Lupita Nyongo's Reading List
The Oscar-winning actress, whose new children's book is "Sulwe," enjoyed "Fifty Shades of Grey" during filming: "I needed something light and inconsequential to take me out of the harshness of the world."
Open in WellRead Daily app →By the Book: Lupita Nyongo (2019)
NYT By the Book column (2019-10-03).
Source: www.nytimes.com
Bryan Cranston · Buy on Amazon
"Bryan Cranston includes a system to evaluate scripts in his memoir, "A Life in Parts." I am in the process of adopting and adapting it for my own use."
Anthony Ray Hinton · Buy on Amazon
"It's a shatteringly beautiful memoir about his life on death row for 28 years for a crime he did not commit. His message is ultimately like a cold shower that sobers you up to the reality of injustice."
Octavia E. Butler · Buy on Amazon
"I recently picked up "Dawn," by Octavia E. Butler, and I was stunned by how relevant the themes of the book are to today. She really artfully exposes our human impulse to self-destruct."
James Lipton · Buy on Amazon
"I can't imagine it's unknown, but "An Exaltation of Larks," by James Lipton, is a book on collective nouns that I read from often, and I wish more people knew about it."
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie · Buy on Amazon
"I first read it back in 2013 and I was struck with how exactly I related to Adichie's depiction of the contemporary African immigrant experience. She captures it, expresses it, analyzes it and celebrates it."
Declan Donnellan · Buy on Amazon
""The Actor and the Target," by Declan Donnellan, is a book I turn to again and again."
Favorite books (2020)
Favorite books recommended by Lupita Nyong'o, as compiled by radicalreads.com. Source article: https://radicalreads.com/lupita-nyongo-favorite-books/.
Source: radicalreads.com
F. Scott Fitzgerald (also rec’d by David Bowie , · Buy on Amazon
"The book I have read the most times. I love the decadent melancholy of it. I also love the delicate relationship between Gatsby and his unrequited love, Daisy. My favorite sentence from the book is when Daisy says, ‘What will we do with ourselves this afternoon and the day after that, and the next thirty years?’ Now that is restlessness and privilege if I ever heard it!"
James Lipton · Buy on Amazon
"A book on collective nouns that I read from often, and I wish more people knew about it. I am madly in love with collective nouns! They make language so colorful and ticklish. I love throwing them into casual conversation."
Bryan Cranston · Buy on Amazon
"A very frank, unsentimental and yet heartfelt account of Mr. Cranston’s life with some invaluable practical tips for how to navigate decision making in the entertainment business."
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (also rec’d by Gabrielle Union & Greta Gerwig ) · Buy on Amazon
"Americanah is a dramatic romance and a coming-of-age story, a class narrative and a comedy of manners. I first read it in 2013 and I was struck with how exactly I related to Adichie’s depiction of the contemporary African immigrant experience. She captures it, expresses it, analyzes it and celebrates it. It’s a story begging to be experienced visually."
Jessie Sima · Buy on Amazon
"I love the whimsy of both the story and the illustration. It’s a story about being the odd one out, adoption and belonging, and it tells it so gently and sweetly."
Anthony Ray Hinton · Buy on Amazon
"A shatteringly beautiful memoir about Hinton’s life on death row for 28 years for a crime he did not commit. It’s a real downer to read about something as dark and unfortunate as wrongful incarceration, but Mr. Hinton expresses himself with a heart incomprehensibly swollen with love and gives meaningful insight into his alienating experience. And he does so with a disarming sense of humor."
Brian K. Vaughn · Buy on Amazon
"A friend of mine recommended it as a good introduction to comic book reading for adults, and I latched onto it. It’s Romeo and Juliet passion meets Star Wars epic and Game of Thrones provocativeness but with sharp and witty dialogue and incredibly imaginative illustration. My favorite character: Lying Cat: a cat that, instead of meowing, says, ‘lying’ every time someone lies in its presence – now that’s a superpower I would want!"
Marianne Williamson (also rec’d by Oprah Winfrey ) · Buy on Amazon
"I come to this book again and again to remind myself what the practice of love is."
Octavia E. Butler · Buy on Amazon
"I was stunned by how relevant the themes of the book are to today. I did not imagine that sci-fi would be an enjoyable genre to get into for me, but Butler writes with such a familiarity that the alien is welcome and intriguing. She really artfully exposes our human impulse to self-destruct."
Julianne Moore · Buy on Amazon
"Another odd-one-out story told with lightness, humor and lots of love. Freckleface Strawberry and Sulwe would make great friends."