American actor and lifestyle guru Gwyneth Paltrow rose to prominence in the ’90s, with memorable roles in Seven, Emma, Sliding Doors and Shakespeare in Love – for which she won several awards, including the Oscar for Best Actress. This was followed by celebrated turns as the gorgeous expat girlfriend in The Talented Mr. Ripley, a former child prodigy in The Royal Tenenbaums, the late poet Sylvia Plath in Sylvia, and a depressive mathematician in Proof. In 2011 Paltrow won an Emmy for her first-ever television performance, as a saucy, substitute sex-ed teacher on Glee.
Outside of her acting work, Paltrow has authored several cookbooks and runs the popular pseudoscience lifestyle brand Goop – a new age wellness company that includes a print magazine, podcast, docuseries, and e-commerce shop.
Sharing the most influential books of her life in a reading list for O Magazine, Paltrow spoke on finding solace in Jane Eyre, and safety in the tender words of Margaret Wise Brown. Check out her favorites below, and complement with the reading lists of Cameron Diaz and Cate Blanchett.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s Reading List
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (also rec’d by Jane Goodall, Rose McGowan, Suzanne Vega & Ursula K. Le Guin)
“My mother, who is this brilliant actress [Blythe Danner], started reading Jane Eyre to me when I was probably 9 or 10 years old. It was the first adult book that I got lost in. There’s one scene when Jane is a child living with her relatives, and an older cousin begins to torture her. She fights back, but ends up getting locked away in a room as punishment. I so felt her frustration. When I read it again later in school, I connected to different parts of the book—especially the scenes with Jane as a young governess, new to Rochester’s house and rather unsure of herself.” -GP
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (also rec’d by David Lynch, Joan Didion, Norman Mailer & Philip Roth)
“One of my all-time favorite novels is Crime and Punishment. I read it in high school, and for some terrifying reason, I really identified with Raskolnikov. It’s so funny, because he sort of behaves amorally, but he has an incredible sense of right and wrong. Obviously, I couldn’t identify with him as a killer, but I could understand what it means to know that something’s wrong but do it anyway. I was 17 when I read it, and the feeling of having betrayed one’s sense of right and wrong—and then living with the consequences—was something that I could completely identify with.” -GP
The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles (also rec’d by Jonathan Franzen & William S. Burroughs)
“This is one of the most visual books I’ve ever read. I just felt as if I was witnessing every scene firsthand, and my imagination was painting the most colorful pictures of North Africa, the cafés and the desert. I remember that when I read it, I was completely taken away from my life. Actually, I think this was one of the books Ethan [Hawke] gave me.” -GP
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger (also rec’d by John Cusack & Patti Smith)
“The whole family dynamic in Franny and Zooey is fascinating. But for me, this book is all about the end, when Franny comes apart in the bedroom. The delicacy of someone that intelligent being so close to falling to pieces is intriguing to me.” -GP
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown (also rec’d by Christiane Amanpour & Michelle Obama)
“My mom, who has this very rich voice, would read this book to me when I was really little. I would lie there in bed, and she’d say, ‘Goodnight moon,’ and do the whole thing. So I associate this book with safety and love. My parents got me the French translation for Christmas a few years ago (I’ve always been a bit of a Francophile), and I keep it by my bed. I just love the idea of blessing everything that’s near and dear to you before you go to sleep with a simple ‘Goodnight.'” -GP
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (also rec’d by Axl Rose, Hozier, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kurt Cobain, Lenny Kravitz, Liz Phair, Philip Roth, Richey Edwards, Scarlett Johansson, Shirley Manson, Ted Koppel & Uzo Aduba)