100 books like The Rise (and Falls) of Jackie Chan

By Kristen Mai Giang, Alina Chau (illustrator),

Here are 100 books that The Rise (and Falls) of Jackie Chan fans have personally recommended if you like The Rise (and Falls) of Jackie Chan. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Just Being Audrey

David Seow Author Of The Power of Michelle Yeoh: Ballet, Stunts, Stardom!

From my list on picture books on the rocky road to stardom.

Why am I passionate about this?

My name is David Seow, I’ve been a huge entertainment fan since I was a child and met Jack Lord when he came to Singapore. I’ve been fascinated by celebrities and what drove them to succeed. Since then, I’ve amassed a collection of over 400 celebrity autographs. My passion for the entertainment scene and celebrities led me to work as a freelance entertainment journalist and a sitcom scriptwriter. For the past 26 years, I have followed my other passion of writing children’s picture books, and I have published 48 books to date, some of which I’ve gifted to some of my favourite celebrities.

David's book list on picture books on the rocky road to stardom

David Seow Why did David love this book?

Audrey Hepburn was a little lady with the biggest heart.

I loved this book so much that I’ve reread it several times. I was hooked from the start to the finish, from her childhood in war-torn Europe to her work as a goodwill ambassador with UNICEF. The author perfectly describes Audrey’s grace, style, and compassion.

This is one of the best picture book biographies I’ve read. I wish I had met her. I love this book.

By Margaret Cardillo, Julia Denos (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Just Being Audrey as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

From Roman Holiday to Breakfast at Tiffany's, when Audrey Hepburn starred in a movie, she lit up the screen. Her unique sense of fashion, her grace, and, most important, her spirit made her beloved by generations. But her life offscreen was even more luminous. As a little girl growing up in Nazi-occupied Europe, she learned early on that true kindness is the greatest measure of a person-and it was a lesson she embodied as she became one of the first actresses to use her celebrity to shine a light on the impoverished children of the world through her work with…


Book cover of Taylor Swift: A Little Golden Book Biography

David Seow Author Of The Power of Michelle Yeoh: Ballet, Stunts, Stardom!

From my list on picture books on the rocky road to stardom.

Why am I passionate about this?

My name is David Seow, I’ve been a huge entertainment fan since I was a child and met Jack Lord when he came to Singapore. I’ve been fascinated by celebrities and what drove them to succeed. Since then, I’ve amassed a collection of over 400 celebrity autographs. My passion for the entertainment scene and celebrities led me to work as a freelance entertainment journalist and a sitcom scriptwriter. For the past 26 years, I have followed my other passion of writing children’s picture books, and I have published 48 books to date, some of which I’ve gifted to some of my favourite celebrities.

David's book list on picture books on the rocky road to stardom

David Seow Why did David love this book?

A little star swiftly turns into a superstar!

I was lucky enough to meet Taylor, so I dove into this book with gusto. It’s an easy and highly engaging read. I love how the author emphasizes the importance of Taylor’s values: hard work, perseverance, and love of a supportive family. What I found particularly appealing was the adorable description of how an 11-year-old Taylor had the gumption to hand out CDS of her music to record execs in Nashville! Five years later, she released her first album and it was a hit!

I love how this talented young lady has used her life experiences—both good and bad—to build a bridge to success. This is a well-researched, inspirational, and enjoyable read. 

By Wendy Loggia, Elisa Chavarri (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Taylor Swift as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 5, 6, 7, and 8.

What is this book about?

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Celebrate global superstar Taylor Swift with this collectible Little Golden Book, which tells her inspiring life story alongside gorgeous original illustrations!

“A must-have for any Taylor Swift collection.”—Rolling Stone

Taylor never lets anything hold her back from creating music she loves.

With full-color illustrations on every page, Taylor Swift: A Little Golden Book Biography brings her story to life—from her childhood living on a Christmas tree farm, where she discovered her passion for songwriting, to her early days on Nashville’s Music Row and her rise as one of the biggest stars in pop music. When you’re…


Book cover of Making Their Voices Heard: The Inspiring Friendship of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe

David Seow Author Of The Power of Michelle Yeoh: Ballet, Stunts, Stardom!

From my list on picture books on the rocky road to stardom.

Why am I passionate about this?

My name is David Seow, I’ve been a huge entertainment fan since I was a child and met Jack Lord when he came to Singapore. I’ve been fascinated by celebrities and what drove them to succeed. Since then, I’ve amassed a collection of over 400 celebrity autographs. My passion for the entertainment scene and celebrities led me to work as a freelance entertainment journalist and a sitcom scriptwriter. For the past 26 years, I have followed my other passion of writing children’s picture books, and I have published 48 books to date, some of which I’ve gifted to some of my favourite celebrities.

