Actress, entrepreneur, and author Priyanka Chopra Jonas gives us a peek at her bookshelves! The author of the new memoir "Unfinished" shares some of her all-time favorites and dishes on her reading habits, her fictional crush and much more. From the best new book she's read recently to her top 'Harry Potter' pick, Chopra Jonas shares some excellent recs and an intimate look at her temporary London library.
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00:00I remember I used to have a library in my house and I used to give the neighborhood kids books
00:05that I used to let them borrow my books and I had like a librarian, I used to write down who
00:10borrowed my book and when I was going to get it back. Hi guys, I'm Priyanka Chopra Jonas and I'm
00:15about to give Marie Claire a sneak peek into my personal library. This is Shelf Portrait.
00:24So if I was at home, you would have seen my library and my books which are my prized
00:29possessions but at the moment I'm not. I'm filming a movie in London but I do have a few books in here
00:35that I did bring with me and that I have bought while I've been in London. I love books. I've been
00:42an avid reader since I was a child. There's something magical about books. Once they're printed
00:48they live on and they have their own legacy and then they get passed on from person to person
00:54and you know I always wonder, like I love going into used bookstores and finding used books and I
01:01wonder you know how many people have gone through those pages or leafed those pages and I find the
01:09journey of books fascinating. I find the journey they take me on fascinating.
01:13One of the books that I want to talk to you guys about today on my bookshelf is Amnesty by Arvind
01:23Adiga. I have a movie coming out right now called The White Tiger which is based on a novel that
01:29Arvind Adiga wrote in 2008 and I'm a huge fan of his writing. He writes with wit. He always has a social
01:38commentary and in this one Danny, the main character, Dhananjay, is from Sri Lanka and he's a refugee
01:45in Australia. Basically through his eyes there's also a murder that happens and him trying to figure
01:51out the morality of whether he should you know tell the police what he knows or he shouldn't because
01:59he doesn't have papers and it's just the writing. He's so clever in his writing and he's humorous and
02:04he's sarcastic and he's dark but at the same time you know has a very fast-paced sense of storytelling.
02:11This book sort of makes you think about you know refugees and refugees around the world and
02:17their lives and their choices and the choices they have to make and the ones that are made for them.
02:24It's something that you know makes you think about that and that's what I definitely picked up from this.
02:29What's my all-time favorite book cover? I you know I've been a big fan of graphic novels and comics
02:35as well. I have to say The Watchmen was one of my favorites and I remember like you know seeing it
02:42and it being seared into my memory and of course now The Watchmen is a TV series and it was a movie
02:46as well so that's something that I really remember. The world fascinated me. Who's my all-time favorite
02:52crush? This is really cheesy. Instead of it being like some heroic crush from you know one of the great
03:00novels that I've read I would like to say it's Archie Andrews from the Archie comics. I really think I had a
03:06real crush on him. Weirdo.
03:09This is one of my favorite favorite books of the year. It's called Homegoing. It's written by Yaa Gyasi.
03:16It's based in the 18th century actually and it's the story of two half sisters in Ghana and who are born
03:25without the knowledge of each other and one gets married to an Englishman and you know lives an
03:32affluent life and the other one gets sold into slavery in the same castle that her sister is married
03:39into. It has a commentary on family. It has a commentary on the slave trade and what that did. It has a
03:46commentary on being a black woman in America today where the book ends actually and it really makes
03:52you think about life and the privileges that come along with it and you know what is destined for
03:59you and what are the what are the choices that you make that change your destiny.
04:05What book would I recommend to a book club? At the moment I would maybe recommend my book to the book
04:11club. It's called Unfinished. I would love for you guys to check it out and see if I did an okay job.
04:16You know as a first-time author. What was the process like to write a book? Daunting but exhilarating
04:23at the same time. I remember being terrified the thought of even putting words down and then now
04:31I'm terrified of the thought of everyone reading them. So I have really newfound respect for all the
04:36authors that I've loved and admired. This is no small feat. This is the next book I'm going to talk
04:42about. I'm sure a lot of you have heard of it and seen it. The storytelling is extremely vivid which
04:47I love. It's about how she is becomes the woman that she is you know from Chicago to the White House
04:56and that journey which is so fascinating to all of us and you know it feels like a Cinderella story
05:01but she gives that perspective of the hardships trials and tribulations that she had to go through
05:07and her family had to go through. Well the one thing about this book was when I read it a couple
05:12of months ago I was also in the process of writing my own memoir. You know I did take a few lessons
05:17from how she really talks about her evolution and how she digs in really deep to her vulnerabilities.
05:24Since I really admire her I really enjoyed it and I would recommend this to everyone.
05:27What was my favorite childhood book? I've had many but one of the ones that I really remember is
05:34Black Beauty. It's the story of this black stallion horse. She's raised by a very loving owner and then
05:44gets sold into you know a workforce. As an animal lover I remember being really really moved by this
05:51book as a kid. Do I make notes or highlights? Yes I do. I definitely highlight. I write notes. I write my
05:57name. I also look up words that you know I may or may not may not know. I have a very deep connection
06:04when I'm reading a book. Okay next book I'm going to be talking about too is Harry Potter and the
06:09Philosopher's Stone. Sorcerer's Stone, Philosopher's Stone it's the British and American version but
06:15I kind of joined this train a little late. I had been I watched the movies and everyone kept talking
06:22about the books. I was like reading is a completely different experience you know and I really wanted
06:28to pick up the book and read it and when I started doing it I understood the hysteria. Yes it's based
06:35in a fantasy land and yes you know we're talking about magic but the kind of issues that Harry deals
06:42with and the relationships and the people they're all so human and I think that's what makes this book
06:49um so riveting that you know you want to follow Harry and his friend's journey and you want to see
06:56and learn from him at his young age um about being adventurous but also you know being able to stand
07:03your ground and being brave and um so I would recommend this to everyone who hasn't read the books. You
07:09must check out all the books.
07:11What's my favorite genre? So I it depends on my mood um I think I love reading fiction sometimes I love
07:22reading non-fiction depending on who it is but most of the time I do love getting my hands on a good
07:29old murder mystery. Who gives me the best book recommendations? Um well most of the time Apple does
07:35or googled us um but besides that my mom my friends um you know who are avid readers um or the book
07:44clubs I love following um Reese Witherspoon's book club Sonali Bendre's book club even Oprah's book club
07:50um those are really interesting. One of my other favorite books and I don't have the physical copy of
07:56it is Letters from a Father to His Daughter by Jawaharlal Nehru and Jawaharlal Nehru was the first
08:03prime minister of India after our independence from um the British and um this was a book that he wrote
08:10when his daughter was only 10 Indira Gandhi who was the first female prime minister of India as well
08:17it's basically 30 essays that he has written to his daughter telling her about the world and how the
08:24world was formed and you know shaping her world view and I remember as a young kid um I was so
08:32fascinated to read all of that from a father to his daughter and I think it was a way of my my dad
08:39also sort of you know piggybacking on on Pandit Nehru's book um so that I could learn about um how the
08:48earth was made and all the difficult subjects he probably didn't want to talk to me about.
08:54Thank you for watching Shelf Portrait and please make sure you check out my new book
09:01um called Unfinished and my new movie it's called The White Tiger on Netflix and also subscribe to Marie Claire.