Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Like any child actor, he’s fighting against his earlier portrayals and looks, but one thing’s for sure, he’s turned into a cutie. He also reads:

The movies I watch and the music I listen to and the books I read – those are important to me. It’s very important to me, and I don’t know what I would do without those things. [source]

In this article, he was asked about his role in The Lookout, and he related:

Well, I did a fair amount of research. I did some reading. My favorite book I read was called ‘The Man with a Shattered World‘ which was about a veteran coming back from World War II.

According to TV.com, his favorite book is J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, and if there are any gaming geeks out there, he loved reading and playing Dungeons & Dragons when he was growing up. At the same website, he’s quoted as saying this about his role in Mysterious Skin:

I didn’t read the book till after I read the script, but probably more than any other movie I’ve ever been a part of, the movie turned out the way I thought it should look based on the script and the book.

He’s also friendly to authors, because when the author of Mysterious Skin tweeted that his book had gone on sale, he RTed it.

But guess what? If you didn’t know this already, he’s a part of the book world, by way of curating and editing. He has an online production company called HitRECord  that inspires users across the world to come together and create singular works of art, and it was through that site that the genesis for his Tiny Book of Tiny Stories came about, as well as other collaborations:

• The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 1 From hitRECord, the immensely popular open collaborative production company, and its founder, Golden Globe-nominated actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, comes The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 1. The universe is not made of atoms; it’s made of tiny stories. To create The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 1, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, known within the hitRECord community as RegularJOE–directed thousands of collaborators to tell tiny stories through words and art. With the help of the entire creative collective, Gordon-Levitt culled, edited and curated over 8,500 contributions into this finely tuned collection of original art from 67 contributors. Reminiscent of the 6-Word Memoir series, The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 1 brings together art and voices from around the world to unite and tell stories that defy size.
• The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 2 One of the most ingenious and successful projects to come out of Gordon-Levitt’s online creative coalition hitRECord – an international collaboration of artists and writers – The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 2 offers more quirky, delightfully small, ingeniously illustrated haiku-like tales, proving once more that the universe isn’t made of atoms; it’s made of tiny stories. The best things do come in small packages
• HitRECord Recollection Vol. 1 Hardbound 64-page Book, DVD & CD. ‘RECollection: Volume 1’ is the very first anthology of hitRECord’s work, featuring the contributions of 471 collaborators. The eight-inch square, cloth-bound tome is a well-crafted and meticulously-designed piece of art. With equal attention given to each medium—video, audio, image, text—this relic of our records is rich in detail and a feast for the senses.
• Little Red Riding Hood: Redux (The hitRECorderly #1) A beautiful book of hitRECord’s adaptation of the classic fairy tale – complete with artwork, essays, and paper doll cut-outs!

This LATimes interview talks more about HitRECord and Gordon-Levitt’s role.

Want more? You can follow him on Twitter and Goodreads!

So that’s this month’s Hunk Who Reads. Reading is sexy people!

For further opportunities to idolize men and books:

• The American Library Association – Celebrity READ posters.

Do you have any photos of male celebrities reading?

Come back next month to see the next Hunk Who Reads…

Past Hunks Who Read/Related Articles:

• Monday Hunk Who Reads – Dan Stevens*
• Monday Hunk Who Reads – Nathan Fillion
• Monday Hunk Who Reads – Marlon Brando
• Monday Hunk Who Reads – George Clooney
• Monday Hunk Who Reads – Billy Crudup
• Monday Hunk Who Reads – Colin Firth
• Monday Hunk Who Reads – Keanu Reeves
• Monday Hunk Who Reads – Johnny Depp*
• Monday Hunk Who Reads – Don Cheadle
• Monday Hunk Who Reads – Joe Manganiello

*previous Ovaries Exploding Award winner