One Nightstand With Brittany Snow

In One Nightstand, celebrity readers and writers join us at The Blond in 11 Howard to discuss some of their favorite books, allowing us to learn about their tastes and lives in the process.

“I brought all my own copies because I wanted people to see how completely used and loved and read over and over and over again they are,” says Brittany Snow as she places some of her favorite books onto the table in front of us. “Reading fiction makes me feel like I’m not learning as much as when I read nonfiction or biographies or autobiographies, so I tend to read a lot more self-help, autobiographies, memoirs of that type because I feel like I’m utilizing my time a little bit more, even though that is completely nonsensical.”

Snow’s work has certainly paid off. When we meet, she’s fresh from the blockbuster success of Netflix’s The Hunting Wives. The show hit the No. 1 spot on Netflix’s U.S. chart, received more than 20 million views in the first five weeks, and has already been renewed for Season 2. “Everyone’s always like, ‘Oh, how do you feel about Hunting Wives and all these shows coming out?’ And I’m like, ‘I feel so, so grateful.’ But I’m also like, ‘Oh, it’s a huge sigh of relief, because it feels like I’ve been trying really hard.’”

Those efforts will also be on display Oct. 15, when Murdaugh: Death in the Family is out on Hulu. The show tells the true-life story of South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh (Jason Clark) and the death of his wife (Patricia Arquette) and sons. It’s an adaptation of investigative journalist and podcaster Mandy Matney’s book, Blood on Their Hands: Murder, Corruption, and the Fall of the Murdaugh Dynasty, with Snow playing Matney. “I read this book in three days,” she says. “And I knew about this case really well because I love true crime. I am this quintessential woman that listens to the podcast and reads the books and does the things. And it’s very tied to self-help too, because it’s another psychological exercise in a way. I was very honored when they wanted me to play her because I had already done a lot of research, and now it wasn’t for nothing.”

Soon after, The Beast in Me drops Nov. 13 on Netflix. Snow stars opposite Claire Danes in another murder mystery, in which Snow plays the new wife of a man (Matthew Rhys) who possibly killed his first wife. “I just loved working on that show,” says Snow. “Claire Danes is a legend and a legend as a human as well. I am obsessed with her. It took everything in me not to fan girl with her every day.”

Besides that, Snow continues her work on her September Letters, in which Snow and co-founder Jaspre Guest encourage people to share more about their own mental health journeys. “It’s even vulnerable now to talk about how I’m a perfectionist and people-pleaser and things like that, but I realize, as I say it, how many people I know have told me the same thing about themselves,” says Snow. “That’s what we do at September Letters — bring light to stories that make us all feel like we’re all one and the same. Everybody has something that they’re dealing with, and maybe they feel ashamed of it, but the things that they’re ashamed of are really so unifying.”

Discover the rest of Snow’s favorite books below.

Her first book, The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer, was recommended to her by her manager. “She was the one that was like ‘This changed my life; you should probably read it,’” says Snow. “It was the first time it was explained to me that the ruminating and the obsessing with my own thoughts, I can actually step back from and realize that I’m observing the thoughts as opposed to being around them and inside of them. This does it in a really interesting, succinct way. He’s sort of lyrical but also harsh sometimes.”

She continues: “I don’t know if it always hits with some people like it did with me, but I do think that sometimes it's sort of an opening into a different thought pattern that maybe people need to just know about, and then this can be a gateway into other books.”

Her second book, Are You Mad at Me?: How to Stop Focusing on What Others Think and Live Your Life by Meg Josephson, helped Snow unpick the hypervigilance she developed as a child. “I love my parents dearly, but they were very perfectionistic and hard on me,” she says. “This book really spoke to me because [the author] deals with Alzheimer's and alcoholism, both of which are in my family. I think from a very early age, I had to be really good at reading a room, walking in, and knowing exactly the type of chameleon person I should be in any scenario.

“My favorite part of this book — and I think I underlined it — is when you become successful or a big thing happens in your career, most perfectionists and most people who have parents like this don’t feel proud of themselves. They feel relief. And I really relate to that.” After the success of The Hunting Wives, co-star Malin Akerman helped challenge those feelings in Snow. “She really doesn’t care about anything in terms of that — I mean, to a normal degree,” says Snow. “But I did learn a lot from her [about] what people were thinking about the show. And I adopted that mentality as well, which was really nice.”

Her third book, Untamed by Glennon Doyle, helped her through a difficult time in her personal life. “Glennon Doyle really, really helped me a lot when I was going through my divorce,” says Snow. “This book was recommended to me from another friend of mine who had just gone through a divorce, and she was like, ‘Get it right now.’ She was like, ‘This is the first thing that you need to read.’ And I was like, I know about Glennon Doyle obviously, but I’m not going to subscribe to this. And then I ate it up. It really did help.”

Snow continues: “In any heartbreak, you have that time of wallowing and feeling sorry for yourself, and you’re doing all the work, but if someone had an option for you and was like ‘You can either have this love and feel all the feelings and have these great amazing moments, but you’re going to feel this pain and heartbreak.’ Personally — and this isn’t for everyone — I would choose having the love and then the heartbreak because I love feeling everything. I just love being in love. And so I would do it again. I would always choose it. And I think that [this book] reminded me of that — that the point of life is to feel all these things.”

Her fourth pick, The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, was also recommended to her following a bereavement. “A friend of mine who was a writer and a Joan Didion enthusiast told me after my dog died that I needed to run to read this,” she says. “And then I read it again about a year ago when my dad got pretty far with his Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is pretty much a very slow grieving process, and I’ve been searching for so many different types of books about the end of life. I feel like this one really spoke to me because it’s not prescriptive. It’s not these beautiful lessons of what to do or how to feel. It’s really just her baring her soul.”

“It makes me a lot more present with my dad because her memories are so specific and they're so eloquent with what she remembers,” Snow adds. “It makes me more present to remember those things when I’m actually with him.”

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