Here are 11 books that The Uncool fans have personally recommended if you like The Uncool. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Heart the Lover

Jill Fordyce Author Of Belonging

From Jill's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Jill's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Jill Fordyce Why Jill loves this book

I received this book as part of Parnassus’ First Editions Club and although I’ve heard much about Lily King over the years, I had not yet read one of her books. Now I want to read them all. “Heart the Lover” was that rare combination of smart and sentimental, with beautiful fully drawn characters, lyrical prose, literary references, and a narrative arc that followed a transformative college friendship into middle age. A bonus is that it has one of those endings that is at once inevitable and surprising. A very satisfying and thought-provoking novel!

By Lily King ,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Heart the Lover as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“Lily King has written another masterpiece. This book overflows with her brilliance and her heart. We are so lucky.” —Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author of This Time Tomorrow

From the New York Times bestselling author of Writers & Lovers comes a magnificent and intimate new novel of desire, friendship, and the lasting impact of first love

You knew I'd write a book about you someday.

Our narrator understands good love stories—their secrets and subtext, their highs and free falls. But her greatest love story, the one she lived, never followed the simple rules.…


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Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Book cover of Some Bright Nowhere

Jill Fordyce Author Of Belonging

From Jill's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Jill's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Jill Fordyce Why Jill loves this book

I'm a huge Ann Packer fan. Years ago, "The Dive From Clausen's Pier" deeply affected me and changed the way I thought about writing and telling a coming of age story. In "Some Bright Nowhere," Packer does such a beautiful job expressing the interiority of characters who often make unexpected, controversial decisions. She deftly portrays the life of Eliot and Claire, past, present, and future, as Claire is suffers from a terminal illness and their life together is coming to an end. Packer avoids sentimentality altogether, giving the story a grace and weight that kept me thinking about it long after I finished the novel.

By Ann Packer ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Some Bright Nowhere as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

AN OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK

'One of those rare books that once you've finished, comes with you for life' RACHEL JOYCE

'A moving book ... I was enraptured by it' PHILIPPA PERRY

'Readers, you will shed tears and talk long into the night about this book' ANDREW SEAN GREER

'A heartbreaking novel that actually made me happy' MEG WOLITZER

An extraordinarily beautiful and life-affirming new novel from one of America's greatest chroniclers of the human heart, Ann Packer.

Eliot and his wife Claire have been happily married for nearly four decades. They've raised two children in their sleepy Connecticut town…


Book cover of Conversations with Wilder

Kieron Connolly Author Of Dark History of Hollywood: A century of greed, corruption and scandal behind the movies (Dark Histories)

From my list on moviemaking.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always loved movies. In my 20s, I went to film school – perhaps you can still find a couple of the short films I wrote with animator Matthew Hood on Vimeo (Hourglass and Metalstasis) – and I worked a little in the UK film industry reading scripts for Film4, among others. I’ve also interviewed filmmakers, including Nicolas Winding Refn, Christopher Hampton, Life of Brian producer John Goldstone and editor Anne V. Coates. And I’ve always found a romance, despite the seedy aspects, of Tinseltown being developed out in Hollywoodland, a place of orange groves and pepper trees where people from the Midwest went to retire in the sun.   

Kieron's book list on moviemaking

Kieron Connolly Why Kieron loves this book

Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard… Billy Wilder is my favourite filmmaker. I like the elegance of his storytelling and his bittersweet wit. In Wilder’s final years, Cameron Crowe conducted a series of interviews with the writer-director. From fleeing Nazi Germany to his admiration for Ernest Lubitsch, from the trials of working with Marilyn Monroe or Raymond Chandler to the joys of collaborating with Barbara Stanwyck, Jack Lemmon, and Charles Laughton, from his successes to his failures and on to the secret of what makes a good writing partner, Wilder needs little prodding to tell movie-making tales from Berlin to Paris to Hollywood.

By Cameron Crowe ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Conversations with Wilder as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In Conversations with Wilder, Hollywood's legendary and famously elusive director Billy Wilder agrees for the first time to talk extensively about his life and work.