David's book list on picture books on the rocky road to stardom

David Seow Why did David love this book?

The softest, gentlest voices are heard the loudest.

I found it fascinating that these two very different women faced similar obstacles yet they had the courage and tenacity to help one another overcome them. I think this book perfectly illustrates that anyone–no matter his/her background–has the ability to "make their voices heard" no matter the challenges they face and that’s why I love it.

By Vivian Kirkfield, Alleanna Harris (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Making Their Voices Heard as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

The true story of how Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe's friendship helped these incredible women overcome prejudice and fulfill their dreams.

"This warm story emphasizes Ella's role in her success, thus avoiding the trap of the white-savior narrative. Many white artists have benefited from imitating black ones; this is the rare narrative to acknowledge that... saturated with color, they capture the iconic looks of the two stars. A good volume to include in a larger conversation about friendship, allyship, and social justice."-Kirkus Reviews

"An inspiring story about 20th-century icons that will be unfamiliar to most young readers."-School Library Journal

"Focusing…


Book cover of Serena Williams: A Kid's Book About Mental Strength and Cultivating a Champion Mindset

David Seow Author Of The Power of Michelle Yeoh: Ballet, Stunts, Stardom!

From my list on picture books on the rocky road to stardom.

Why am I passionate about this?

My name is David Seow, I’ve been a huge entertainment fan since I was a child and met Jack Lord when he came to Singapore. I’ve been fascinated by celebrities and what drove them to succeed. Since then, I’ve amassed a collection of over 400 celebrity autographs. My passion for the entertainment scene and celebrities led me to work as a freelance entertainment journalist and a sitcom scriptwriter. For the past 26 years, I have followed my other passion of writing children’s picture books, and I have published 48 books to date, some of which I’ve gifted to some of my favourite celebrities.

David's book list on picture books on the rocky road to stardom

David Seow Why did David love this book?

This is one grand slam of a picture book biography, in my opinion.

The author’s use of the first-person narrative made me feel like I was part of Serena’s journey to success. I learned so much about her that I did not know, like how she started playing with tennis racquets for grown-ups. I love how much emphasis is placed on the importance her family played in her success on the courts.

Serena is truly an inspiration both on and off the tennis courts.

By Mary Nhin, Yuliia Zolotova (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Serena Williams as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

Follow Serena William's life as she shows us how mental strength is cultivated and what it takes to become a champion.

In the new Mini Movers and Shakers children’s book series comes a cast of characters who have failed, yet succeeded despite overwhelming obstacles. Find out what happens in this kid’s book about keeping your hope.

Sometimes, we are faced with challenges that seem insurmountable. But with grit and hard work, one can achieve great things!

Mini Movers and Shakers was developed to inspire children to dream big and work hard. Fun, relatable characters in graphic style books easy enough…


Book cover of Indecent Exposure: A True Story of Hollywood and Wall Street

Tom Santopietro Author Of The Sound of Music Story

From my list on real Hollywood and the movie industry.

Why am I passionate about this?

Tom Santopietro is the author of eight books, including the New York Times Editor’s Choice Considering Doris Day, The Importance of Being Barbra, Sinatra in Hollywood, Why To Kill a Mockingbird Matters, and The Godfather Effect. A frequent media commentator and interviewer, he lectures on classic films and over the past thirty years has managed more than two dozen Broadway shows.

Tom's book list on real Hollywood and the movie industry

Tom Santopietro Why did Tom love this book?

McClintick makes the Hollywood boardroom scandal that began with David Begelman’s forgery of Cliff Robertson’s name on a $10,000 check, into a compulsively readable account of power run amok amongst  Hollywood-Wall Street executives. An expose of theft, cover-up, and blackmail, it is also a beautifully written, incisive portrait of men and women seduced by the glamor and power of Hollywood fame.

By David McClintick,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Indecent Exposure as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When the head of Columbia Pictures, David Begelman, got caught forging Cliff Robertson's name on a $10,000 check, it seemed, at first, like a simple case of embezzlement. It wasn't. The incident was the tip of the iceberg, the first hint of a scandal that shook Hollywood and rattled Wall Street. Soon powerful studio executives were engulfed in controversy; careers derailed; reputations died; and a ruthless, take-no-prisoners corporate power struggle for the world-famous Hollywood dream factory began.

