Before you feel like you've exhausted your reading options, we have another trick up our sleeves: Natalie Portman's book club. The actress and activist has made it quite clear that she's also a voracious reader based on her unique recommendations. Since its debut, the book club's Instagramhas 129K followers and features candid interviews with authors of books Portman loves.
We appreciate that each book seems very intentional, with differing themes, lessons, and stories to learn from. These feel more like we've found new hidden gems, and we hope you feel the same after browsing Natalie Portman's book club recommendations.
Here's What Natalie Portman Recently Read:
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
Natalie Portman recently shared she's just finished reading Martyr! with Vanity Fair and it's completely on-brand considering the other book club picks she's read in the past. She also let the publication know how she prepares to immerse herself in a character's world when working on a new project. "If it's something I really need to kind of create a world around, I'll read things that are related — or sometimes you just read and everything feels related."
In Martyr!, readers get to know Cyrus Shams and the ways he grapples with the heaviness that seems attached to his life. From losing his mother in a gut-wrenching way to his current battle with alcoholism, he ambles through life latching onto the stories of martyrs. By doing so, he starts to piece together the puzzles of his life and begins reconciling who his family is.
Foster by Claire Keegan
Foster is a novel about finding love that soothes the soul while helping those it touches come to terms with their hidden pains. Although the young narrator isn't referred to by name, she's loving accepted by her aunt and uncle despite not fully understanding how long she'll be in their care.
Trustby Hernan Diaz
Oral history can be misconstrued over time, but Trust does an excellent job of getting as close to the truth as possible. It takes a look at the manipulative ways Benjamin and Helen Rask rose to prominence during the 1920s, taking into account how tempting capitalism can be.
The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut
John von Neumann was a genius and everyone knew it. Responsible for helping create the early framework of computers as we know them today, he also stood at the helm of A.I. — artificial intelligence. What The Maniac does is detail how ambitions led to some abusing the worlds of "science and technology" to create a world where machines can make their own decisions.
How to Love Your Daughterby Hila Blum
How to Love Your Daughter is a sorrowful novel about a rift that occurs between a mother and her daughter. Once filled with undeniable love, their bond has waned over the years and become something unrecognizable. It dives into the past to help spot patterns that were taken for granted and will tug at your heartstrings along the way.
Fight Nightby Miriam Toews
Fight Night is a beautifully written novel that encourages women to find their way in life. In letters written to her young granddaughter Swiv, Elvira hopes to teach the precious little girl how to stand up for her desires in life. She uses herself as an example and touches on different points of her own life so that Swiv can learn to be strong.
Biography of Xby Catharine Lacey
This tale is about love, grief and the spaces in between as a widow tries to piece together her life as losing her soulmate. Determined to make sense of tragedy, she decides to write about her love's life and uncovers things that rock her to her core. Additionally, she decides to learn more about a fascist territory and the efforts being made to right certain wrongs. Although CM can't undo the things she learns about X — her deceased lover — she can decide how she wants to move forward knowing what does.
The Postcardby Anne Berest
Anne Berest is sure that she understands everything about her family, including those who met an unfortunate fate in Auschwitz. However, the delivery of a postcard when she was younger sends her down a rabbit hole that makes her question everything.
Women Without Menby Shahrnush Parsipur
Women Without Men is about the lives of five women who come from different walks of life. From a schoolteacher to a sex worker, these women find themselves living and learning about life — without men — together.
Crying In H Martby Michelle Zauner
Crying in H Mart follows the early life of Michelle Zauner as she navigated being a young Asian American girl in Oregon. From being under pressure to continuously impress her mother to briefly living with her grandmother in Seoul, she takes readers on a ride filled with ups and downs. Eventually shedding her identity over the years, she learns to fully appreciate and embrace it. It's a lively read that you'll enjoy revisiting in the new year.
The Vulnerablesby Sigrid Nunez
The Vulnerables takes the most memorable parts of modern society and connects it to characters who have to learn how to exercise grace towards each other. Not only that, but they quickly find that they share one thing in common — their ability to be vulnerable when they let their guards down.
Assemblyby Natasha Brown
Assembly isn't afraid to ask the quiet questions out loud when a Black woman finds herself faced with integrating a community that feels worlds away from her own. The community in question is her boyfriend's family and she knows the event they've been invited to will be carefully curated. She just wonders if she can maintain her own carefully curated image and whether she'll be fully accepted if she can't.
