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Cheryl Strayed's Reading List

Bestselling author of Wild, Tiny Beautiful Things, and Brave Enough; former co-host of the Dear Sugars podcast.

By the Book: Cheryl Strayed (2020)

NYT By the Book column (2020-02-18).

Source: www.nytimes.com

Heart Berries

Terese Marie Mailhot · 2018 · Buy on Amazon

"There are so many sentences I had to read again because they were so true and beautiful. It's a memoir of pure poetry and courage and invention. Whenever I think about it, my heart clenches with love."

The End of My Career

Martha Grover · Buy on Amazon

"With immense vulnerability, wit and insight, she writes about so much — money, sex, chronic illness, gentrification and her jobs cleaning houses, investigating insurance claims and working in a cheese shop."

Mean

Myriam Gurba · Buy on Amazon

"She's a scorchingly good writer."

Invisible People

Alex Tizon · Buy on Amazon

"Alex Tizon's 'Invisible People.' Alex died unexpectedly in 2017 and this book is a collection of his essays and reportage."

The Years That Matter Most

Paul Tough · Buy on Amazon

"It's an utterly absorbing, utterly enlightening, utterly important book about classism in American higher education and the myth of meritocracy."

No Visible Bruises

Rachel Louise Snyder · Buy on Amazon

"Another book that had a tremendous impact on me is Rachel Louise Snyder's 'No Visible Bruises,' about all we don't know — and it seems sometimes don't want to know — about domestic violence. It's essential, devastating reading."

The Green Mile

Stephen King · Buy on Amazon

"Brian found an English-language lending library nearby... He brought back the first two installments of Stephen King's serialized novel, 'The Green Mile,' and read them out loud to me... Brian and I have a long history of reading books out loud to each other, but that one was especially bonding. His steady voice guided me back to life."

The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson · Buy on Amazon

"My mother gave me 'The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson' when I was 21. It was a gift of congratulations after I won a writing award."

Favorite books (2023)

Favorite books recommended by Cheryl Strayed, as compiled by radicalreads.com. Source article: https://radicalreads.com/cheryl-strayed-favorite-books/.

Source: radicalreads.com

The Novel

James A. Michener · 1991 · Buy on Amazon

Lolita

Vladimir Nabokov · 1955 · Buy on Amazon

"We all have books on our shelves that we’ve not yet read. I’d never read Lolita. So I thought I’ve got to read Lolita."

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