Sarah Jessica Parker is an actress who also works in books. She runs the SJP Lit imprint with Zando, served as the American Library Association's Honorary Book Club Central Chair, and judged the 2025 Booker Prize. This list gathers her named favourites and library picks, mostly contemporary literary fiction and family stories.
Fatima Farheen Mirza · 2018
The first acquisition for her SJP Lit imprint, and one of her personal favourites. A family story, and a book she backed twice over.
Paul Murray · 2022
Parker praised the dignity and pathos Murray gives each character, and called the book bravely devastating. Read it if you want fiction that takes every person in it seriously.
Donna Tartt · 1993
She admires Tartt's dedication to her craft and counts this among her favourites. A substantial novel, so set aside some time.
Tayari Jones · 2018
Tayari Jones turned up on her favourites list in the interview where she also talked about what Carrie Bradshaw would read.
Rona Jaffe · 1958
Parker called it incredible and said Carrie Bradshaw would obviously have read it. The novel follows young women working in 1950s New York.
Brooke Montgomery, Brooke Cumberland · 2024
Her pick as ALA Book Club Central chair. She called it a wise, humane debut that opens up the politics inside a marriage.
Mohsin Hamid · 2017
One of her earlier Book Club Central selections. She gave no reason, so the title speaks for itself.
Stephanie Powell Watts
Another Book Club Central choice, made before Stay with Me. Named without comment on why.
Clemantine Wamariya, Elizabeth Weil · 2018
The memoir on this list. On Girlboss Radio she called it stunning and an important book for others to read.
Lawrence Osborne · 2017
Osborne is one of her favourite authors. This novel follows two wealthy young women who meet a Syrian refugee.
Carys Davies · 2024
Named among her personal favourites. She had also praised Davies's West and her short story collection on Girlboss Radio, so Davies is worth exploring further.
Lucy Caldwell · 2022
Lucy Caldwell's novel was published through Parker's SJP Lit imprint, and it is also among her personal favourites.