Olga Dies Dreamingby Xochitl Gonzalez
When are families not complicated? We're not sure but Olga Dies Dreaming makes it clear that secrets are impossible to hide forever. Also, there's nothing like a tumultuous relationship with a parent that shakes things up. Despite Olga and her brother Pedro's burgeoning careers, their family life is anything but picture-perfect. The pages of Olga Dies Dreaming shares whether they can find peace behind the scenes.
Simple Passionby Annie Ernaux
Simple Passion shows readers that obsessive passion is anything but simple. It can cloud our judgement and make us do hurtful things because all we can see is how much we're pining for someone. Eventually we have to make a choice — see life outside of the person we're passionate about or allow ourselves to be swept away in a life filled with confusion.
Fruiting Bodiesby Kathryn Harlan
Fruiting Bodies is a series of stories that revolve around the lives of different women. It's full of mystical happenings, magic, and history that has the power to affect others in more ways than one.
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Deadby Olga Tokarczuk
Janina is the kind of neighbor that you wouldn't want to associate with, especially in her Polish neighborhood. However, something odd is happening in the form of frequent murders and she's ready to figure out what's going on. The problem is getting others to be on board with her concerns.
The Family Roeby Joshua Prager
The Family Roe unveils the history of Norma McCorvey — aka Jane Roe — and the effects of her abortion has had on American society. It's a story that details how church and religion have seeped into politics, making it seem that having bodily autonomy is a sin that's punishable by the Supreme Court.
Joshua Prager, a devoted journalist, shares Norma's humble beginnings with readers and shares how a generational pattern affected her life. It becomes clear that becoming a mother wasn't at the forefront of her mind, resulting in placing three children up for adoption. You'll get to hear from the youngest daughter about the effects of her biological mother's actions as well as other prominent figures central to the Roe v. Wade case.
A Sister's Storyby Donatella Di Pietrantonio
A Sister's Story brings one question to mind — "Am I my sister's keeper?" Adriana's sister is left to answer that when the former appears in the middle of the night with her baby in tow. She takes them in of course, but has to contend with what truly caused that to happen years after her split-second decision.
Cassandra at the Weddingby Dorothy Baker
Cassandra is on an upward and downward spiral that seems to govern her decision to make her sister's wedding a living nightmare. You'll have a hard time wondering if you sympathize with her or feel like she's merely playing the victim role with each chapter you read.
Poet Warriorby Joy Harjo
Poet Warrior details Joy Harjo's journey to becoming a talented and celebrated poet whose prose has the ability to spark change. Turning to her ancestors, nature, and more, Joy explains how her experiences are woven into her words. It's a remarkable read for anyone who has great respect for poetry.
Vladímírby Julia May Jonas
Vladímír is a riveting novel that follows an unconventional marriage that's put to the test when the couple is faced with a scandal they may not recover from. To make things worse, the wife begins to blur the lines ever further when she becomes involved with a brilliant — and very married — author. If you love reading novels about forbidden love and lust, you won't be able to stop turning the pages of Vladímír.
The Dry Heartby Natalia Ginzburn
The Dry Heart is unlike anything we've read this year and we can't say that's a bad thing. When a wife kills her husband, you'll have long figured out that her motives may not have been entirely misguided. Okay, killing your spouse isn't the answer. We're just saying that you'll be able to understand why it happened.
All About Loveby bell hooks
bell hooks dares to question the way we choose to love in society and it's clear that messages in All About Love still ring true. She talks about the divide that society continues to feed among people and how we can make changes to redefine how we approach it.
Girl, Woman, Otherby Bernardine Evaristo
Girl, Woman, Other takes a look at the effects of "Britain's colonial history in Africa and the Caribbean." It focuses on twelve characters who are at the heart of the novel and the way their lives are interwoven via race and gender. It's an emotional and heartwarming tale that shows how life binds us all together.
Something That May Shock and Discredit Youby Daniel M. Lavery
Something That May Shock and Discredit You delivers just that in this eyebrow-raising novel. Daniel M. Lavery delivers his unique commentary on pop culture that'll leave you wondering why you didn't pick this book up sooner.
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Lead image via Amazon
This post has been updated.