First published in 1982, this now classic story of greed and lies in Tinseltown appears here with a stunning final chapter on Begelman's…


Book cover of High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly

Mary M. Burke Author Of Race, Politics, and Irish America: A Gothic History

From my list on Irish American identity.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm a scholar of Irish and Irish-American culture and identities who teaches at the University of Connecticut. After I left Ireland to take up that position, I initially taught only Irish material. However, soon after my arrival, Obama, a Black president of white Protestant Irish maternal ancestry, was elected. This alerted me to the complexity of Irish identities and histories in the Americas. I also began to perceive traces of Irish memory and history in American writers and public figures whose diverse Irish roots are underexamined. The long and varied Irish presence in America and the overlooked concerns with Irish identity and history of many creatives and public figures inspired my new cultural history.

Mary's book list on Irish American identity

Mary M. Burke Why did Mary love this book?

Like many Irish women, my mother and grandmother were obsessed with movie star Grace Kelly (who became Princess Grace of Monaco in 1956) and passed on that fascination to me.

I have long thought that important public women of Irish America such as Jackie Kennedy and Grace have not been given due consideration in surveys of Irish America, which tend to emphasize public men. Therefore, I love the biography, High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly, because it takes its glamorous subject seriously.

Spoto’s book goes beyond biographers’ usual emphasis on the glitter of Grace’s rise to princess to provide an intimate, respectful, and sympathetic portrait of the woman, the actor, the mother, the wife, and the very able representative of a small principality on the world stage.

Many assume that the Philadelphia-born Kelly was elite, but Spoto lays out that she was the granddaughter of a poor Mayo man…

By Donald Spoto,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked High Society as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Drawing on his unprecedented access to Grace Kelly, bestselling biographer Donald Spoto at last offers an intimate, honest, and authoritative portrait of one of Hollywood’s legendary actresses.

In just seven years–from 1950 through 1956–Grace Kelly embarked on a whirlwind career that included roles in eleven movies. From the principled Amy Fowler Kane in High Noon to the thrill-seeking Frances Stevens of To Catch a Thief, Grace established herself as one of Hollywood’s most talented actresses and iconic beauties. Her astonishing career lasted until her retirement at age twenty-six, when she withdrew from stage and screen to marry a European monarch…


Book cover of The Beauty of Living Twice

Judy Juanita Author Of De Facto Feminism: Essays Straight Outta Oakland

From my list on how rebels kept up the good fight.

Why am I passionate about this?

I read bios and memoirs because I need to know what really happened. I read several bios of the same person; then piece together a sense of the truth. As a journalist, I understand that all of a person’s life won’t make it into the final story. Editors have a mission of their own; books are molded by exigent demands and social mores. That’s why The Autobiography of Malcolm X in 1965 had one view of its subject, and Manning Marable’s bio in 2011 another. I’ve read both and other accounts to formulate my own ideas about the man and his times.

Judy's book list on how rebels kept up the good fight

Judy Juanita Why did Judy love this book?

I’ve thought of Sharon Stone as a rebel since seeing her breakthrough film Basic Instinct. Every interview I’d read since then convinced me that I was right. This memoir shows why. The title comes from her life-and-death fight with a brain aneurysm which derailed her film career but not her life. Right off the bat, Stone’s memoir makes the distinction between lace-curtain Irish and kitchen-sink Irish, her family standing on the kitchen sink side. This class distinction and loyalty to her roots in Pennsylvania are part of her honesty, her fight against the phoniness of the film industry, and the appeal of this story. It’s also her strength as her family comes to her side when her career is jettisoned by serious illness.

By Sharon Stone,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Beauty of Living Twice as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE TIMES #1 BESTSELLER

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

One of Vogue's Best Books to Read in 2021
One of O Magazine's 55 Most Anticipated Books of 2021
One of Marie Claire's 25 Best 2021 Memoirs to Pre-Order Now

'Electrifying.' The Sunday Times

'A glorious, rogue, raw account ... It is funny; it is shocking; it is good.' The Times

'Dangerous, alluring and misunderstood: Sharon Stone remains one of our best ever movie stars ... Her new book serves as a spectacular reminder of the outrageous fun of her Nineties fame and why she is more than due for…


Book cover of This Was Hollywood: Forgotten Stars and Stories

Lisa Hall Author Of The Mysterious Double Death of Honey Black

From my list on for fans of Old Hollywood.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always loved stories, whether on the page or on the screen, and after reading Gone with the Wind I immediately watched the movie, feeling the pull of Old Hollywood drawing me in. My grandfather was a big movie fan, and I spent many an afternoon watching old movies with him – Hobson’s Choice was a favourite. As I got older, Gaslight, Ocean’s Eleven, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane… they all had me gripped. Factor in my self-confessed obsession with celebrity gossip and that was me done for – Old Hollywood is rife with scandal and gossip!

