Growing up, Emma Roberts had one wish: “To own all the books in the world.”
These days, the Belletrist book club founder, 26, is making swift progress. While at Pinterest’s Workshop launch, she shared some of her best buys with Us.
Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
While on the road, the actress always buys a new copy of her “idol” Didion’s short stories. “I have to have it in my hotel room because it’s such a comfort to me,” said Roberts. “She can say so much without saying a lot. That’s a rare talent.”
Another favorite by Didion: Play It As It Lays, a novel-turned-film about the traumatic events that forced a Hollywood starlet into to a mental institution. “This was the first of her books I read and I did it in one sitting,” she added. “I was in New York City when I finished it and I walked the streets just thinking about it. I couldn’t shake it off for weeks.”
The Rules Do Not Apply by Ariel Levy
The New Yorker scribe’s memoir about loss is “poetic and makes you think,” raved Roberts. “I prefer a more emotional than factual memoir. I kept canceling dinner plans so I could go home and read.”
The End We Start From by Megan Hunter
For Belletrist’s November read, she chose this “really, really beautiful” novel of a woman and her newborn attempting to survive through the apocalypse.
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
The 1980s-set tome, which follows the exploits of a college student home for Christmas, really spoke to Roberts. Plowing through the story in high school, “I had never read a book the sounded like a friend’s voice,” explains the Scream Queens alum. “I was really shocked by it. I remember thinking, ‘People can say whatever they want in a book!’ It was my first foray into more mature reading.”
Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
Capturing the world of growing up poor, the memoir “is different from anything else I’ve been reading,” the star told Us. “I get into these modes where I’m reading all the same type of book, so I decide to mix it up with this one.”
A Field Guide To Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit
Roberts recommends everyone pick up the “beautiful” nonfiction tale, “which gets your brain thinking.” She reads it annually!”
Bone by Ysra Daley-Ward
A reflection on life, these autobiographic poems “are a beautiful collection that recently came out,” said Roberts. “I’m obsessed with poetry.”
