Between the lines: what do White Lotus characters’ book choices tell us?

Piper, an aspiring Buddhist played by Sarah Catherine Hook, reads The Lonely City by Olivia Laing. Photograph: Fabio Lovino/HBO

They say never judge a book by its cover, but some viewers of The White Lotus have been doing exactly that.

Online discussion around the critically acclaimed TV show has centred on the paperbacks glimpsed in the hands of several of the show’s characters and whether they offer clues about their psyches or fate.