Dolly Parton's Favorite Books

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Dolly Parton has spent a lifetime sharing her love of stories, and I couldn’t help wondering what was on her own bookshelf. So I did some research with some past interviews and posts to find out!

Recently with her passing I wrote another post about favorite books written by and about Dolly, and I have been sharing about her wonderful Imagination Library for some time.

I’ve gathered a list of books Dolly has called favorites over the years. Some might surprise you!

Dolly Parton’s Favorite Books

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

After losing everything, Jacob Janowski finds an unexpected new life aboard a struggling circus train during the Great Depression. With his veterinary training, he is hired to care for the animals—including Rosie, a stubborn elephant who may be the show’s last hope. As Jacob grows closer to Marlena, a talented performer trapped in a dangerous marriage, love, loyalty, and survival become deeply intertwined.

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

After escaping from an Australian prison, Lin arrives in Bombay with a false passport and hopes of disappearing into the crowded city. Guided by his loyal friend Prabaker, he is drawn into a hidden world of poverty, crime, spirituality, and unexpected friendship.

While searching for purpose and belonging, Lin opens a clinic in a struggling slum and becomes involved with the Bombay mafia. His dangerous journey takes him through love, war, imprisonment, betrayal, and loss. At the center of his story are Khader Khan, a powerful crime boss with a philosopher’s mind, and Karla, a mysterious woman hiding painful secrets. Inspired by the author’s life, Shantaram is a sweeping story about love, fate, identity, and survival.

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Black Mountain Breakdown by Lee Smith

Growing up in the Appalachian town of Black Rock, Crystal Spangler seems destined for something bigger. She is intelligent, admired, and even crowned a local beauty queen before leaving home to build a successful life elsewhere. Years later, however, an unexpected pull brings her back to the mountain community she once thought she had left behind.

She also like

Oral History by Lee Smith

Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

I find this book depressing, another high school requirement. But some love it and there is no doubt it is a classic for a reason. Great writing.

Originally published in 1939, The Grapes of Wrath is John Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that follows the Joad family as they struggle to survive during the Great Depression. Forced from their Oklahoma farm by the Dust Bowl and economic hardship, they set out for California, hoping to find work and a better future.

Their journey is filled with hardship, disappointment, and injustice as they encounter the harsh realities facing migrant families during one of America’s most difficult eras. Through the Joads’ experiences, Steinbeck explores themes of poverty, resilience, compassion, and the fight for dignity in the face of overwhelming adversity.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest American novels ever written, The Grapes of Wrath is a powerful story of perseverance, family, and hope that continues to resonate with readers generations after its publication.

Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani

It’s 1978, and Ave Maria Mulligan is the thirty-five-year-old self-proclaimed spinster of Big Stone Gap, a sleepy hamlet in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. She’s also the local pharmacist, the co-captain of the Rescue Squad, and the director of The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, the town’s long-running Outdoor Drama. Ave Maria is content with her life—until, one fateful day, her past opens wide with the revelation of a long-buried secret that will alter the course of her life. Before she knows it, Ave Maria is fielding marriage proposals, trying to claim her rightful inheritance, and planning the trip of a lifetime to Italy—one that will change her view of the world and her own place in it forever.

Millions of readers around the world have fallen in love with the small town of Big Stone Gap, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, and its self-proclaimed spinster. Full of wit and wonder, hilarity and heart, Big Stone Gap is a gem of a book, and one that you will share with friends and family for years to come.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Falsely accused and imprisoned in the Château d’If, Edmond Dantès discovers that a vast treasure is hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo. After escaping and claiming the fortune, he creates a new identity and sets out to punish the three men responsible for betraying him. His carefully planned revenge becomes an unforgettable story of justice, obsession, and redemption.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

After World War II, former combat nurse Claire Randall travels to Scotland with her husband. When she passes through an ancient stone circle, she is mysteriously transported from 1945 to 1743. Trapped in a dangerous time of feuding clans and political unrest, Claire turns to young Scottish warrior Jamie Fraser for protection. As their bond grows, she must choose between the life and husband she left behind and an unexpected love in the past.

The Holy Bible

Dolly was once doing an interview with Jen Bush Hagar about her love of books and she was asked if she was stuck on a desert island and could only have one book what book would it be? She said the Bible, “I might not get out of there and I will need to get cramming.” There are many interviews where Dolly shares how important her faith is and how it carries her. It is deep rooted in her family from the hills of Tennessee. Faith is a huge part of my life and I feel blessed to share this with Dolly!

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles. Among them are a Wall Street wunderkind, a young woman coming to terms with an unexpected pregnancy, an injured veteran returning from Afghanistan, a business tycoon, and a free-spirited woman running away from her controlling husband. Halfway across the country, the plane crashes. Edward is the sole survivor.

Edward’s story captures the attention of the nation, but he struggles to find a place in a world without his family. He continues to feel that a part of himself has been left in the sky, forever tied to the plane and all of his fellow passengers. But then he makes an unexpected discovery—one that will lead him to the answers of some of life’s most profound questions: When you’ve lost everything, how do you find the strength to put one foot in front of the other? How do you learn to feel safe again? How do you find meaning in your life?

Dear Edward is at once a transcendent coming-of-age story, a multidimensional portrait of an unforgettable cast of characters, and a breathtaking illustration of all the ways a broken heart learns to love again.

The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper

Since its publication in 1930, The Little Engine That Could has encouraged generations of children with its message of kindness, courage, and perseverance. This beloved classic follows a small but determined engine who proves that size doesn’t matter when she takes on the challenge of pulling a train filled with special treats over a mountain to the children waiting beyond it.

This is the first book you get with Dolly’s Imagination Library and now you know why!

The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare

The unforgettable, inspiring story of a teenage girl growing up in a rural Nigerian village who longs to get an education so that she can find her “louding voice” and speak up for herself, The Girl with the Louding Voice is a simultaneously heartbreaking and triumphant tale about the power of fighting for your dreams.

Despite the seemingly insurmountable obstacles in her path, Adunni never loses sight of her goal of escaping the life of poverty she was born into so that she can build the future she chooses for herself – and help other girls like her do the same. Her spirited determination to find joy and hope in even the most difficult circumstances imaginable will “break your heart and then put it back together again” (Jenna Bush Hager on The Today Show) even as Adunni shows us how one courageous young girl can inspire us all to reach for our dreams…and maybe even change the world.

In conclusion

Dolly’s favorite books offer one more way to get to know the woman behind the music. I hope this list gave you a new book to add to your reading pile!

Have you read any of Dolly’s picks? Which one would you like to try?

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