Amy Poehler's Reading List

American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. Co-founder of Upright Citizens Brigade; star of Parks and Recreation; co-host of Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update."

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On their bookshelf (2020)

Books visible on Amy Poehler's bookshelf during an April 2020 TV/media appearance. Compiled by Gal Beckerman for The New York Times. Books extracted by NYT editor from video footage.

Source: www.nytimes.com

Time Zero

Carolyn Cohagan · Buy on Amazon

"A dystopian novel about a future Manhattan controlled by misogynistic extremists who don't allow girls to go to school. Then comes along a plucky 15-year-old and her rebellious grandmother."

Blitzed

Norman Ohler · Buy on Amazon

"Did you know the Nazis were high on crystal meth? This 2017 history book showed how everyone from factory workers to housewives to millions of German soldiers was, well, "blitzed.""

Peeves

Mike Van Waes · Buy on Amazon

"A children's book about a boy who accidentally sets loose a bunch of irritating little monsters who wreak havoc."

Favorite books (2019)

Favorite books recommended by Amy Poehler, as compiled by radicalreads.com. Source article: https://radicalreads.com/amy-poehler-favorite-books/.

Source: radicalreads.com

I Like You

Amy Sedaris · Buy on Amazon

"Full disclosure: Amy is a friend, and I have tasted her cupcakes. They’re really, really good. (And that is not a euphemism.) I Like You is a spin on those 1960s cookbooks about how to make a nice home and how to entertain. I picked it because I love the character Amy plays: a hostess from the ’60s, in cheap hosiery, wigs, and crazy costumes. But it’s also got recipes for a delicious meatloaf and advice on how to deal with drunk guests. My favorite tip is that when you’re having a party, you..."

Traveling Mercies

Anne Lamott · Buy on Amazon

"The autobiographical essays in this collection cover faith and family, booze, men, and self-love. They’re full of the small moments in Lamott’s life, the observations that make you laugh really hard and make you bawl really fast—two of my favorite activities. She talks about how the most popular prayers are ‘Help me, help me, help me’ and ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.’ I’ve read all her work, and she continually surprises me and speaks to me. One of the lines from this book that I love is..."

A Tale of Two Cities

Charles Dickens (also rec’d by Christopher Hitchens & Maya Angelou ) · Buy on Amazon

"When stories become iconic, you sometimes forget what made them so special in the first place. They can become the punch line to a joke. But A Tale of Two Cities not only has the best first line ever written—’It was the best of times, it was the worst of times’—it’s got everything! The novel has wine, guillotines, revolution! It has the storming of the Bastille! It has Madame Defarge, one of the best villains in any literary novel. At the end, it’s got a little romantic switcheroo: One man st..."

Away

Amy Bloom · Buy on Amazon

"This is the story of Lillian Leyb, a Russian immigrant making her way in a new land, traveling through America in the mid-1920s. Her daughter was taken away from her during a pogrom in Russia, and she feels this unbelievable mother’s pull to search for her child that keeps her going—literally—through woods and snow and over mountains. From minute one, you root for Lillian’s success because she’s this plucky heroine. I felt as if I were on the journey with her, so there were a couple of moment..."

A Prayer for Owen Meany

John Irving · Buy on Amazon

"This is a strange book, but it’s strange because it’s packed with so many great characters. It’s the story of a little boy, Owen Meany, who has a peculiar voice and believes he is an instrument of God. He and his friend Johnny are on a Little League team when Owen hits a foul ball that kills Johnny’s mother. From that moment, the boys’ lives are intertwined. I could picture and smell and hear what Owen Meany was like. Irving captures the innocence of youth, of people growing up together and f..."

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