It’s not far from the truth to call Phoebe Bridgers one of our generation’s greatest songwriters. Her lyrics are melodic, melancholic and deeply emotional, and often unfold over guitar. Bridgers is a real life note-taker – jotting thoughts down, collecting fragments of overheard conversations and holding onto quotes (or voicemails) that might one day find their way into a song. Turning those observations into a finished piece, however, can be a long process. So perhaps it’s no surprise that we waited six years for her latest album, Lost Weekend.
Her writing favours specificity, dry humour and hyper-realistic dialogue – qualities that extend well beyond her songwriting. In the 2024 anthology Sad Happens, Bridgers contributed an essay titled Sobbing on Mr. Howell, a reflective piece centred on the act of crying and, more specifically, a memory involving her high school teacher, Mr Howell. Through it, she considers the strange ways everyday figures can leave a mark on us, particularly during the moments when we find ourselves emotionally unraveling.
She’s our favourite emo girl, and fittingly, her reading list moves through trauma – both emotional and physical – intimacy, death, and women attempting to understand themselves outside the context of other people. There’s a thread connecting these books to Bridgers’ own work: an interest in the messy, uncomfortable and often darkly funny realities of being a person.
Whether you’re hoping to understand Bridgers and her latest album a little better, or simply searching for your next read, these are the books that have helped shape her thinking – including the titles she returns to and recommends most.
1. Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
It maakes complete sense that Bridgers notes this book to be one of her favourites of all time having recommended it on multiple occasions. The book fits in the themes of psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. Sexy, queer, horny and scary is pretty much how you would summarise this one.
2. The Idiot by Elif Batuman
This book is set in 1995, and is about a girl who has a crush on someone at school. But besides the the obvious plot of coming to terms with first love, it looks a bit deeper at the consciousness that she is doomed to become a writer.
3. Modern Tarot by Michelle Tea
If you're a Bridgers fan, you know by now she has been a lover of tarot since she was a kid. Modern Tarot humanises the understanding of tarot cards and how to read them, so if you're in need of a helping hand to read tarot, look no further.
4. Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney
Do we need to say anything more? This is one of Rooney's most-loved books. And as always, it is about complicated relationships, perhaps a relatable one.
5. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
One of the more sentimental books on this list, Bridgers told Vulture that "Reading this with my parents is one of my earliest memories. I remember being fascinated by the naked body of a boy covered in dough."
6. Tenth of December by George Saunders
A collection of short stories, Saunders has a very human way of writing characters and telling an impactful story in just few words. Goodreads puts it best: "These stories take on the big questions and explore the fault lines of our own morality, delving into the questions of what makes us good and what makes us human."
7. I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara
A true crime books that follows the portrait of one woman’s obsession and her unflailing pursuit of the truth of the golden state killer that happened in the 80's.
8. When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
A bid reader of David Sedaris's work Bridger's is, this book follows the experience of a man trying to quite smoking.
9. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
A classic read that is considered to be just as traumatising to read as it is helpful.
10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
We all know Bridgers is a big fan of the Harry Potter series – a universal adolescent experience for this to be your first book you read on your own. "When I miss home on tour and can’t get to sleep, I listen to the audiobooks. My inner monologue is narrated by Jim Dale." Bridgers told Vulture.
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