Books

SJP Proves It's Always A Good Time to Read a Book

by Caitlin White

I have a new favorite picture, and it's of Sarah Jessica Parker reading during a Rangers hockey game. It's glorious, and you can see it for yourself on TMZ Sports. Perhaps she was out celebrating her big 5-0 for her birthday Wednesday, but SJP was spotted in the stands of the New York Rangers versus the L.A. Kings hockey game, her nose buried in Maggie Shipstead's Astonish Me . Clearly, it's never a bad time to get in a few pages of your latest book. Maybe she just couldn't bear to watch her Rangers lose to the Kings, 4-2.

My favorite part of the picture other than all of it is that SJP clearly does not give a good damn that this is not generally an activity reserved for a hockey rink. She has her hood pulled up over her head and her feet up like she's sitting in her favorite reading chair back home. Plus, I'm pretty sure she's advertising the cover, holding it right up straight like, "You guys, this book is worth the picture that will end up on TMZ, I'm sure."

Shipstead's 2014 novel Astonish Me spins a gorgeous and poignant tale of a ballerina named Joan whose path in life is transformed by a famous dancer, named Arslan Ruskov. The story spans generations as Joan's son shows a clear grace as a ballet dancer as well, and Joan lunges back into that world with him.

And unless my eyes are deceiving me, SJP has prime seating at this game, directly behind Tom Hanks. Where should we all have pictures of us taken next? At the dinner table? Walking across the street? (Wait, no don't do that.) While shopping in the mall? Swimming? Up in a tree? If SJP can do it, we all can.