Honestly, I can only assume that the reason that Taylor Swift hasn’t yet been given a Nobel Prize is that they can’t decide whether to give it to her for literature for the lyrics that she produces or just go full out and give her the Nobel Peace Prize for saving 2020 with “ folklore” Give Taylor Swift her damn Nobel Prize. This is a hill I will die on.

To celebrate: Taylor, Swift, being an absolute icon and re-releasing Fearless. I thought we would dedicate the next two weeks of my life to reading all of the books that Taylor Swift has recommended and there are a lot. I’m going to have to be pretty fearless to get through this pile. For today’s article, we’re going to be focusing on this very aesthetically pleasing list of books that Taylor Swift has recommended throughout her whole Career. So without further ado, let’s get on to the reading.

1. Furious Love

Okay, so the first book I read was this one. This is called Furious Love, and this is a biography about the actors, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton who pretty much-invented celebrity culture. They would hang out with royalty. They had excessive wealth, so much so that Richard Burton once paid the most ever paid for a single jewel as a gift to Elizabeth Burton, like he outbid Cartier. One thing I learned from this book is that at one point, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were responsible for half of the whole U.S. film industry’s profits for a single year. That is insanity, so they got together in the 1960s when they were both married to other people at the time. So, it was a bit of a scandal to say the very least. That’s the understatement of the century.

As in like they were condemned by the Pope. And their subsequent marriage was known as “the marriage of the century”. They then got divorced and then got back together again and then divorced again, it’s messy. Hence why this book is like 500 pages long.: Okay, here’s a little fan theory for you. I am almost certain that Taylor’s Wildest Dreams – music, and video, is inspired by this love story, and that is because Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton would travel all around the world together.

Shooting films, their relationship was so tumultuous and they would have these massive rows on set. They would makeup, they would break up. They would have a lot of the old hanky panky. A bit of bonking and Taylor Swift looks like Elizabeth Taylor in that music video. You cannot convince me that it was not inspired by this. So overall I enjoyed reading this biography. I learned quite a lot, for example, the term “paparazzi” comes from the Italian dialect word, “, paparazzo” and paparazzo means a small buzzing, insect kind of like a mosquito so annoying and buzzing around, like the paparazzi. I did find the book weirdly repetitive at times sometimes it would tell the same story twice, but overall, thanks for the recommendation, Taylor, and even though you will never read this article, I have a recommendation for you in return. I think you would love the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, because it’s also about celebrity culture, and I think Evelyn Hugo is very much inspired by Elizabeth Taylor.

2. The Hunger Games

Now on to the next one. The next book Taylor, Swift, has recommended is The Hunger Games which she said she read in two days because she was enjoying it so much and I feel like that is so relatable. I think we all had that response to The Hunger Games, even thinking about it now I can’t believe that there was a moment in my life when I hadn’t read the “. I volunteer as tribute” scene like it’s so iconic. Now I was raving about how much I love The Hunger Games as a book on my Stereo live stream last night, so I’ll insert a clip from that now.

I think the storytelling is immaculate. For me, one of the most interesting things is the “ girl on fire”, which is one of the most kind of like well-known motifs. In that book, Katniss comes from District 12, which is known for its coal. Coal is necessary for the production of fire. When Katniss becomes “the girl on fire”. I think she almost is like reclaiming that and proving to the Capitol to these bigwigs in the Capitol that look. You can’t, you can’t survive without us. We produce your fire and that’s something that the people um across the districts have never had represented before “, Especially when she gets like the later symbol of like the Mockingjay and like it’s all about her mocking the Capitol, but also like flying Free as well. Being like “, we’re not going to be held by your tyranny, we’re going to like save ourselves”, and it’s done superbly well, and I think it is good, like um conversation. Not only about politics but also capitalism as well. Like Exploitation of the kids at the end of it because they exploit these kids like every year for sport,

And ever since Joel mentioned this idea of the Mockingjay. I haven’t stopped thinking about it, because the Mockingjay is essentially a result of a Capitol failure. So they had these “ jabber jays”, which they would send into the districts to spy on people, but the jabber jays mated with mockingbirds. So the Mockingjay is essentially a mutation. It’s a reminder that there are things outside of the Capitol’s control, and that is why Katniss becomes known as the Mockingjay as a symbol of the revolution because she is a mutation of the Hunger Games system and a glimmer of hope to the districts that there Is some kind of weakness in the Capitol. I think it’s so clever and Taylor Swift contributed two songs to the Hunger Games, and films and I think this shows her big brain energy because the two songs show the two different sides of Katniss’s priorities.

Firstly, we have Safe and Sound, which is a very haunting chilling song, that’s kind of about Katniss’s relationship with Rue, with Prim with Peeta, and it’s all about empathy and compassion. And then we have the song Eyes Open and Eyes Open is the anthem. It’s the battle Cry. It’s Katniss’ relationship with the Capitol. Taylor Swift has done it again, my friends.

