Best books recommended by Zoe Kazan

Zoe Kazan is an American actress, screenwriter, and playwright. Apart from being famous for her roles in She Said, Ruby Sparks, The Big Sick, and It’s Complicated, she is also a writer. She wrote the book, which became the plot for her movie Ruby Sparks.

However, this article presents some of her best book recommendations and shows why you should read them.

Who is Zoe Kazan?

Zoe Kazan was born on September 9, 1983, in Los Angeles, where she also finished elementary and high school. She graduated from Yale University and has a BA in Theatre.

She debuted in 2003 as Samantha in the movie Swordswallowers and Thin Men. In 2014, Primetime Emmy Awards nominated her for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series for her role in the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge. She played in Oscar-nominated movies The Big Sick and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Kazan appeared in a podcast about a film she starred in, The Pretty One: Meet the Filmmakers.

More recently, she starred in a Netflix miniseries, Clickbait (2021), and in a new film called, She Said (2022), an adaptation of the book by the same name. In the movie, Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan play the New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, who brought sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein into the open in 2017.

As a screenwriter, she wrote the movie Ruby Sparks (2012) and co-wrote Wildlife (2018). She also wrote the plays Absalom: A Play in Four Scenes (2010), We Live Here (2013), Trudy and Max in Love (2016), and a dystopian play After the Blast, first shown at Lincoln Center Theatre in 2017.

Zoe Kazan’s favorite books

Since Zoe Kazan has written her whole life, she is the perfect person to turn to for book recommendations. Here are some of them:

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Lolita is a controversial 1995 novel by American-Russian author Vladimir Nabokov. It is a story about a middle-aged Humbert who becomes infatuated with a 12-year-old girl Dolores Haze. He agrees to marry her mother, Charlotte, to get closer to her, but a car accident kills Charlotte.

From then on, the book follows the two as they travel across the country and engage in a dysfunctional relationship. With hilarious wordplay and unapologetic narration, the book is a masterful depiction of desire, jealousy, and despair.

Surviving the White Gaze by Rebecca Carroll

Surviving the White Gaze was written by cultural critic Rebecca Carroll. It is a memoir that recounts her childhood and the struggles she experienced while living in a white neighborhood. She questions her identity when she learns that her biological mother is also white. These struggles continue well into her adulthood.

She goes through all kinds of troubles to change her identity and fit in, but eventually finds her place within the right community.

The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin

The Stepford Wives is a 1972 satirical modern horror and psychological thriller about a family that moves to Stepford. The wife soon realizes that something strange is happening within the town’s community and that her passionate female friends are changing into robot-like housewives.

Through a comedic but spine-chilling story set in an eerie town, this book perfectly manages to comment on sexism in marriage and men’s fear of female liberation at that time.

Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin

Rosemary’s Baby is a horror novel about Rosemary and Guy, a young couple who move into Bramford, an apartment in New York with a dark history. After the husband gets a big role in a movie, they decide to have a child.

Everything seems to be going well, but after a strange dream, things start going downhill. Rosemary starts feeling unwell, and soon she discovers that their neighbors have sinister secrets that will cost them their happiness.

This book does not need bloody scenes to keep you on the edge of your seat and manages to make your skin crawl simply with masterfully suspenseful narration.

You Play the Girl by Carina Chocano

You Play the Girl is a powerful collection of essays about the problematic ways women are portrayed in popular culture. The author explains how the women in media are often objectified and not who they are but what the men need them to be.

Carina Chocano tells this story from her perspective. She uses her experience as a movie critic to describe how this can be detrimental to girls and young women who use these one-dimensional depictions of women as their role models.

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

The Summer Book tells a story about a 6-year-old girl Sophie who lives with her old grandmother on an island in Finland. Despite living in the middle of nowhere, they find a way to have fun and spend their days together doing things that are both for the young and the old.

As the grandmother is an artist, she uses her skills to make a whole new world for Sophie with elements of nature. It is a perfect book to read on vacation and will make you want to live on a small isolated island of your own.

Someday Angeline by Louis Sachar

Someday Angeline is a children’s book about an 8-year-old girl called Angeline Persopolis. She is extremely smart, which makes her misunderstood by adults and bullied by her peers. She only has two eccentric friends. When she decides she can’t take it anymore, she rebels against her teacher and starts skipping school.

This book perfectly shows the struggles of a child who only wants to be happy while those around her expect her to be something she is not.

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned is a collection of stories that tell about dysfunctional families that try to reconcile, competitive siblings, dropouts, rebels, etc. The stories are set in different places, times, and classes, but they tell about the same struggles everyone goes through.

Discover amazing books on Speechify Audiobooks

Even if you don’t have time to get through lengthy books, you can still discover new reads. Listening to books narrated on Speechify Audiobooks is a great way to check off titles on your reading list. You can listen to Rosemary’s Baby, Surviving the White Gaze, and many other books across various genres, from thrillers to romance to mystery and fantasy, with Speechify’s extensive library.

With a monthly subscription, you can access thousands of titles and even get your first book for free simply by signing up. In addition, Speechify Audiobooks enables you to set the reading speed, synchronize your progress across multiple devices, and set a sleep timer.

Choose your first book today and discover a new favorite on Speechify Audiobooks.

FAQ

Are Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan still together?

They have been in a relationship since 2007 and have two children.

What movies did Zoe Kazan play in?

She has been in around 30 movies, but she is best known for her roles in It’s Complicated (2009), Ruby Sparks (2012), In Your Eyes (2014), The Big Sick (2017), and She Said (2022).

Is Zoe Kazan related to Elia Kazan?

Zoe Kazan is the granddaughter of director Elia Kazan.

Does Zoe Kazan have a sister?

Zoe Kazan has a sister Maya Kazan, who is also an actress and best known for her role in The Knick.

Who does Zoe Kazan play in the movie Ruby Sparks?

She plays a character with the same name, Ruby Sparks.