Here, in an extraordinary book with more than 650 black-and-white photographs -- including film posters, stills, grabs, and never-before-seen pictures from Wilder's own collection -- the ninety-three-year-old icon talks to Cameron Crowe, one of today's best-known writer-directors, about thirty years at the very heart of Hollywood, and about screenwriting and camera work, set design and stars, his peers and their movies, the studio system and films today. In his distinct voice we hear Wilder's inside…


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Book cover of Trusting Her Duke

Trusting Her Duke by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.

Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…

Book cover of Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting

Sandra V. McGee Author Of The Divorce Seekers: The Intimate True Story of a Nevada Divorce Ranch Wrangler

From Sandra's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Sandra's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Sandra V. McGee Why Sandra loves this book

A candid and honest memoir by an Academy Award-winning screenwriter... shares the downs and ups and more downs of getting a movie made no matter how many credits you already have.

By William Goldman ,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked Adventures in the Screen Trade as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now available as an ebook for the first time!

No one knows the writer's Hollywood more intimately than William Goldman. Two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter and the bestselling author of Marathon Man, Tinsel, Boys and Girls Together, and other novels, Goldman now takes you into Hollywood's inner sanctums...on and behind the scenes for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, and other films...into the plush offices of Hollywood producers...into the working lives of acting greats such as Redford, Olivier, Newman, and Hoffman...and into his own professional experiences and creative thought processes in the crafting of screenplays. You get…


Book cover of Making Movies

Judith Weston Author Of Directing Actors: Creating Memorable Performances for Film and Television

From my list on how actors and directors make audience feel things.

Why am I passionate about this?

For over 40 years I’ve been teaching and writing books for film and television professionals. Ever since childhood, storytelling has been my rescue and my spiritual path. As soon as I could read, I devoured books as though I’d been given water after a long thirst, and felt closer to the characters in books than I did to my family. In my twenties, I discovered in an acting class that playing characters took me even closer to my lifelong urgency to understand myself and the world around me. I love to share with the world everything I’ve learned about the centrality of storytelling to our humanity. 

Judith's book list on how actors and directors make audience feel things

Judith Weston Why Judith loves this book

Make a list of great American movies of the 20th century—Sidney Lumet has directed a lot of them. 12 Angry Men. Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, Network, The Wiz, The Verdict, and so many more. When his book came out in 1995, there had never been a book like it.

Sidney Lumet was giving away his secrets? Wow. I purchased it immediately. When I learned that Mr. Lumet was to appear at a book signing in my city, I arrived early, toting my precious, already dogeared volume, and stood in line to get it signed. For all these years since its publication in 1995, it has stood at or near the top of best-selling books about making movies.

By Sidney Lumet ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Making Movies as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Invaluable.... I am sometimes asked if there is one book a filmgoer could read to learn more about how movies are made and what to look for while watching them. This is the book.” —Roger Ebert, The New York Times Book Review

Why does a director choose a particular script? What must they do in order to keep actors fresh and truthful through take after take of a single scene? How do you stage a shootout—involving more than one hundred extras and three colliding taxis—in the heart of New York’s diamond district? What does it take to keep the studio…


Book cover of How to Write One Song: Loving the Things We Create and How They Love Us Back

Rich Maloof Author Of Jim Marshall - The Father of Loud: The Story of the Man Behind the World's Most Famous Guitar Amplifiers

From my list on books by musicians, for musicians.

Why am I passionate about this?

My tenure as editor-in-chief of Guitar magazine is well behind me now, but it always lights me up to create content for musicians, and to absorb it. These are my people, you see, a community of curious, empathic, chronically late daydreamers and night owls, good listeners all. I’m not qualified to comment on Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory or Stravinsky’s Poetics of Music, but neither do I want to talk about rock-star memoirs or fawning fictionalizations. No fanfare here, thank you. Instead, these are five books in which musicians may recognize some element of their creative self and come away with a little more fuel for the fire.

Rich's book list on books by musicians, for musicians

Rich Maloof Why Rich loves this book

Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy really, really wants everyone to write a song, and I find it terribly endearing.

I picked up his handbook amid a COVID-era creative block, and with Jeff as my songwriting sherpa, I was eventually able to drop some baggage and make my way up. I had already known that music would pay me back for the effort, but Jeff (I think he’d want me to call him Jeff) patiently walks through directly applicable strategies such as word-laddering, stealing, and the Dadaist cut-up technique for lyric writing.

