18 Recommended Reads From Your Favorite Bookworm, Reese Witherspoon

Reese Witherspoon posts books she loves on Instagram on the regular. Here's a roundup of her top picks from our friends at Off the Shelf, a daily blog that connects great books with great readers.

Reese Witherspoon is an Oscar-winning actress and producer, mother, Southern-inspired apparel designer . . . and book aficionado? Everyone knows she does it all, but we're currently most impressed with her juicy reading stash. In addition to gorgeous photos of her covetable life, her Instagram account is brimming with remarkable book recommendations. Keep reading to get fourteen Reese–approved reads you'll want on your own bookshelf ASAP.

01

The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer

In Amy Schumer's autobiography, just released this week, Schumer opens up about her pre-fame life, including her family dynamic, sex, and yes, her lower-back tattoo.

02

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty

Witherspoon is teaming up with Nicole Kidman to adapt Moriarty's book, about a dramatic weekend for six adult friends and their kids, for the big screen.

03

All Is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker

Witherspoon says it best: "What would you do to protect your children? What lengths would you go to? This book explores those questions and more . . . A dark & twisting psychological thriller that had me guessing until the very end. *Fair warning that this book has some difficult / violent scenes.*"

04

The Outliers by Kimberly McCreight

Witherspoon says she "could not put down this thriller . . . about a teenage girl who sets off on a mission to save her best friend, uncovering secrets and betrayal as she slowly realizes something more sinister is at work . . . "

05
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
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Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

Many years after enduring a shocking public humiliation in high school, Ani FaNelli is this close to living the perfect life she's worked hard to achieve. But something private and painful buried in her past threatens to bubble to the surface and destroy everything. This is a twisty, page-turning, stay-up-all-night read.

06
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
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Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

This modern love story brings together two people who couldn't have less in common — a paraplegic ex–Master of the Universe and the very ordinary young woman who is hired as his caregiver. This is a heartbreaking romantic story that asks what happens when love isn't enough.

07
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
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I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head after she refused to be silenced or give up her right to go to school. Her memoir is the remarkable story of a family uprooted by global terrorism. I Am Malala will make you believe in the power of one person’s voice to inspire change in the world.

08
The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro
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The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro

A young artist agrees to forge a stolen Degas for a renowned gallery owner in exchange for a one-woman show. But she soon suspects that this long-missing masterpiece may itself be a forgery.

09
Ashley's War by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
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Ashley's War by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

This is the true story of Ashley White, who was part of a special pilot program that hand-picked women in the army to play a unique role on special operations teams. Ashley and her colleagues were tasked with gathering intelligence from mothers, sisters, and daughters of Afghani insurgents. They built relationships woman to woman, in ways that male soldiers in an Islamic country never could.

10
Look At Me by Jennifer Egan
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Look At Me by Jennifer Egan

A coolly mesmerizing intellectual thriller of identity and imposture. After surviving a car accident, supermodel Charlotte Swenson undergoes extensive surgery to reassemble her shattered face. Still beautiful but oddly unrecognizable, she becomes a virtual stranger in a world she once effortlessly occupied.

11
Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
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Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham

In this candid collection of personal essays, actress and producer Lena Dunham illuminates the experiences that are part of making one’s world: falling in love, being perpetually ten pounds overweight, having to prove yourself in a room full of men twice your age, and believing your story is one that deserves to be told.

12
The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan
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The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan

The Engagements is an exhilarating novel about Frances Gerety, the real pioneering ad woman who coined the famous slogan, “A diamond is forever,” and four unique marriages that will test how true those words are.

13
Second Life by S.J. Watson
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Second Life by S.J. Watson

Julia’s quest to solve her sister’s murder quickly evolves into an alluring exploration of her own darkest sensual desires. Her search for answers will jeopardize her marriage, her family, and her life. A tense and unrelenting novel, this is a masterwork of suspense.

14
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
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The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

An imaginative and poignant adult fairy tale from the modern master of wonder and terror. This bewitching and harrowing story of mystery, survival, memory, and magic makes the impossible all too real.

15
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
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Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

A brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive. And it’s slated to be a limited TV series, starring Nicole Kidman and who else but Reese Witherspoon.

16
One More Thing by B.J. Novak
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One More Thing by B.J. Novak

Perhaps you’re a fan of B. J. Novak’s from The Office or his many film appearances. One More Thing is his acclaimed, entertaining first collection of short stories that has at its heart the inner stirring for the one elusive element that just might make a person complete.

17
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
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All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

This Pulitzer Prize–winning novel is the powerful, moving story of a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France during World War II.

18
In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
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In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

During a weekend away with a friend in an eerie glass house, crime writer Leonora wakes up in a hospital bed injured wondering not “What happened?” but “What have I done?” This one is for fans of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train.

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