Book Appointment Now
Aubrey Plaza and Bella Hadid have a method to their reading madness
A closer look at the bookshelves of Aubrey Plaza and Bella Hadid suggests Jacqueline Susann’s “Valley of the Dolls” (which most certainly could be among the classic novels to pick for your next book club read) wasn’t just a one-off. If anything, it’s the anchor point in a wider, weirder reading pattern: a fascination with women who come undone, but do so in a highly aestheticized style.
Hadid has also shared support for “My Year of Rest and Relaxation,” where Ottessa Moshfegh’s dead-eyed heroine drugs herself into oblivion in a Manhattan apartment full of inherited money and curated apathy. Plaza, unsurprisingly, goes for “The Bell Jar,” which traces a woman’s ultimate descent into madness, wrapped in perfectionism and social suffocation. She shared with Elle that she can recognize herself in Plath’s work, and it “makes [her] feel seen.”
Even the stars’ offbeat picks track. Plaza has shouted out “Liarmouth” by John Waters — a full-tilt satire about a scammer in freewheeling descent. Hadid’s inclusion of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” might seem gentler, but Holly Golightly is all performance, too — a woman vanishing behind charm, always halfway out the door. Collectively, these are all stories about women spinning out, numbing up, or slipping away by choice, weighed down by socially scripted femininity. As Plaza and Hadid will attest, “Valley of the Dolls” understood that instinct long ago. Perhaps the pair should co-found a celebrity book club of their own.
