Emma Roberts on the 'joy' of reading with her son and the Joan Didion book she revisits
In USA TODAY’s The Essentials, celebrities share what fuels their lives whether it's at home, on the set or on the road.
When she's not on set, Emma Roberts is getting lost in the world of a good book − preferably in a different country.
"I'm always daydreaming about that for my summer," says Roberts, who founded her Belletrist Book Club in 2017 with best friend Karah Preiss. "There's nothing more romantic than reading and traveling by train."
And what "sounds more heavenly" than reading in the City of Love itself?
This summer, Roberts, who's partnered with European-based booking app Trainline to launch The Reading Route, thinks back to one of her favorite memories: Traveling through Paris, making a dent in her summer reading and spending "such an amazing time" with her mom.
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The "American Horror Story" and "Scream Queens" actress has led the pack of an ever-growing roster of celebrities fostering online reading communities including Dua Lipa's Service95, Emma Watson's Our Shared Shelf, Florence Welch's Between Two Books and Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine, to name a few.
On Instagram, the "Madame Web" actress keeps the bookish girl brand strong as she shares her book club's pick for August ("Five-Star Stranger" by Kat Tang), herself rocking a "bookworm" T-shirt, her favorite indie bookstores across the country and her book hauls.
But Roberts isn't quite ready to step into her published author era.
"You guys can expect something from me in the far future," she jokes. "I feel like I'll release something when I'm a bit older and hopefully wiser."
Emma Roberts' vacation must-haves include a book, pen and a pair of sunglasses
When going on a trip, Roberts packs "an amazing book or three" − no questions asked.
"I always pack more books than I can read because I don't know if my mood is going to change, so I have to have some on deck or at least a list of amazing bookstores to go to where I am," she says. "And then I always need a pen because I can't read without underlining or taking notes."
Marking or dog-earing the pages of a book might not feel ethical for some bibliophiles, but the actress sees it as a way to revisit how she felt when reading a certain book.
Roberts says she jots down details like her age while reading the book, her location and when she started and finished reading. "That way I have some point of reference as to why certain parts of the book meant something to me at that time," she says.
More of Roberts' vacation essentials include Evian water facial spray, a "fabulous" pair of sunglasses, Kiko Milano eye patches, a book and a pen.
"You're pretty much good to go with that," Roberts adds. "That's the bare minimum."
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Reading with her son is 'one of my true joys'
Roberts also pours her love and passion for reading into her 3-year-old son, Rhodes Robert Hedlund.
"Reading with my son is one of my true joys in life," she says. "He actually read 'Good Night Moon' to me the other night and I was teary-eyed, it was such a moment."
"I can see when he reads a book by himself, he's so proud," she says, adding that Rhodes "loves to read and he loves to sound out the words, he's very interested in learning how to read on his own and that brings me such joy."
Recently, the "Space Cadet" star also found joy in her engagement to boyfriend, Cody John.
How does the busy actress find time to read?
Roberts, who boasts six upcoming acting credits on IMDb, still finds time to squeeze reading into her daily routine.
"I'm one of those people who can read and sleep anywhere, which is very lucky for my lifestyle," she jokes. "I always have a book with me on set and I always read before bed."
On set, she's reading something her character might read. "I'm staying within the genre," Roberts says. "A lot of horror books were read during the latest season of 'AHS.'"
She read "Rosemary's Baby" and sequel "Son of Rosemary," snagging vintage copies from Etsy "which added to the vibe of reading them."
Emma Roberts's childhood core memories as a bookworm
The actress jokes she wasn't "very good at math or science (and I'm still not)," but loved getting lost in the pages of a book. "Spelling and English were always my strong suits as a young kid."
On a deeper level, Roberts adds that reading fostered an unshakeable confidence she's carried into adulthood.
"It gave me confidence to know that it was something I was good at and so I just couldn't get enough of being in the library at school and going to the bookstore after school. I would just devour every book and spend my allowance buying new books."
Why she revisits this one Joan Didion book
For Roberts, motherhood changed her relationship with literature.
"Blue Nights" by the late journalist and author Joan Didion is one of those books for the actress. The 2012 book is a meditation on grief as Didion grapples with the death of her daughter, Quintana Roo.
"That's one that changed in meaning for me," she says. "It's about her daughter and so obviously it meant something different after I gave birth to my son."
But Roberts' ultimate favorite? Her signed copy of Didion's 1968 collection of essays, "Slouching Towards Bethlehem," gifted on her 30th birthday. "It is one of my most prized possessions."
"A gift that I bought myself recently that was a big splurge that I've been thinking about for a while was an edition of 'The Bell Jar' by Victoria Lucas, which was the name that Sylvia Plath went under for the first printing of the book."
Emma Roberts, Belletrist and Trainline share must-read books − and where to read them
- Edinburgh, Scotland: "Beautiful Ruins" by Jess Walter
- Rome: "The Imperfectionists" by Tom Rachman
- Paris: "A Moveable Feast" by Ernest Hemingway
- Atrani, Italy: "The Talented Mr. Ripley" by Patricia Highsmith
- Cornwall and London, England: "The Sleeper" by Emily Barr
- Bordeaux, France: "My Husband" by Maud Ventura
- Barcelona: "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
- Paris: "The Dud Avocado" by Elaine Dundy
- London: "Girl, Woman, Other" by Bernardine Evaristo
- Bedford, England: "The Midnight Library" by Matt Haig
For the reading list, Roberts says, "We wanted to choose books that evoke magic and wanderlust and get your imagination going because, with reading and travel, it's all about the possibilities."