling asleep at a play ) time (16 brilliant minutes ! thank you @subiasm , for my top ups ❤️❤️#royalcourttheatre)

[quote]#onceuponatimeatbenningtoncollege Podcast... I almost went to Bennington college. 1982 ON SCHOLARSHIP. (🥺😰😳… I mean . ) Due to a well meaning parole officer. Instead I got a guitar & I went to Dublin (thinking I was Going to Trinity. But my father was school drug dealer , instead of the professor, as he’d said, so I joined the I.V. League. Not the Ivy League 😎) but … I’ve often wondered what would happen if I’d have gone… SO GLAD I DIDNT! I still wouldn’t know how to think in Ancient Greek... or rock an #agnesb white button down while throwing off words like “Indubitably“ while balancing ray bans & clove cigarettes. Still…what a ride.

Onassis used to complain that all Jackie wanted to do in bed was read. Remember when she died jnr said she died surrounded by the people and things that she loved, and her books, I like that. She had more depth than people give her credit for and apparently was a very good editor.

The 430 books in Marilyn Monroe's private collection were auctioned off in 1999, here is the full list:

I don't believe Marilyn read all those books, and if she did read some of them, how many did she understand? They probably belonged to Miller.

I believe Marilyn read a lot. It’s not the same thing as being street smart.

There's some rock musician who has read thousands and thousands of books and has kept a list of them online. I can't remember who it is, though.

I thought the big thing about Marilyn’s book auction was about how much marginalia was in them with her notes?

I love that in that photo Marilyn is reading [italic]Ulysses[/italic] at its very end, as if she got all the way through it and finished it just at that instant the photo was taken.

R17 is prophetic.

But what about celebrities who not only read a lot but also write fiction? I'm thinking of actors like David Duchovny and Ethan Hawke.