Sarah Jessica Parker, a style icon and beloved actress, is embracing a decidedly different kind of demanding role at 60: serving as a judge for the prestigious Booker Prize. The Sex and the City star has revealed she’s been immersed in an intense reading schedule, sometimes tackling up to two books a day, to fulfill her duties for one of the literary world’s most esteemed honors.
Speaking recently to Page Six, Parker opened up about the sheer volume of literature she’s navigating. “It’s intense to be reading (that number of books),” she admitted. “The volume is kind of hard to convey, what it’s like to have as many books we are given the opportunity to read in a month…it’s quite something.”
This literary commitment required careful planning. The actress, also known most recently for her work on And Just Like That…, explained that her current schedule made the demanding role possible. “I didn’t do it last year because I knew I was shooting and doing the series [And Just Like That…], and I knew this year I had a different kind of time available to me, to read morning till night,” Parker shared.
Her devotion to the task is all-encompassing. “Any opportunity that exists to read, I’m reading,” she told the publication, painting a picture of a life currently revolving around the written word, from dawn till dusk.
The actress recently posted a photo of a suitcase full of books to her Instagram page — along with a plea for the airlines to keep track of her luggage. “Please don’t lose my suitcase!!!,” Parker captioned the pic. “I can get toothpaste and moisturizer anywhere…“
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This deep dive into literature is hardly a new pursuit for Parker. Parker’s commitment to this “intense” reading regimen underscores not only her respect for the literary process but also her genuine lifelong passion for the transformative power of books. Her passion for books was cultivated from a very young age, a tradition she has carried through her life and passed on to her own children. “We always had a ton of books around the house and we were regular visitors to the library,” she recalled of her childhood. “We were not allowed to leave the house without a book in our hands, even when we were toddlers and couldn’t read.”
The influence of her mother, a devoted reader herself, was paramount. “She read to us constantly,” Parker continued, a habit she replicated with her own family. “So I did the same for my children, and they came to the same conclusion, which is (that) books are the greatest possible friends you could have.”
The Booker Prize, first awarded in 1969, recognizes the best novel written in English and published in the UK or Ireland, with judges reading hundreds of submissions to select a longlist, shortlist, and ultimately, a winner. Serving as a Booker Prize judge is a natural extension of Parker’s well-documented love for literature: she has her own book imprint, SJP Lit, in partnership with Zando, where she champions new voices and diverse stories.
