Ever wonder what your favorite celebrities are reading — whether it’s a timeless classic or the buzzy bestseller they can’t put down? Welcome to Page-Turners, where stars reveal the books that keep them hooked, inspired and up all night. Warning: your TBR pile is about to get a lot longer.
Despite not being a fan of the subject in school, some of Billy Porter’s all-time favorite books are about history.
The “Pose” star, whose new children’s book “Songbird in the Light” came out Tuesday, counts James Baldwin, Nikole Hannah-Jones and Ta Nehisi Coates among his favorite authors.
Porter’s children’s book debut, which was co-written by Chris Clarkson and illustrated by Charly Palmer, is about finding your voice, embracing your individuality, and overcoming fear.
“I created this book to remind children of their own joy. Their own love…. A kind of love that the world can’t take away,” the Emmy winner writes in the author’s note.
See below for Porter’s six must-read book recommendations.
“James Baldwin crawled so that I/we (as black queer men) today can soar. There is no ancestor that I feel a closer kinship with, as I aspire to live in the fullness of my multifaceted identities,” Porter tells Page Six, adding that “Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone” by Baldwin is also a favorite.
“I look forward to portraying Mr. Baldwin in the biopic of his life very soon,” he says of his upcoming role, which was first announced in 2023.
“My mantra in life is: ‘I do not now, nor will I ever adjudicate my life or humanity in soundbites on social media.’ Mel Robbins’, ‘Let them. Then let me theory,’ serves as an instruction manual as to how to remember to give zero F’s to the people in the cheap seats of our universe.”
“[Former] Vice President Harris’ tome is confirmation to the stark reality that corruption in this democratic experiment we call American is a 360 situation. Power corrupts. Period. No matter what ‘side’ one may be on. President Biden promised the ‘American People’ that he was only going to be a one-term President so as to set up the first black woman in history to lead our country. He failed us all.”
“My least favorite subject in school was history. I always felt like I wasn’t being taught the truth, the whole truth, and nuthin’ but the truth. Ms. Hannah-Jones’ remarkable and thorough account of the true horrors our plight as African-Americans in this country is devastating, terrifying and tragic all at once. And yet and still…WE ALWAYS RISE!”
“In this astonishing compilation of a series of essays about the magical Obama years and all things political from 2008 – 2016, Mr. Coates lays bare the stark reality that progress in America has historically come with severe white supremacist backlash. He warned us to not get too comfortable in our ‘progressive accomplishments,’ and prepare to gird ourselves for the inevitable. Unfortunately, we did not listen. We never do.”
Read the full article here
