Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Celebrity Favorite Books

I was bored this morning, so I decided to do a little "research" on the web (aka a google search) to find out what kinds of books celebrities [claim to] like. I stumbled upon this little list from the ABC news website, which struck me as a fairly creditable source: ABC list
The site has pictures of the books and short descriptions, but the basic gist is this:
Angelina Jolie (back in the good old days of vials of blood.... now it's probably something more along the lines of Heart of Darkness)- Vlad the Impaler: In Search of Dracula
Natalie Portman- The Diary of Anne Frank
Catherine Zeta Jones- The Great Gatsby
Nicole Kidman- The Chronicles of Narnia
Denzel Washington- Siddhartha
Kate Winslet- Therese Raquin
Alec Balduin- To Kill a Mockingbird
Russell Crowe- Anything by Studs Terkel
Will Smith- The Alchemist
Mel Gibson- Fahrenheit  451
Mira Sorvino- A Brief History of Time
Miley Cyrus- Don't Die, My Love

I think you can tell a lot about a person by his or her favorite book. I, for example, wouldn't give the time of day to anyone who didn't think David Sedaris was hilarious or Samuel Coleridge was brilliant. That said, in order to judge, it has to actually BE one's favorite book. I don't even honestly know who Mira Sorvino is, but I call BULLSHIT.  If I ever saw some celebutante reading Stephen Hawking I think my brain might implode (unless, of course it was one of my approximately 200 celeb crushes, in which case I would accept it without question.) I'm also not so sure about Portman's choice. I believe that she read Anne's Diary, and it without a doubt a great thing to read, but it doesn't really strike me as "favorite bok" material... it's too historical. Not that Anne wasn't a good writer, esspecially for her age, but I don't think that's really the point; the point is that its an authetic glimpse into the life of a German jew. Plus, Nat was starring in a movie adaptation, so this smacks a little bit of self-promotion. Balduin, Denzel, and Smith all get my hearty approval for timeless, excellent choices, and so does Catherine Zeta Jones, whose persona fits perfectly with that Gatsby-esque 20's glamour (Think Chicago). Kate Winslet, who I love anyway, gets extra points for selecting a slightly less well known classic that is also a great, great piece of literature. And then there's Miley Cyrus, whose choice sounds like a Nicholas Sparks novel on estrogen pills. I wouldn't have expected anything else.

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