Celebrity Book Recommendation In Focus Singer Taylor Swift
The celebrity we cover today is the acclaimed singer-songwriter, one and only, Taylor Swift. It is no secret that this particular musician is an avid reader herself. Not only is she often engaged in book discussions with her fans and interviewers as in the Lover Secret Sessions, and the Scholastic Web Chat, but actively takes inspiration from literature for her music.
Singer Taylor Swift has a number of books to recommend to her beloved fans and is constantly reading herself. Here we will introduce you to a few of them:
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
“Gradually the waiting began to feel less like waiting and more like this was simply what life was: the distracting tasks undertaken while the thing you are waiting for continues not to happen.”
The first book to grace this list is Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly back in 2019, the singer confessed her adoration for the fiction novel saying, “I like the tone she takes when she’s writing. I think it’s like being inside somebody’s mind.” In line with Taylor’s own positive response to the book, many critics such as Alexandra Schwartz have praised the book and commended the author’s “fierce clarity” in writing.
Much impressed by the debut novel of Sally Rooney, singer Taylor Swift further went on to the writer’s other works such as Normal People, and enjoyed the book just as well according to reports by fans who were invited to the Lover Secret Sessions.
Eat, Pray, Love and Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert
“This is a good sign, having a broken heart. It means we have tried for something.”
As part of the Scholastic Promotional Campaign in 2010, “You Are What You Read” for which celebrities choose their favorite books, Taylor Swift chose E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, and Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love. Later during the reception, the singer revealed she was also enjoying the follow-up book to the latter, Committed, saying, “It was so inspirational.”
The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
- “I am what I am, and I’m not ashamed. ‘Never be ashamed,’ my ol’ dad used to say, ‘there’s some who’ll hold it against you, but they’re not worth botherin’ with.’ — Rubeus Hagrid, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 24
Yet another Potterhead, Taylor Swift’s love for the series was summed up in her extremely enthusiastic, wide-eyed response to her fan who shared the interest: “It’s, like, so good right?” And, of course, she was completely right in that judgment. In the Scholastic Web Chat, the singer was keen on further discussing the comforting aspect of the books and the widespread impact of the series in the growth and development of its passionate readers.
As for the most important question of Taylor Swift’s Hogwarts house — while there are no official reports by the singer herself revealing the answer to this question, BBC Radio speculates she’d be in Slytherin, on account of her star-studded squad of which she is “the queen bee”.
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
“I am glad it cannot happen twice, the fever of first love. For it is a fever, and a burden, too, whatever the poets may say.”
As a singer who is not at all averse to the lyrical expression of love and heartbreak in her music, it comes as no surprise that Taylor Swift also finds a special connection to the very raw tellings of such emotions in books. In an interview with Apple Music discussing the production of her album Evermore, Taylor Swift talked about the inspiration behind her song ‘Tolerate It’. The novel Rebecca, which tells the story of a woman ‘tolerated’ by her husband, struck a chord with the singer and thus inspired her music.
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
“I had never realized how much I needed the attention of others to confirm my own presence.”
In the aforementioned Scholastic Web Chat, Taylor Swift also revealed she had read the 2000s young-adult novel Stargirl and was inspired by the female protagonist who was resolute in her identity and undeterred by the teasing and provocations of the people around her.
The novel was well-received by critics and praised for its message of non-conformity, and was awarded the Parents Choice Gold Award Winner and a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. It was also adapted into a film of the same name in March 2020, directed by Julia Hart, and featured the young singer Grace VanderWaal.
Other books recommended by the singer include:
- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green at the Scholastic Web Chat
- The Kennedy Women by Laurence Leamer at the New Yorker Interview (2017)
- The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald at an Elle Interview (2019)
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee according to the Taste of Country
