Jennette McCurdy’s Favorite Books: 23 Picks From Her Reading List

Jennette McCurdy’s favorite books offer plenty of ideas for readers who enjoy honest memoirs, unsettling fiction, and stories about complicated families. Her shared reading list ranges from Jeannette Walls and Mary Karr to Donna Tartt and Ottessa Moshfegh, with plays and spiritual teachings adding even more variety.

Many readers first knew McCurdy as Sam Puckett on iCarly. Others discovered her through her 2022 memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died, which explores her experiences as a child actor and her relationship with her mother.

She has since published her debut novel, Half His Age, released on January 20, 2026. For readers interested in her writing, her recommendations offer another place to discover compelling stories.

Where Does Jennette McCurdy’s Reading List Come From?

Radical Reads compiled these recommendations in September 2022, crediting the former “stuff” section of McCurdy’s website. That makes this a snapshot of works she shared at the time, rather than a ranking or a newly announced list of her current favorites.

The selections also extend beyond conventional books. They include three plays, a short story, and an audio teaching, so readers have several different formats to explore.

Jennette McCurdy’s Favorite Books and Other Reading Picks

1. Mating in Captivity by Esther Perel
2. Encouragement Can Be Fatal by Mike DiCenzo
3. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
4. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson
5. This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff
6. Homesick for Another World by Ottessa Moshfegh
7. Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher
8. The Lonely Doll by Dare Wright
9. The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr
10. My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
11. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
12. Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski
13. A Feminine Ending by Sarah Treem — a play
14. “Good Old Neon” by David Foster Wallace — a short story collected in Oblivion
15. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
16. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
17. Red Speedo by Lucas Hnath — a play
18. This Is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan — a play
19. Don’t Bite the Hook by Pema Chödrön — an audio teaching
20. When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön
21. Mrs. Fletcher by Tom Perrotta
22. Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach
23. The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn

What Stands Out About Her Recommendations?

The range is what makes this list interesting to me. There are familiar literary names alongside selections that might send readers toward a different shelf, or even toward reading a play for the first time.

I would treat it as a starting point for exploration. Seeing a writer recommend a book can encourage us to try something unfamiliar, but it does not tell us exactly how that work influenced their own writing.

Readers drawn to McCurdy’s memoir may want to investigate the memoir selections first. Those looking for fiction have several different options, while the plays and shorter works provide alternatives to beginning another full-length novel.

My Pick From Jennette McCurdy’s Reading List

The selection I was happiest to see was The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. It is a long but rewarding read, and one I enjoyed spending time with.

Tartt’s detailed writing will not work for every reader. If you prefer a story that moves quickly, this might take some patience. For me, however, the time spent inside the novel is part of its appeal.

I have not read every title on McCurdy’s list, which is another reason I find it useful. Some recommendations give me a familiar point of connection; others offer a reason to add something new to my reading list.

Which of Jennette McCurdy’s recommendations have you read, and which would you try next? Let us know in the comments. Happy reading!

Jennette Follow us on Instagram and Facebook