You might wonder, what might celebrities possibly be doing during their spare time? Sometimes it doesn't have to be something luxurious. They might just lay around with a book in hand. There are a number of celebrities who openly love reading. Some even curate a series of their recommended books. Here's a list of books recommended by bookworm celebrities!

• The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down (Maudy Ayunda)

Maudy Ayunda, an Indonesian singer-songwriter, sometimes shares her book recommendations on Instagram under the #maudyreads hashtag. One of them is The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down. "Phrases that make me breathe a little deeper," she wrote in the caption. The book is written by Haemin Sumin, a Seon Buddhist teacher and writer. It mainly talks about guides to well-being and happiness in many aspects, including relationship, spirituality, and love. Through this book, he reminds the readers that even though the world is fast-paced, we don't have to, and it's okay to take a break. "Is it the world that's busy, or is it my mind?"

• The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (BTS' RM)

RM of BTS is often caught reading books in the middle of his schedule. He has revealed plenty of his favorite books, and it's obvious that he is a fan of Haruki Murakami's works, which we all might be familiar with. However, it's not limited to Murakami's works only. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin is also found in the list. BTS even used it as a reference to their 'Spring Day' music video. Released in 1973, this book contains 32 pages of a short story about Omelas. Omelas is a very well-known city for the beautiful view where everyone lives in peace and joy. It's a perfect city everyone else wishes to live in. Little do they know, everything takes the sacrifice of a boy living in a slum room in the corner of the city, who barely even gets fed. When they acknowledge the boy's existence, the people of Omelas are torn between sacrificing their perfect lives to help the boy or continue sacrificing the boy for the sake of their happiness.

• Breasts and Eggs (Natalie Portman)

Academy Award-winning actress Natalie Portman also shares her monthly recommended books on Instagram with the #nataliesbookclub hashtag. It seems like covering half of her face with the book is a signature pose for her book recommendation posts. Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami was featured in her December's book pick. It portrays the contemporary womanhood in Japan shown in the journeys of three women to confront the oppressive society. "Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami is as confronting and modern as its title suggests. I love Kawakami's depiction of what it is to be female today in Japan. It was originally published in Japan in 2008 but was just recently published in English," she wrote in the caption.

• Song of Solomon (Michelle Obama)

Michelle was in her post-cyst removal surgery recovery when she first read this book. The book title Song of Solomon and the author’s name Toni Morrison sounded unfamiliar to her, but she continued reading merely to kill the boredom. Surprisingly, she was blown away by the book and its complexity. Song of Solomon tells a story of an African-American man living in Michigan ever since he's born, set between the 1930s and 1960s. It alludes to many race-related milestones for Black people in the 20th centuries and is concerned with many different forms of racial issues. "For me and so many others, Toni Morrison was the first crack in the levee – the one who freed the truth about black lives, sending it rushing out into the world," she said in an interview with The Washington Post. 

• The Beautiful and Damned (Taylor Swift)

Taylor Swift, the first female Brit Awards Global Icon, has also shared his recommended readings multiple times. One of them is The Beautiful and Damned, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in 1922, the book revolves around Anthony and Gloria Patch, a self-indulgent married young couple who later fall victim to the inheritance of Anthony's grandfather. "It's something F. Scott Fitzgerald did so well to describe a scene so gorgeously interwoven with rich emotional revelations that you yourself have escaped from your own life for a moment," she said about this book in an interview with ELLE.

• The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (Megan Markle)

Megan Markle revealed her favorite readings on her blog, The Tig, that's unfortunately been taken down due to her royal wedding in 2018. She included The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, which remains among her current favorites despite reading it for the first time when she was 13 years old. It's a self-help book written by the best-selling Don Miguel Ruiz that advocates freedom from self-limiting beliefs based on ancient Toltec wisdom. "My mom gave me a copy of this book when I was 13 years old, and to this day, I constantly circle back to the Don Miguel Ruiz classic for the simplest way to simplify your life," she wrote.

Those are the books recommended by celebrities! Which one sparks your interest the most? You might as well check their social media accounts and follow their recommended book series to find out more.

Happy reading!

Writer: Ias Aprilia

Editor: Hasna F