His encouraging nudge made it easier to leave self-judgment and even good sense behind.

By Jeff Tweedy ,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked How to Write One Song as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A ROUGH TRADE and PITCHORK BOOK OF THE YEAR

'A guide to rediscovering the joys of creating that we all felt as children.'
NEW YORK TIMES

One of the century's most feted singer-songwriters, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, digs deep into his own creative process to share his unique perspective about song-writing and offers a warm, accessible guide to writing your first song, championing the importance of making creativity part of your everyday life and experiencing the hope, inspiration and joy that accompanies it.

'Fascinating.' ROUGH TRADE
'Eloquent.' INDEPENDENT
'Nourishing.' PITCHFORK
'A proselytiser for the act of songcraft.' FINANCIAL TIMES
'A smart,…


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Book cover of The Duke's Christmas Redemption

The Duke's Christmas Redemption by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.

Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…

Book cover of The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life

Rachel Rose Author Of Creating Stillness: Mindful Art Practices and Stories for Navigating Anxiety, Stress, and Fear

From my list on helping you know through creativity.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've been making messes with paint, string, and words, as well as in love, mothering, and in virtually every other way imaginable my whole life. Eventually, an expertise began to grow, and the confusion in my life began to make sense through my creations, while at the same time, the seemingly irrelevant words and textures I was making started to tell me something about my life. Eventually, my lived experience and training in the Expressive Arts Therapies have led me to the roles of teacher, educator, and contemplative artist. If we pay attention to what we express and how we express things, we can find our way through any mess we find ourselves in.

Rachel's book list on helping you know through creativity

Rachel Rose Why Rachel loves this book

Of all the creative self-help books out there, Twyla Tharp’s perspective stands out as one fueled by awareness and curiosity rather than grit and force.

For me, this gentler, more curious cultivation of creativity has proved sustaining as opposed to the conventional wisdom that suggests life must be pushed away or overcome to create. As a choreographer and dancer, her wisdom on building a life of creative expression is broad and encompassing, focusing on how one interacts with the world rather than the products one creates.

The inspiration in this book is followed up with practices that have changed the way I approach seeing the world, focusing my thoughts, and allowing the creative process to transport me to surprising places.

By Twyla Tharp ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Creative Habit as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

What makes someone creative? How does someone face the empty page, the empty stage and making something where nothing existed before? Not just a dilemma for the artist, it is something everyone faces everyday. What will I cook that isn't boring? How can I make that memo persuasive? What sales pitch will increase the order, get me the job, lock in that bonus? These too, are creative acts, and they all share a common need: proper preparation. For Twyla Tharp, creativity is no mystery; it's the product of hard work and preparation, of knowing one's aims and one's subject, of…


Book cover of Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over

Stephanie Storey Author Of Oil and Marble: A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo

From my list on helping you get in touch with your inner artist.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been obsessed with studying the artistic process for over 25 years since I got my degree in Studio Art and Art History at Vanderbilt University. After getting my MFA in Creative Writing, I headed out to Hollywood to produce national television for over twenty years. I’ve worked with many of the greatest actors, filmmakers, and writers of our time and written my own bestselling novels about artists. I read as many books on the artistic process as possible. My mission has always been to ensure that every person knows that they, too, can be artists – creating art isn’t just for the “great”, it’s for everyone. 

Stephanie's book list on helping you get in touch with your inner artist

Stephanie Storey Why Stephanie loves this book

Other people kept recommending this book to me, but I kept putting it off. I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t bring myself to read it. Once I did, the only thing I had to regret was that I hadn’t read it sooner. Now, I’ve returned to its pages time and time again to re-ignite my own love of creating and to remind me that it’s never too late to follow new creative dreams. This book makes me laugh and cry with the hope and pain of creating art, but the most important part of it to me is its relentless insistence that we all must ignore that annoying “You will never be an artist” putdown. Read this book and you will know, without a doubt, that you can be an artist if you want, no matter the obstacles. 

