Emma Watson, bookworm extraordinaire
Actress’ feminist book club, ‘Our Shared Shelf,’ boasts roughly 150,000 members
Up to 100 Londoners have Emma Watson to thank for adding some enlightenment to their tube commutes. The actress and UN Goodwill Ambassador hid 100 paperbacks of Maya Angelou’s Mom & Me & Mom around subway stations this week, posting her literary hijinks to Instagram.
The late poet’s memoir is the November read in Watson’s feminist book club, “Our Shared Shelf,” which boasts roughly 150,000 members and has previously featured Caitlin Moran, Carrie Brownstein and Marjane Satrapi.
A photo of Watson holding up the book this week earned one million likes on Instagram, showing the impressive power the young star — who became famous by starring as Hermione in the adaptation of a certain literary phenomenon — has to lure new readers to literary greats.
Paper copies of the 2013 Angelou book Watson is promoting are currently sold out on both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. But Watson is far from the only high-profile literary influencer. Here are several other stars who are using their social media reach to guide the masses’ reading lists:
Reese Witherspoon
The Oscar winner has truly, madly managed to cash in on her book- worm status. She also has her own influential book club on Instagram and Facebook.
But she’s gone a step further by optioning several of the novels into films with her production company, Pacific Standard, including Gone Girl, Wild and Truly Madly Guilty.
Past picks: Ruth Ware’s In a Dark, Dark Wood; Kelly Williams Brown’s Adulting; Jessica Knoll’s Luckiest Girl Alive
Lena Dunham
A best selling author herself, the Girls creator has proven a persuasive presence on the literary scene, with her reading recommendations coming every “Lit Thursday” via her online newsletter and website, Lenny.
In fact, in April it was announced that Dunham and executive producer Jenni Konner were being signed to create their own publishing imprint at Random House called Lenny.
Past picks: Grace Bonney’s In the Company of Women; Anna Quindlen’s Still Life With Bread Crumbs; Stevie Smith’s All the Poems
Sarah Michelle
Gellar The Buffy the Vampire Slayer star has taken a more informal approach to plugging her favourite reads with her “#SMGbookclub” on social media. She also confirmed recently that she’s writing a food-crafting book due out next year. Past picks: Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s The Nest; Elisabeth Egan’s A Window Opens; Megan Miranda’s All the Missing Girls
Emma Roberts
For years, the Scream Queens star has been vocal about her favourite literature on Instagram.
A photo this week of Chloe Caldwell’s I’ll Tell You in Person, with the hashtag #CurrentlyReading, achieved 135,000 likes. In pictures, Roberts has been spotted raiding the Strand’s bargain racks or arranging her Gloria Steinem memoir next to her croissant and iced coffee.
Past picks: Diane Von Furstenberg’s The Woman I Wanted to Be; Lisa Freeman’s Honey Girl; Patti Smith’s M Train