Every novel Margaret Qualley couldn’t live without
Margaret Qualley might be the daughter of rom-com queen Andie MacDowell, but after starring in the likes of Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things and exploding out of the open wound in Demi Moore’s back and onto our screens last year, she’s marked herself out as something of an indie darling.
However much she might be trying to eschew the title and bring her career more in line with her mother’s, Qualley is still a quirky It Girl that many young cool girls the world over continue to look to for inspiration. And so, as with others of her ilk – Charli XCX, Dua Lipa and Jemima Kirke – being an avid reader seems to be a requisite of their influence.
So what are the novels Qualley couldn’t live without? What can they tell her fans about her interior world and how she views the one around her? Unfortunately, the selection she shared with Chanel isn’t quite as cool and cutting-edge as her filmography has been. Most of them sit comfortably within the American classic genre or are familiar childhood favourites, so they beg little introduction. And honestly, a certain two give me cause to raise my eyebrows.
First up is her childhood favourite, a contentious but renowned children’s book, The Giving Tree. It follows the relationship between a boy and a tree, the latter of which gives everything it has to the boy as he grows through life. While it’s a children’s picture book, it’s been interpreted as everything from a tale of selfless love to a parable on the exploitation of mothers and even as a story that glorifies sadomasochistic relationships.
Qualley, however, thinks the ending is sweet and hopeful. And although she notes that author Shel Silverstein talks about it being a story about a relationship between a giver and a taker, she thinks he’s simply being dismissive about it.
Next up is another set of childhood favourites that she still finds inspiring: Harry Potter. While she admits that she would be lying if she said they weren’t in her top five, I wish she had lied. Undoubtedly, the series was a huge part of most 1990s kids’ lives, and for many, it was the source of their obsession with reading. But girl, honestly, grow up.
I think any Harry Potter kids who are in and around their 30s by now could talk about literally anything else, given JK Rowling’s abominable anti-trans activism in recent years. And to say they’re still in your top five… I digress. Anyway, sitting there with these tired volumes is, of course, JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Qualley didn’t just read the tale of Bilbo Baggins’ first venture out of the Shire, but was given a three-hour-long breakdown by her brother as a kid, so it occupies an even more special place in her heart.
The rest of her list pretty much sticks to seminal American texts. We’ve got the ever-iconic favourite, The Great Gatsby. With not one but two beloved film adaptations, this classic tale of old money vs new money set in the roaring twenties needs no further explanation. And she throws around JD Salinger’s name a few times, so she must be a fan of that other high school classic, The Catcher in the Rye.
While there’s a mention of two Tennessee Williams plays in there (she’s an actor after all) and of Frank O’Hara’s Lunch Poems (she keeps it on her kitchen counter for daily reading), the novel that most seems to excite her is Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet. If they can even be called a novel.
Really, the book is a collection of letters from the Austrian Bohemian poet Rilke to a young military office cadet, offering him off-beat, poetic advice on matters concerning poetry, love, and life. Published in 1929, they have been a source of comfort and guidance for people, artists and writers of every generation since, with many famous people extolling their influence.
While Qualley’s favourite novels don’t really break any new ground or push the boundaries, they do seem to align with the sensitive and sensible persona that she shows to the world. But please god, let’s hope she drops Harry Potter from her top five sometime soon.
Margaret Qualley’s 10 favourite books:
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling
- Lunch Poems by Frank O’Hara
- The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
- The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
- The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare
- This American Life
- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams
- The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
- Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