By Nell Painter ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Old in Art School as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, this memoir of one woman's later in life career change is "a smart, funny and compelling case for going after your heart's desires, no matter your age" (Essence).

Following her retirement from Princeton University, celebrated historian Dr. Nell Irvin Painter surprised everyone in her life by returning to school--in her sixties--to earn a BFA and MFA in painting. In Old in Art School, she travels from her beloved Newark to the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design; finds meaning in the artists she loves, even as she comes to understand how…


Book cover of True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor

Stephanie Storey Author Of Oil and Marble: A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo

From my list on helping you get in touch with your inner artist.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been obsessed with studying the artistic process for over 25 years since I got my degree in Studio Art and Art History at Vanderbilt University. After getting my MFA in Creative Writing, I headed out to Hollywood to produce national television for over twenty years. I’ve worked with many of the greatest actors, filmmakers, and writers of our time and written my own bestselling novels about artists. I read as many books on the artistic process as possible. My mission has always been to ensure that every person knows that they, too, can be artists – creating art isn’t just for the “great”, it’s for everyone. 

Stephanie's book list on helping you get in touch with your inner artist

Stephanie Storey Why Stephanie loves this book

This is probably the most challenging read here, but so worth the effort if you want to dive deep into one of the most unique artistic minds of our time. If you’re not a trained actor, you might not understand all of the nuances here – Mamet is a definite theater guy and doesn’t stop down to explain every detail here -- but any artist can learn Mamet’s biting, witty, shocking creative tips. I recommend just letting this one wash over you the first time, but if you give yourself to this text and to Mamet, it is sure to give you a new perspective on the way we all create art and hopefully inspire you to delve into some creative expression that you were always too scared to try. 

By David Mamet ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked True and False as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, director and teacher has written a blunt, unsparingly honest guide to acting. In True and False David Mamet overturns conventional opinion and tells aspiring actors what they really need to know. He leaves no aspect of acting untouched: how to judge the role, approach the part, work with the playwright; the right way to undertake auditions and the proper approach to agents and the business in general. True and False slaughters a wide range of sacred cows and yet offers an invaluable guide to the acting profession.


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Book cover of Old Man Country

Old Man Country by Thomas R. Cole,

This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.

In these and other intimate conversations, the book…

Book cover of Kieslowski on Kieslowski

Judith Weston Author Of Directing Actors: Creating Memorable Performances for Film and Television

From my list on how actors and directors make audience feel things.

Why am I passionate about this?

For over 40 years I’ve been teaching and writing books for film and television professionals. Ever since childhood, storytelling has been my rescue and my spiritual path. As soon as I could read, I devoured books as though I’d been given water after a long thirst, and felt closer to the characters in books than I did to my family. In my twenties, I discovered in an acting class that playing characters took me even closer to my lifelong urgency to understand myself and the world around me. I love to share with the world everything I’ve learned about the centrality of storytelling to our humanity. 

Judith's book list on how actors and directors make audience feel things

Judith Weston Why Judith loves this book

Krzysztof Kieślowski’s films pose the central human question—why must I, and everyone I love, die? And yet, his work is not dark or depressing but rather full of the joy of life. I happen to believe that connection to the knowledge of my mortality gives me a fuller life.

I respond deeply to his films—Decalogue, The Double Life of Veronique, and the Three Colours trilogy. Before his death, at 54, he collected these stories of his own life, offering insights into the history of his native Poland as well as thrilling glimpses into his unique creative process. Favorite quote: “I keep persuading younger colleagues to examine their own lives. The years in which you don’t work on yourself like this are, in fact, wasted.”

By Krzysztof Kieslowski ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Kieslowski on Kieslowski as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Decalogue, The Double Life of Veronique and his trilogy, Three Colours, earned Kieslowski his reputation as a world-class film-maker. Kieslowski was notoriously reticent, and even dismissive of his work and talent, but these frank and detailed discussions show a passion for film-making and a career which was often threatened by political and economic change within Poland. In the book he talks at length about his life: his childhood, disrupted by Hitler and Stalin; his four attempts to get into film school; and what Poland and its future meant to him at the time of writing, before his death in 1996.


Book cover of Heart the Lover
Book cover of Some Bright Nowhere
Book cover of Conversations with Wilder

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