Penn Badgley’s Life-Changing Books You Can’t Ignore

You think you know Penn Badgley? Don’t be the last to discover the six surprising books that led to his ‘existential dread’ and spiritual awakening. See the list everyone is talking about before it’s gone.
Penn Badgley's Life-Changing Books You Can't Ignore

Key Highlights:

  • Penn Badgley’s Formative Reads: The You star reveals the six books that profoundly shaped his life, from childhood horror to essential works on race and spirituality.
  • A Shift from Fiction: Badgley explains why a powerful non-fiction book turned him off most fiction for nearly two decades, seeking stories that “hit as hard as nonfiction does.”
  • Spiritual and Political Awakening: The actor details how his reading journey was integral to his political disillusionment and eventual conversion to the Baha’i faith.
  • New Book “Crushmore”: This insight into his literary influences comes as Badgley celebrates the release of his new book of essays, Crushmore: Essays on Love, Loss, and Coming-of-Age.

Penn Badgley: Beyond the Bookshelf of Joe Goldberg

While he’s famous for playing the dangerously well-read Joe Goldberg in Netflix’s You, Penn Badgley’s own literary journey has shaped him in profoundly different ways. The actor, podcaster, and now co-author of a new book of essays titled Crushmore, recently shared the six books that changed his life, offering a rare glimpse into the intellectual and spiritual development behind the celebrity persona.

“Reading has always been the way that I learned the most,” Badgley stated, explaining that books were central to his unconventional, homeschooled upbringing. His selections reveal a path from childhood wonder and dread to a deep, spiritual, and political awakening.

From Childhood Dread to Intellectual Humor

Badgley’s formative literary experiences began with a memorable introduction to complex emotions. He credits Clive Barker’s ** Thief of Always ** with introducing him not just to mystery and awe, but also to “existential dread.” He recalls being “blown away” by the book’s intensity as a young boy.

On a lighter but equally brilliant note, Badgley points to Bill Watterson’s ** Calvin and Hobbes ** as his “first formative literary experience” with sophisticated humor. Revisiting the comic strip as a father, he praised its wise, clever, and reverent depiction of the natural world and the hidden loneliness of childhood.

A Political and Spiritual Awakening

A significant turning point came during his Gossip Girl years. Reading Adam Hochschild’s ** Leopold’s Ghost **, a harrowing account of the slave trade in the Congo, shattered his interest in fiction. “After this book, no fiction could hit hard enough,” he explained. The book ignited a period of political disillusionment that evolved into a moral and spiritual search.

This search ultimately led him to the Baha’i faith, a journey profoundly influenced by ** The Hidden Words ** by Bahá’u’lláh. Badgley describes the text as a distillation of “the essence of true religion,” and reading it daily for months was a key factor in his decision to become a Baha’i.

Confronting Hard Truths Through Literature

Badgley also highlighted two authors who helped him grasp complex social realities. James Baldwin’s ** The Fire Next Time ** was crucial in helping him feel and understand that race is a social construct. “He was so humane,” Badgley said of Baldwin, calling him a “completely unique, rarefied, and special” writer.

The only work of fiction to break through his two-decade hiatus was Octavia E. Butler’s ** Parable of the Sower **. He praised the post-apocalyptic novel for its world-building “grounded in truth,” a quality he attributes to Butler’s genius as a Black woman. He found its message of “radical hope” in a disintegrating world to be a powerful counterpoint to the cynicism often found in the genre.

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