3. Eat, Pray, and Love

The next book that I read was this one: this is Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. This is a book about a woman who reaches rock bottom in terms of her marriage and her mental health, and so she takes a one-year kind of sabbatical from life and she goes to India, Italy, and Indonesia. It’s a gap year. She takes this time to indulge in delicious food to discover mindfulness and meditation and also ultimately, to love herself again. And this was one of Taylor’s picks for “You are what you read”, and I can see why because this book does make you want to be a better version of yourself and sort of identity and pursue the pleasures in life. It’s very introspective and candid and raw and honest. It’s this one woman’s self-discovery journey. The one thing I will say, though, is that you just need to be aware that Elizabeth Gilbert has a lot of privilege, and occasionally it’s acknowledged, but other times there are these moments of such little self-awareness. It’s painful. Like at one point.

She says that she’s “broke”, but we later find out that during that time she managed to go on trips to Costa Rica and New Zealand and like that is not living broke. One thing I was glad that she kind of clarified is that she didn’t necessarily see India. She saw the one very specific meditation center that she went to and she does recognize that. So I think that’s good. Overall, this is a self-help book that does require a certain element of being comfortable with wealth, but it doesn’t necessarily claim to be for everyone. So I think just take it with a pinch of salt. But overall, not too bad.

4. Charlotte’s Web

On the next book Okay, so I’ve read two more books now these were both children’s books. They were quite quick to read through, but I think you can still analyze a lot from children’s books and they’re still literature. Also, yes, I am wearing a Spice Girls, t-shirt. This is British culture. So another one of Taylor’s picks for “. You are what you read” was Charlotte’s Web and I cannot believe I’ve never read this before. This is a charmingly sweet story about animals and friendship. So you have Wilbur the pig who is due to be slaughtered and then Charlotte, who is a spider, basically writes things in her web-like calling the pig, radiant and stuff, and then people are like “wow, the pig is so cool!”. Now here’s my issue.

Why was Wilbur the pig getting all the credit for Charlotte’s work like the pig didn’t write that on the web? He just sat there rolling in manure. Meanwhile, Charlotte the spider did all the hard work and got no credit, and maybe I’m overthinking. I mean I’m overthinking it, but I was thinking about the gender politics or the fact that you could think of Taylor Swift as being the spider. Who is writing away she’s, doing all the hard work she’s doing all of the craft and then Wilbur the pig maybe Kanye West or Scooter Braun is taking credit for the spiders, hard work, and capitalizing on it. Much to think about. Or maybe it’s just a book about a pig and a spider.

5. Stargirl

The other book was this one. This is Stargirl and I am so mad because look at that cover. Okay, the color is nice, but what the hell is going on here. I am outraged that I spent my money on a cover like that. This is so boring, but what we’re not going to do is judge this book by its cover. The contents of this book are about a girl called Stargirl. She’s been homeschooled all her life, but she arrives at this school and she’s quite peculiar. On her first day of school, she arrives in a kind of wedding dress, sort of thing and she carries her ukulele everywhere and she sings to people in the canteen. At um sports matches. She cheers for both teams. For the most part, people are pretty lovely to her, at least until halfway through. This is where I draw the line: okay.

She would cheer for people when they threw things in the bin, and everyone in the whole school would then start cheering as well. In what world would that happen? This is set in America and I don’t know what happens there, but in Britain, that would not slide. And people do eventually turn on her and start calling her weird and I felt some sympathy, but I also did acknowledge that she is quite strange.

I just think there’s a fine line between being unashamedly you and embracing your quirks and being the freak of the week. And Stargirl is a certified freak seven days, a week. What Taylor Swift has said about this book is that she admires how no matter how much people make fun of Stargirl. She continues to be herself, and that is a fundamentally very nice message. I just found Stargirl a bit annoying and that’s like not the point of this book. I don’t think. So you know.

It’s not necessarily something that I would recommend, but I can appreciate that the message behind it is nice I just would have executed it, maybe slightly differently, and made the character a bit more likable. Okay, I forgot about one of the stupidest plotlines in this book that just boiled my piss. Basically in this fictional school in the book, they create a TV show where they interview students about like “who do you like?”, It’s called “The Hot Seat”, so one student gets roasted by the other students and they ask them about like the local, gossip and stuff like that. And then it’s broadcasted on national television.

Why would that be broadcasted on national television? Who cares who Natalie from your maths class fancies? I know it’s fiction, I know it’s a book. I know it’s for children, but that is just so dumb. So mostly, I just found this completely ridiculous and I can see why this book is called Stargirl because this author was on another planet.

