The most recommended books about movie stars

Who picked these books? Meet our 73 experts.

73 authors created a book list connected to movie stars, and here are their favorite movie star books.
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Book cover of A Pocketful of Happiness: A Memoir

Lisa Darcy Author Of The Pact

From Lisa's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Cat lover Traveler Reader Amateur tennis player Foodie

Lisa's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Lisa Darcy Why did Lisa love this book?

Richard E. Grant’s memoir is heartfelt, sincere, and memorable. When his beloved wife Joan Washington died of cancer in 2021 after almost forty years together, she set Richard a challenge: to find a pocketful of happiness in every day. The result is this book.

Set between the present day and flashbacks, this is an immensely personal and profound memoir that celebrates and cherishes life’s unexpected joys. (Okay, the endless name-dropping, whilst entertaining, was a bit jarring.)

Hilarious, tragic and profoundly sad. This one will stay with me. I’m taking Joan’s advice to find a pocketful of happiness every day. A beautiful tribute to a loving partner.

By Richard E. Grant,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked A Pocketful of Happiness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'A gorgeously candid account of acting and show business. And an intimate and heartfelt story of love, loss and a life spent together. It is an honour to be invited in on these diaries. I cannot remember being so moved by a book' Dolly Alderton

'Fascinating, funny and heart wrenching' Dame Julie Walters

'An emotional rollercoaster - profoundly moving and wonderfully entertaining. A brilliant memoir about living, loving and losing' Bernardine Evaristo

Richard E. Grant emigrated from Swaziland to London in 1982, with dreams of making it as an actor, when he unexpectedly met and fell in love with renowned…


Book cover of As It Turns Out: Thinking About Edie and Andy

Michael Findlay Author Of The Value of Art: Money. Power. Beauty.

From Michael's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Old

Michael's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Michael Findlay Why did Michael love this book?

Andy Warhol was a friend of mine for over twenty years, and I have read most of the biographies about him published since his death in 1987. None of them capture the real character and personality of the artist, as well as this fascinating memoir by the sister of Edie Sedgwick, Warhol’s first “superstar.”  

It is also the story of the wealthy but famously dysfunctional Sedgwick clan, as well as a touching “letter” addressed to Edie’s brother who committed suicide at a young age.

By Alice Sedgwick Wohl,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked As It Turns Out as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

As It Turns Out is a family story. Alice Wohl is writing to her brother Bobby, who died in a motorcycle accident in 1965, just before their sister Edie Sedgwick met Andy Warhol. After suddenly seeing Edie's image in a clip from Andy's extraordinary film Outer and Inner Space, Wohl was moved to put her inner dialogue with Bobby on the page in an attempt to reconstruct Edie's life and figure out what made Edie and Andy such iconic figures in American culture and in our collective imagination. What was it about him that enabled him to anticipate so much…


Book cover of Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood

Natacha Guyot Author Of The Science is Out There: Scully's Feminism in The X-Files

From my list on women in American film.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been creating female-fronted Science Fiction stories since I was a child. My love for Star Wars motivated me to go to film school and then spend years working on the representation of women in Science Fiction movies, TV series, and video games. I’ve written about characters like Leia Organa and Hera Syndulla in Star Wars, Dana Scully in The X-Files, Sarah Connor in The Terminator, and Elisabeth Shaw in Prometheus. I have recently started sharing some of my research on Medium. Some of the books on this list have supported my research for over 15 years while I discovered others during my doctoral studies. 

Natacha's book list on women in American film

Natacha Guyot Why did Natacha love this book?

LaSalle’s book made me fall in love with Pre-Code Hollywood despite having been in film and media studies for 20 years.

His in-depth study of many famous actresses during this era such as Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, and Jean Harlow, shows how freer women could be on screen for their life choices. 

The later chapters address the lasting impact of the Code era on the representation of women and their agency, even on contemporary movies. As he discusses it, the Code caused the decline of “socially responsive women’s pictures.”

