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Celebrity Reading List: The Page-Turners That Mindy Kaling, Sarah Jessica Parker And More Can't Put Down

From a modern retelling of the Great Gatsby to a Gone Girl–like mystery, here's what your favourite celebs have been reading recently.
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.”

Celebrity Sarah Jessica Parker holds her summer reading pick, No One is Coming to Save us by(Photo, @sarahjessicaparker)

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.

Celebrity Mindy Kaling holds her summer book pick, Before the Fall celebrity book picks(Photo, @mindykaling)

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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.

Celebrity and politician Hillary Clinton's summer book pick, The Jersey Brothers by Sally Mitt Freeman

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!

Celebrity Reese Witherspoon's summer book pick, The Lying Game by Ruth Ware(Photo, @reesewitherspoon)

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.

Celebrity Emma Watson's summer book pick, The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf

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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.

Celebrity Reading List: The Page-Turners That Mindy Kaling, Sarah Jessica Parker And More Can't Put Down(Photo, @katehudson)

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.

Celebrity Reading List: The Page-Turners That Mindy Kaling, Sarah Jessica Parker And More Can't Put Down

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.

Celebrity Reading List: The Page-Turners That Mindy Kaling, Sarah Jessica Parker And More Can't Put Down

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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.

Celebrity Reading List: The Page-Turners That Mindy Kaling, Sarah Jessica Parker And More Can't Put Down

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.

Celebrity Reading List: The Page-Turners That Mindy Kaling, Sarah Jessica Parker And More Can't Put Down(Photo, @lenadunham)

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. 

Celebrity Reading List: The Page-Turners That Mindy Kaling, Sarah Jessica Parker And More Can't Put Down(Photo, @sarahmgellar)

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