6. Conversations with Friends

Anyway moving swiftly on Taylor Swift-ly. The next book is this one. This is Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney. Sally Rooney is absurdly talented. She has this amazing ability to craft believable characters. I think her work is awesome and Taylor Swift has said “. I like her book. I, like the tone she takes when she’s writing. I think it’s like being in somebody’s mind” and I agree wholeheartedly. And I think the same phrase could be given to Taylor Swift on her new album like she creates characters who you’re invested in, and you feel Like you’re stepping into their shoes for the duration of that song or the duration of this book.

Back to the book that she’s already published, and that is Conversations with Friends – and this is all about conversations between people. The story is told from the perspective of Frances and her best friend is Bobby. They’ve also previously dated, and they are both students at Trinity in Dublin. They befriend a couple called Nick and Melissa and Frances and Nick have an affair. It’s very juicy, very saucy and so exquisitely written. Honestly. I would recommend this book so highly and now is a good time to read it because they are turning Conversations with Friends into a TV series. They’re adapting it for the screen.

Taylor Swift must be completely fangirling right now because her boyfriend has been cast to play Nick. I’m not going to lie. When I was reading the book, he doesn’t necessarily look how I imagined Nick to look, but I’m very intrigued to see how he plays the role. And I will be watching as soon as that premieres. It must be so interesting for Taylor Swift to see someone she loves become a character in a book that she loves. So yeah I would heartily recommend this book or Normal People, also by Sally Rooney.

7. Rebecca

And now I have one more book to read. Okay, today is the 9th of April. Fearless is officially out. It’s been re-released. I’ve been listening to it all day and I’ve also finished the final book. But before we get on to that, I wanted to quickly talk about Rebecca. So in my previous article, where I spoke about all of the literary references on evermore and folklore, I mentioned how I had a suspicion that Rebecca, probably inspired the song” tolerate it”, and let me just tell you I was buzzing my **** off when I read this quote from Taylor Swift”, When I was reading Rebecca, there was a part of me that was relating to that because at some point in my life I felt that way, and so I ended up writing the song” wait for it. “tolerate it!”. Yes, I am so chuffed, that’s the highlight of my life.

I've peaked, I’ve completely peaked, And I think that makes up for the fact that in that video I meant to put a quote on the screen from evermore by Taylor Swift, and instead, I accidentally put a quote from Beauty and the Beast song Evermore. So you know, I feel like we’ve made up for that bit of stupidity by that piece of detective work. Now. So you know, Taylor Swift, loves an Easter egg and I found one. I also just knocked everything off my desk.

8. The Beautiful and Damned

But the final book that I read for this article was this one. This is The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Taylor Swift is a Fitzgerald stan and in the song “ happiness”, we have a few quotes from The Great Gatsby, so “The green light of forgiveness” refers to the “ green light” that Gatsby longs for across the bay and also “, I hope she’ll be a beautiful fool” is a direct quote from Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby. Now outside of the folklore evermore cinematic universe. We also have some other Gatsby references. In “This is why we can’t have nice things”.

She refers to “feeling so Gatsby for that whole year” and then “don’t blame me”. There’s a lyric about” going from poison ivy to your daisy” and Taylor has also posted some quotes on Instagram about This Side of Paradise, which was Fitzgerald’s first novel. So she is a fan of this Author. The Beautiful and Damned made me think of Blank Space, both in terms of the setting and the outfits of the music video and in the lyrics. There’s that lyric that goes “ new money, suit, and tie”, and this book is all about new money. It’s about a couple called Anthony and Gloria who lives in New York, City. They’re, going to all these crazy parties and they want their marriage to be a “, live, lovely, glamorous, performance”, and so they live so recklessly. And what F. Scott Fitzgerald was doing was creating characters where he could kind of experiment with his feelings and his thoughts on his marriage to Zelda Fitzgerald and this art of character creation, where you can experiment with the fictional and the non-fictional is so interesting.

I think that’s something that Taylor Swift is experimenting with more and more. If you think about the lyrics on Reputation, they’re, mostly about Taylor Swift’s, direct experiences. whereas in her newer work, we have character-driven narratives, where I think Taylor is kind of experimenting with her thoughts and feelings, but through characters who aren’t necessarily completely accurate to herself and I think that is such a skill and so impressive. So, I can see Fitzgerald's influence in Taylor Swift’s work and I think that this is a good place to get some inspiration because he is very talented.

So, Taylor has said “It is something Fitzgerald does so well to describe a scene, so gorgeously interwoven with rich emotional revelations that you have escaped from your own life for a moment”, and I agree 100 %. So, Taylor had some good recommendations.

Let’s see which books do I have “bad blood” with Okay Stargirl baby. “Now we’ve got bad blood”. Conversations with Friends “You belong with me”, I don’t know what I’ve done with Furious Love about Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, but I would describe that as “. It’s a love story, baby. Just say: yes” F. Scott Fitzgerald has a “big reputation, big reputation”, and it lived up to it.

Books Recommended By Taylor Swift