By Mick LaSalle,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Between 1929 and 1934, women in American cinema took lovers, had babies out of wedlock, got rid of cheating husbands, enjoyed their sexuality and led unapologetic careers. Before then, women on screen had come in two varieties - sweet ingenue or vamp. Then two stars came along and blasted away those stereotypes. Greta Garbo turned the femme fatale into a woman whose capacity for love and sacrifice made all other human emotions seem pale. Meanwhile, Norma Shearer succeeded in taking the ingenue to a place she'd never been: the bedroom. These complicated women paved the way for a deluge of…


Book cover of Hedy Lamarr's Double Life: Hollywood Legend and Brilliant Inventor

Debbie Dadey Author Of Never Give Up: Dr. Kati Kariko and the Race for the Future of Vaccines

From my list on women who wouldn’t give up.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a writer, I’ve been tempted many times to stop writing. After all, it’s hard. Will anyone ever read this? Maybe I don’t know what I’m doing after all. Then I read stories like the ones I’ve mentioned here. Four of them are about real women who would not give up, even in the face of much adversity. I admire people who have that conviction and strength. It gives me the courage to keep trying-just like they did.

Debbie's book list on women who wouldn’t give up

Debbie Dadey Why did Debbie love this book?

I love reading about women who break the mold-who do something everyone says they can’t.

Hedy Lamar was a famous actress, but she said herself, “People seem to think because I have a pretty face...I’m stupid.” She wasn’t! Among her many inventions was a glow-in-the-dark dog collar. Her most famous scientific work came from designing a frequency hopping system, that is still used in many electronics today.

By Laurie Wallmark, Katy Wu (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Hedy Lamarr's Double Life as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Age range 5+

To her adoring public, Hedy Lamarr was a glamorous movie star. But in private, she was something more: a brilliant inventor. Now Laurie Wallmark and Katy Wu, who collaborated on Sterling's critically acclaimed picture-book biography Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code, tell the inspiring story of how, during World War Two, Lamarr developed a groundbreaking communications system that still remains essential to the security of today's technology.

'Even readers who don't know Hedy Lamarr, 'the world's most beautiful woman,' will become fans after learning how she balanced her fame as a 1930s movie star with a passion…


Book cover of Instant Mom

Vanessa McGrady Author Of Rock Needs River: A Memoir About a Very Open Adoption

From my list on adoption and what it means to be a family.

Why am I passionate about this?

I don’t just write stories, I study them. I’ve noticed that nearly every major hero/ine’s journey and epic tale has an adoption component. From Bible stories and Greek myths (adoption worked out well for Moses, not so much for Oedipus) to Star Wars through This Is Us, we humans are obsessed with origin stories. And it’s no wonder: “Where do I come from?” and “Where do I belong?” are questions that confound and comfort us from the time we are tiny until we take our final breath. As an adoptive mother and advocate for continuing contact with birth families, I love stories about adoption, because no two are alike. They give us light and insight into how families are created and what it means to be a family—by blood, by love, and sometimes, the combination of the two.

Vanessa's book list on adoption and what it means to be a family

Vanessa McGrady Why did Vanessa love this book?

First of all, Nia Vardalos is just hilarious. She could write an Ikea assembly brochure and it would probably be side-splitting. But in the book, she tells about being a rising star (a great story on its own) who had it all – except a baby. After a grueling battle with infertility, she eventually came around to the idea of adoption, and started to learn more about the fost-adopt process of taking an older child who is unlikely to reunite with their original family. With great heart, she tells the roller-coaster story of bringing a 3-year-old with attachment challenges into her life—and the inevitable universality of motherhood. “Nothing prepared me for the life I would feel for my child. Nothing prepared me for how quickly it happened for me. And here’s what I just figure out now: no one is ever prepared. In a way, we’re all instant moms.” She’s…

By Nia Vardalos,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

In Instant Mom, Nia Vardalos, writer and star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, tells her hilarious and poignant road-to-parenting story that eventually leads to her daughter and prompts her to become a major advocate for adoption. Moments after Nia Vardalos finds out she has been nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay for My Big Fat Greek Wedding, she is alone and en route to a fertility clinic, trying yet again for a chance at motherhood. Vardalos chronicles her attempts to have a baby, and how she tries everything-from drinking jugs of green mud tea, to acupuncture, to working…