Lisa's book list on for fans of Old Hollywood

Lisa Hall Why did Lisa love this book?

I stumbled across this beautiful non-fiction hardback while I was searching for books that would immerse me fully into Honey Black’s world, when I first started writing my novel.

This is an excellent book recounting the scandals of Old Hollywood – Clark Gable and Errol Flynn included – complete with an impressive amount of authentic photographs that bring every story to bright, technicolour life. A lot of the scandals referred to in my novel were discovered through reading this book!

By Carla Valderrama,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked This Was Hollywood as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this one-of-a-kind Hollywood history, the creator of Instagram's celebrated @ThisWasHollywood reveals the forgotten past of the film world in a dazzling visual package modeled on the classic fan magazines of yesteryear.

From former screen legends who have faded into obscurity to new revelations about the biggest movie stars, Valderrama unearths the most fascinating little-known tales from the birth of Hollywood through its Golden Age.

The shocking fate of the world's first movie star. Clark Gable's secret love child. The film that nearly ended Paul Newman's career. A former child star who, at ninety-three, reveals her #metoo story for the…


Book cover of Greenlights

David Winkler Author Of The Arrangement: A Love Story

From my list on emotionally available male celebrities.

Why am I passionate about this?

I started reading and listening to memoirs in preparation for writing my own, and they inspired me to be honest and vulnerable about my story in ways that helped me overcome sexual shame. I lived a fascinating lifestyle as a sugar daddy for a few years, but talking about it was scary as hell. Reading other men who admitted their fears and failings gave me the courage to be radically honest and lay it all out there. Writing the book was cathartic in ways decades of therapy failed!

David's book list on emotionally available male celebrities

David Winkler Why did David love this book?

I started reading the book and then switched to listening to the audio version. Thanks to Matthew’s vocal passion and conviction, the book sprang to life as a powerful insight into a personal belief system that has kept him “just keep livin’.”

Having worked with him, I know he always keeps things professional and close to the vest, and it moved me to see him opening up about the struggles he faces.

By Matthew McConaughey,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Greenlights as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the Academy Award (R)-winning actor, an unconventional memoir filled with raucous stories, outlaw wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction.

I've been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less.…


Book cover of Wishful Drinking

Lukas Klessig Author Of Words with My Father: A Bipolar Journey Through Turbulent Times

From my list on famous (and dead) figures with bipolar disorder.

Why am I passionate about this?

I do not have bipolar disorder like my father did and other relatives do, but have dealt with OCD, anxiety, and depression off and on from age thirteen forward. Throughout my (and my father's) mental illness journey and in the course of writing WWMF, countless hours have succumbed to the duties of researching and exploring bipolar and other mental illnesses. I am not a medical expert but I do think my compass and intentions point true on bringing light to these realities of life. If you disagree with my selections, commentary, or something you find askance in WWMF, please tell me! We all learn from discussion and dialogue.

Lukas' book list on famous (and dead) figures with bipolar disorder

Lukas Klessig Why did Lukas love this book?

Though her style has always struck me as danger-close to tabloid and disjointed, nobody ever said those traits couldn't result in coffee-through-nostrils hilarity and knockout via punchline.

Fisher's particular brand of sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll certainly didn't help with her bipolar management. All the same, her unhinged lifestyle did deliver a bevy of dramatic and somewhat instructive anecdotes.  

She captures the chaos with such wit and bite in Postcards from the Edge and Shockaholic, but if you have to choose just one book, go with Wishful Drinking.

By Carrie Fisher,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Wishful Drinking as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In WISHFUL DRINKING, Carrie Fisher tells the true and intoxicating story of her life with inimitable wit. Born to celebrity parents, she was picked to play a princess in a little movie called Star Wars when only 19 years old. "But it isn't all sweetness and light sabres." Alas, aside from a demanding career and her role as a single mother (not to mention the hyperspace hairdo), Carrie also spends her free time battling addiction, weathering the wild ride of manic depression and lounging around various mental institutions. It's an incredible tale - from having Elizabeth Taylor as a stepmother,…


5 book lists we think you will like!

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