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Life-Changing Reads: Al Roker, Jennifer Garner and More Reveal the Books That Left a Lasting Mark

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Sep 13, 2024 12:58 pm·

By CAROL DITTBRENNER and Jessica Stopper

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Many occurrences can change the trajectory of one’s life. For these celebrities, picking up a new read changed the way they thought and perceived the world.

Whether it be a self-help book or a powerful biography written by a figure who overcame trials and tribulations, the words written on each page shaped the course of Hollywood’s finest people including Leah Remini, Al Roker and Serena Williams.

The tennis legend’s most favored book is one that is popular, yet “underrated,” as she would explain.

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Life-Changing Reads: Celebrities Reveal the Books That Left a Mark

Leah Remini

“I got plenty of tools to use from Hardwiring Happiness,” says Leah of the self-help book by Rick Hanson, which aims to teach people how to find contentment, calm and confidence through mindfulness exercises.

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Phyllis Diller

“Almost like a mantra, I’d keep re-reading the parts that I underlined,” Phyllis
said of The Magic of Believing. “From here on it was straight up, all the way. I had a whole different slant. I believed that everything was going to work out, so even the setbacks that I’d experience wouldn’t matter. Everything I’d touch would turn to gold.”

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Serena Williams

“People always mention other books, but the Bible is where I get the best advice to help me through life. It’s really helped me a lot, and it’s underrated.”

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Alan Alda

“I was 8 and read a book called Top Horse of Crescent Ranch. I knew from that moment that I wanted to be a writer. So, I started working on a story that I decided would be completely different. I called it Not the Top Horse of Crescent Ranch. In a way, it was a different story because it was about the underdog, not the big cheese.”

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John Legend

“I started developing a social conscious when I would read biographies about people like Dr. King and other leaders who put themselves on the line to make big change happen,” says the singer. “I always thought about myself and what it meant to live a good, impactful life, and how it was important for me to use whatever platform I had to make a change.”

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Lucille Ball

Lucy was a big fan of Norman Vincent Peale’s book and teachings. “Listening to the [pastor] speak in his Marble Collegiate Church [in NYC], I was moved to tears,” she said. “He was a man who spoke my language, who offered me a practical, everyday kind of religion.

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Al Roker

“It’s going to sound odd, but Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss,” says the Today co-host. “It was a book about perseverance, stubbornness, forgiveness, about opening up. It was this wonderful poetry about all the things you won’t do, but then by accepting something that you don’t think you want to do, suddenly your whole world opens up. I’ve always loved that book.”

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Jennifer Garner

“It was the first play I read that I completely related to,” said Jennifer, who read Crimes of the Heart in college. “I am the middle of three sisters, I come from a Southern family, and I wanted to be cast as one of the girls in this story. I changed my major to theater right after that.”

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