Hudson Williams has pretty good taste in books.

Hudson Williams, the Canadian sweetheart behind the smash hit Heated Rivalry, has pledged his allegiance to the English department. Your favorite hockey hunk is a reader, people. And we must say, the ice king’s got pretty good taste.

According to this close read lovingly assembled by a super-fan, Williams is rarely spotted without a book in his hand. He’s now name-checked multiple Joan Didion titles in interviews, and was once photographed next to a copy of Knausgaard’s My Struggle. His personal motto comes from Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables.

And according to Anna Tingley in Variety, fans are taking note. Sales and borrows of Williams’ favorite titles are up from coast to coast. “One librarian noted that Martyr! immediately grew a mounting waiting list after he posted about it on Instagram,” Tingley reported, “while bookstores across the country have created display tables dedicated to his recommendations.”

whole section for hudson and being named as hudson williams book club. you don’t mess with hudfluence 👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/RR381NA8kM

— armaya ⛸️ (@armayamkyla) May 24, 2026

As the celebrity book clubs continue to surprise us, call me curious. Here are some of Williams’ favorite books.

Kaveh Akbar, Martyr!

Williams apparently loves this National Book Award finalist. Here’s the man’s recommendation, via IG: “For anyone’s who’s felt like a diletante [sic] artist or for biracial people who feel disconnected from their culture(s). Also for agnostic atheists.” Bespoke!

John Williams, Stoner

Perhaps no surprise that this particular king loves a quiet tale of yearning. Williams the younger called this 1985 novel “beautiful in its simplicity” in a recent story.

Luigi Pirandello, One, No One, and One Hundred Thousand

Rounding out the curveball category—is that a thing in hockey? Curveballs?—is this philosophical treatise from a 19th century Sicilian dramatist. Pirandello’s dense meditation on identity is, according to Williams, “the best thing ever of all time.” Okay!

Eve Babitz, Sex and Rageand Eve Babitz, Slow Days and Fast Company

The boy’s a rabid Babitz fan. He’s recommended not one but two titles by the cool bard of 70s Los Angeles, and has also spent some time with her frenemy, Joan Didion. (Play it As it Lays apparently “goes down like absinthe.”)

I’m wondering if Hudson has gotten around to Lili Anolik’s probing double biography yet. Didion and Babitz seems a natural next step.

Ah, the bookish jock. Just another reason to love Heated Rivalry. Conor Storrie, you’re up.