Julianna Margulies, actress and author of the newly-released memoir Sunshine Girl: An Unexpected Life, has an eclectic book collection throughout her home, as seen in Marie Claire’s latest episode of Shelf Portrait, in which celebrities, influencers, and famous bookworms show off their personal libraries.
In the video, Margulies shares that two people who helped her write her book without knowing it are Mary Karr and Stephen King. The Good Wife actress loves Ann Patchett (she's read every book she's ever written!) and says her "dear friend Reese Witherspoon" happens to know Patchett, so she autographed a few of her books for Margulies: This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage, The Dutch House, and Bel Canto. She also loves Walter Issacson's The Innovators (where she learned the first people to program computers were women!), art books (like this one from Marc Chagall), and memoirs (two she refuses to give away are Gabriel Byrne's Walking with Ghosts and Toni Morrison's Love).
Margulies says she has read Oliver Sacks's Gratitude 15–20 times to remind herself that "life is much richer when gratitude is practiced." Her bookshelf also has several collections of plays and a book that's traveled with her since high school: Dante's Inferno. Naturally, she also has a copy of Emily Dickinson's poems, Final Harvest, and Glennon Doyle's Untamed. Margulies reveals she read Peter Evans and Ava Gardner's Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations whenever she had a 10-minute break on set of The Good Wife, and one of her favorite books of all time is Wallace Shawn's Essays. She recommends people keep books on their shelves that remind them of certain times in their lives.
Watch Margulies's full Shelf Portrait video, above, then order some of her favorite books for yourself, below.
