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.
Influencer and author Eli Rallo’s favorite books all have a common theme of being authored by powerful women.
“I love reading so much because I feel like it’s the most accessible way to get outside yourself,” she tells Page Six.
The author — whose new book of essays, “Does Anyone Else Feel This Way?,” came out Tuesday — adds of the power of reading, “You can learn about anything, any place, any type of people, without ever leaving your home.”
See below for the six books that changed Rallo’s life.
“Babitz is a sensation. She’s totally insane and a creative genius. I love her auto-fiction, her fiction and her nonfiction. I only wish we had more of her words because I’ve raced through everything she’s ever written.”
“The day Didion died, I sobbed. Not even in a performative way. Honestly, because I think I realized that someone whose words shaped me so much would never write anything again. What we have of hers is all we’ll ever get, and I’m lucky that every time I revisit her work there’s something new to discover.”
“Of course, everyone knows Min Jin Lee for her masterful work on ‘Pachinko,’ but I absolutely raced through ‘Free Food for Millionaires.’ Her character work and exploration of class, race and young adulthood in New York was fascinating, heartbreaking and affirming. I adore her words.”
“‘Does Anyone Else Feel This Way?’ is my love letter to the chaos, confusion, isolation, heartbreak and anxiety of the unspoken transition to adulthood and the murkiness that accompanies it. Within 12 essays I explore topics like friendship, mental health, the idea of having a ‘purpose,’ social media and our relationship to ourselves.”
“‘Wuthering Heights’ is my favorite book of all time. When I want to reach for a romance… this is what I mean. Deeply layered, revolutionary for its time, sweeping, romantic and dense.”
“Cecile Richards was the former president of Planned Parenthood and her memoir about her career irrevocably altered my life and my understanding of activism and the women’s rights movement. I adore her and her work.”