‘One Nightstand’ With Sarah Jessica Parker

In One Nightstand, celebrity readers and writers join us at the blond in 11 Howard to discuss some of their favorite books, allowing us to learn about their tastes and lives in the process.

While Sarah Jessica Parker has always been a big reader, nothing could prepare her for the 200-plus books she’ll have tackle this year as a newly appointed Booker Prize judge. “When I finished this most recent batch, we were up to book 103,” the And Just Like That... star tells Bustle. “I’m devoting sometimes 6, 8, 10 hours a day to reading.”

On top of prepping for Booker deliberations, Parker’s always scouting new authors and works for her publishing imprint, SJP Lit — like These Days by Lucy Caldwell, which she just published in the United States. “What struck me early in the pages was how smooth and masterful Lucy is,” she says. Set over four tense days during the Blitz in Northern Ireland, the novel follows two sisters as they grapple with the destruction unfolding around them. “She pulled me in with this moment in time.”

Ireland is a particular literary fascination for Parker, who also counts Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting as a favorite book. “It’s almost unbearable. But I love books like that. As [AJLT showrunner] Michael Patrick King always says, ‘I love a book that pushes on the bruise. I love feeling deserted,’” she says of the novel, which was shortlisted for the Booker in 2023. As for the novel’s shocking ending? “I couldn't believe what he did. I’m afraid of what I think happened to that family.”

The conclusion of Clear by Carys Davies astounded Parker as well. The novel, set on a remote Scottish island, hooked her with its atmosphere then gutted her with its humanity. “She created a relationship between two men that you just never see coming,” Parker says. “This place, it’s barren, it’s pounding with nature — and then she gives you this incredible connection. I couldn't believe it.”

While Clear snuck up on Parker, Tayari Jones’ An American Marriage hit her straight in the gut. The novel, which follows a Black couple who are torn apart after the husband is falsely accused of rape, floored her with its emotional honesty. “She doesn’t pull any punches,” Parker says. “She’s not trying to make you feel better. She’s like, ‘This is what it is.’”

Jones is among the authors who Parker hopes to keep reading for years to come, much like The Goldfinch author Donna Tartt. “She’s young and potentially has three or four more books in her. But she owes us nothing. She doesn't have to be on social media? She doesn't have to do interviews,” she says of the famously reclusive Tartt. “She doesn't have to show up at my dinner party, except in my fantasies.”

Luckily, Parker has gotten to build real connections with some of her favorite writers. One of them is A Place For Us’ Fatima Farheen Mirza — whose novel was the first Parker published. “I had read half a dozen manuscripts at that point. Then I started reading this one, and I put it down immediately and called [my team] and said, ‘We have to try to get this book,’” she says. “I just knew it was something. That she was something.” It’s these moments that make it all worth it for Parker — even when she’s spending 10 hours a day with her nose in a book.