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,…


Book cover of Edie: American Girl

Phoebe Hoban Author Of Alice Neel: The Art of Not Sitting Pretty

From my list on genre-bending artists: inside and out.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up in a creative family. My father was an illustrator before becoming a children’s book author and novelist. My mother, a trained dancer, became my father’s collaborator, illustrating their internationally-known Frances books. They inspired me and encouraged me to develop my own talent. I started writing at nine, and have never stopped since. I became a journalist, writing about culture and art for The New York times, New York Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and Vogue, among others. I am also the author of three well-received artist biographies: Basquiat: A Quick Killing in Art; Lucian Freud: Eyes Wide Open; and Alice Neel: The Art of Not Sitting Pretty.

Phoebe's book list on genre-bending artists: inside and out

Phoebe Hoban Why did Phoebe love this book?

The quintessential book for anyone writing a modern biography, as well as a page-turning read. Jean Stein and George Plimpton brilliantly create a moving portrait of an Andy Warhol acolyte who became a Warhol Superstar and then an enduring icon of the 1960s, before dying of a drug overdose at age 28. A fascinating oral history that simultaneously depicts a beautiful, glamourous, and troubled young woman and a nation undergoing a paradigm shift.

By Jean Stein,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

A brilliant and unique biography of Andy Warhol's tragic muse, the 60s icon Edie Sedgwick

'Exceptionally seductive... You can't put it down' LA Times

Outrageous, vulnerable and strikingly beautiful - in the 1960s Edie Sedgwick became both an emblem of, and a memorial to, the doomed world spawned by Andy Warhol.

Born into a wealthy New England Edie's childhood was dominated by a brutal but glamourous father. Fleeing to New York, she became an instant celebrity, known to everyone in the literary, artistic and fashionable worlds. She was Warhol's twin soul, his creature, the superstar of his films and, finally,…


Book cover of Funny You Should Ask

Jessica Saunders Author Of Love, Me

From my list on books that feature a celebrity falling for a “normal” person.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a child, I loved singing and acting and fantasized about what it might be like to be a famous movie star. Though the practical side of my brain led me to become a lawyer instead, my fascination with Hollywood never waned. When I set out to write my first novel, I finally had the opportunity to explore celebrity culture. But I'm just a regular person, living a very normal life. The books I’m recommending lift the curtain on fame and explore the ultimate fantasy: what if a beloved, uber-famous actor or actress actually fell in love with you? 

Jessica's book list on books that feature a celebrity falling for a “normal” person

Jessica Saunders Why did Jessica love this book?

To me, the star of this novel is the witty banter between the characters and the super sexy will-they-or-won’t-they tension.

The main character is a divorced journalist who writes an in-depth profile about a very well-known actor. I particularly enjoyed how normal seeming the female main character was, and yet it was highly believable that the male actor would find her deeply attractive and interesting.

Just the way a true romance should be!

By Elissa Sussman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Funny You Should Ask as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Laura Cathcart Robbins Author Of Stash: My Life in Hiding

From Laura's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Tenacious Content Mother Protector

Laura's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Laura Cathcart Robbins Why did Laura love this book?

Simply the most original and compelling book I've read this year. Taylor Jenkins Reid creates a time machine that toggles back and forth from the present day to old Hollywood. Because of all the vivid characters and details, I honestly kept forgetting that this is a work of fiction. Although I was rooting for the narrator, I fell in love with Evelyn, which I think is the whole point of the book. Everyone falls in love with her. I especially enjoyed the tabloid healdines/articles that are peppered throughout the book. But beyond that I was struck by how Jenkins Reid serves us an honest, vulnerable queer love story in unexpected packaging.

By Taylor Jenkins Reid,

Why should I read it?

16 authors picked The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"If you're looking for a book to take on holiday this summer, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo has got all the glitz and glamour to make it a perfect beach read." -Bustle

From the New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & the Six-an entrancing and "wildly addictive journey of a reclusive Hollywood starlet" (PopSugar) as she reflects on her relentless rise to the top and the risks she took, the loves she lost, and the long-held secrets the public could never imagine.

Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready…


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 A Pocketful of Happiness: A Memoir
Book cover of As It Turns Out: Thinking About Edie and Andy
Book cover of Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood

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