Cover From literary classics to contemporary explorations, these are the books Jessie Buckley returns to for insight and inspiration (Photo: Frazer Harrison/WireImage/Getty Images)
From literary classics to contemporary explorations, these are the books Jessie Buckley returns to for insight and inspiration (Photo: Frazer Harrison/WireImage/Getty Images)
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Jessie Buckley and her favourite books offer insight into her creative and intellectual world
Jessie Buckley has said that reading has been part of how she prepares for roles and grounds her thinking as an actor, offering both context and texture for the work she chooses to do. In recent interviews, she has shared a short reading list that reflects interests in the roots of narrative, imaginative breadth and questions about how stories shape our understanding of ourselves and others. Her choices range from foundational texts of literature to works that explicitly interrogate the stories we inherit and why they matter. The list includes writers from different centuries and traditions, and several of the works have been particularly resonant as she moved from one major film to the next. Jessie Buckley has described some of these books as tools through which she explores character, theme and her own relationship to storytelling in its many forms.
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‘Good Morning, Midnight’ by Jean Rhys
Above ‘Good Morning, Midnight’ by Jean Rhys (Photo: Penguin Classics)
‘Good Morning, Midnight’ by Jean Rhys (Photo: Penguin Classics)
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Jean Rhys’s Good Morning, Midnight was first published in 1939 and remains one of her most discussed novels. The story follows a woman in Paris who is acutely aware of her own isolation and dislocation. Rhys’s prose is pared back and immediate, evoking moods and internal dialogues that reveal as much about the wider world as about the protagonist’s private struggles. The novel moves through memory, regret and fleeting encounters with a steady and precise rhythm, situating the reader within a mind that is both present and adrift.
Rhys’s work is often noted for how it handles psychological nuance and restraint. Good Morning, Midnight employs a series of sharp observations and moments of self‑awareness rather than dramatic plot turns. The effect is that the narrative feels lived in and unfiltered, an approach that has influenced writers interested in interiority and subtle shifts in tone.
‘The Complete Works of Shakespeare’ by William Shakespeare
Above ‘The Complete Works of Shakespeare’ by William Shakespeare (Photo: The RSC Shakespeare)
‘The Complete Works of Shakespeare’ by William Shakespeare (Photo: The RSC Shakespeare)
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The Complete Works of Shakespeare encompasses plays written over more than two decades in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and remains a central text in English literature. Its range spans comedies, tragedies and histories, each engaging with questions of power, identity, love and mortality. Shakespeare’s language is distinctive for its rich vocabulary, inventive metaphors and rhythms that continually challenge and reward careful reading.
Jessie Buckley has said she keeps Shakespeare’s works near at hand because there is always more to uncover, whether in a familiar passage or a line rarely quoted. For actors and readers alike, the plays offer endless entry points into character and circumstance. Scenes from King Lear, Twelfth Night and Macbeth continue to be staged and adapted, but the cumulative breadth of the canon is part of what sustains it in the imagination of those who return to it repeatedly.
‘Frankenstein the Original 1818 Text’ by Mary Shelley
Above ‘Frankenstein the Original 1818 Text’ by Mary Shelley (Photo: Reader’s Library Classics)
‘Frankenstein the Original 1818 Text’ by Mary Shelley (Photo: Reader’s Library Classics)
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Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was first published in 1818, when she was a teenager, and it has since become a cornerstone of early science fiction and Gothic literature. The novel tracks Victor Frankenstein’s attempt to animate life, and the consequences that follow when his creation is left to navigate the world without guidance. Its structure is framed through letters and multiple narrators, which add layers to the ethical and existential questions at its core.
Shelley’s prose in this edition is closer to her original intention before later revisions, and it foregrounds themes of creation, responsibility and isolation. The creature’s own voice emerges as a reasoned reflection on abandonment and difference, complicating simple binaries of monster and maker. Buckley has cited her reading of this text as resonant with her work on The Bride!, where she explores how narratives assign meaning to bodies and identities.
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‘Windows on Eternity: The Paintings of Peter Birkhäuser’ by Eva Wertenschlag‑Birkher
Above ‘Windows on Eternity: The Paintings of Peter Birkhäuser’ by Eva Wertenschlag‑Birkher (Photo: Daimon Verlag)
‘Windows on Eternity: The Paintings of Peter Birkhäuser’ by Eva Wertenschlag‑Birkher (Photo: Daimon Verlag)
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Windows on Eternity pairs the paintings of Peter Birkhäuser, a Swiss artist who worked in the mid-20th century, with essays and reflections by his daughter, Eva Wertenschlag‑Birkher. The book does not follow a conventional narrative but uses visual art as a way into larger questions of consciousness, symbolism and how images emerge from inner life. Birkhäuser’s work has been described as dream‑inflected, and the accompanying text situates these paintings within both personal and collective contexts.
For readers interested in how visual and textual forms can intersect, this volume offers a space to consider how art might function outside market categories or easy interpretation. Buckley was introduced to this book by someone who works with dreams as part of creative practice, and she has spoken about how paying attention to imagery informs her approach to character and performance.
‘Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are Storytellers, the Human Story Changes’ by Elizabeth Lesser
Above ‘Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are Storytellers, the Human Story Changes’ by Elizabeth Lesser (Photo: Harper Paperbacks)
‘Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are Storytellers, the Human Story Changes’ by Elizabeth Lesser (Photo: Harper Paperbacks)
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Elizabeth Lesser’s Cassandra Speaks makes a case for listening to women’s voices in the stories that shape culture and history. Drawing on mythological figures and personal reflections, Lesser suggests that dominant narratives have often marginalised or distorted women’s perspectives. The book moves between critique and exploration, asking how different stories might shift collective understanding of power, value and experience.
Jessie Buckley read this book after it was recommended by a colleague, and she has said it prompted questions about the assumptions embedded in the narratives she grew up with. While not a manifesto in the traditional sense, Cassandra Speaks invites readers to consider the terms in which stories are told and who gets to tell them, making it a reflective companion for anyone interested in how literature and culture interact.
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Chonx Tibajia is a senior editor at Tatler Asia’s T-Labs team, where she writes widely on lifestyle subjects including beauty, style, entertainment and travel. She has a long career in journalism, including roles as a columnist at The Philippine Star, and is the founder of the creative platform Pineappleversed. Beyond Tatler, her bylines appear in regional lifestyle and business publications, showcasing a broad portfolio that spans beauty trends, travel guides and culture pieces.
