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Must-Read Books: Fiction, Nonfiction & Poetry to Add to Your List
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items Books that will educate you or feed your imagination. Books that make you think and books that push you to think outside the box. Reading is the best hobby for everyone because it allows you to slow down and enjoy silence. Enjoy
Sections
3
Fiction
Nonfiction
Poetry
Fiction
Get lost in captivating stories, from thrilling mysteries to heartwarming romances.
Jessica immediately pulls you in and doesn’t let go. Top ten books in my collection.
Maame: A Today Show Read With Jenna Book Club Pick
A great book that at times feels a bit familiar to the current world
Parable of the Sower: A Novel
Dystopian or is it?
1984
Read Parable of The Sower first or this book won’t make sense to you.
Parable of the Talents: A Novel
A thriller about marriage
Beautiful Ugly: A Novel
Yaa Gyasi’s extraordinary novel illuminates slavery’s troubled legacy both for those who were taken and those who stayed—and shows how the memory of captivity has been inscribed on the soul of our nation.
Homecoming
The daughter of an affluent Black family pieces together the connection between a childhood tragedy and a beloved heirloom
Good Dirt: A Novel
This book is hilarious. Former inside cat Maruru must learn from cat boss Hachi how to survive as a stray cat. Let’s just say it doesn’t go well. With every twist and turn you will be laughing, crying and wondering who to root for. I encourage you to...
Cat Companions Maruru and Hachi Vol. 2
Nonfiction
Expand your mind with insightful memoirs, science, history, and self-improvement.
If you’re interested in writing for film and television but can’t afford college please grab this book. Between this and various seminars on YouTube and Masterclass I have three scripts that I’m proud of!
Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting
Necessary for songwriters and poets
The Complete Rhyming Dictionary: Updated and Expanded
The first chapter made me stop and journal. I felt invigorated and found a wee bit of courage
Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person
This book is great for anyone who wants to stop people pleasing and being controlled by anxiety and fear of abandonment.
Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself (Revised and Updated)
If you’re a creative person who wants to move past fear and past rejection please get this book. You will enjoy it.
The Artist's Way: 30th Anniversary Edition
Please read this book. It will open your eyes to the ways stress and trauma affect the body.
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
A difficult but necessary book to read. A distant relative story is told in this book and I’ve found it difficult to see the world the same way after reading this book.
The Classic Slave Narratives
Have a cup of tea and a weighted blanket nearby.
Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents
Take notes and actually do the prompts to see real results.
Retrain Your Brain: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in 7 Weeks: A Workbook for Managing Depression and Anxiety
If you’re ready to elevate read this book
101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think
Learn about her legacy, her drive and why it’s never too late to start over.
Matriarch: Oprah's Book Club: A Memoir
If you struggle with loving your hair please read and digest this book.
Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America
Alice Walker shares the horrors she has encountered on her trips abroad from Rwanda to Palestine.
Overcoming Speechlessness: A Poet Encounters the Horror in Rwanda, Eastern Congo, and Palestine/Israel
Poetry
Discover lyrical beauty, raw emotion, and powerful verses that stay with you.
I’m almost finished with this book and it’s obvious that Nikki Giovanni was a natural storyteller and poet. Wonderful for aspiring poets.
Nikki Giovanni: Love Poems & a Good Cry: What We Learn from Tears and Laughter
Keep this with you especially if you’re a new poet
A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry
A must have for your collection
Where the Jazz Band Plays - The Weary Blues - Poetry by Langston Hughes
Another great resource for poets
A Little Book on Form: An Exploration into the Formal Imagination of Poetry