Tarana Burke's Reading List

Notable reader profiled on radicalreads.com. 15 favorite books recommended in their radicalreads feature.

Favorite books (2023)

Favorite books recommended by Tarana Burke, as compiled by radicalreads.com. Source article: https://radicalreads.com/tarana-burke-favorite-books/.

Source: radicalreads.com

Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement

Brené Brown). Speaking with Elle on the books of her life, Burke recommended powerful work on healing, truth-telling, and forging Black identity. Find her reading list below, and complement with the bookshelves of Alice Walker , Anita Hill , Jane Elliott , Maya Angelou and Noname . · Buy on Amazon

The Gifts of Imperfection

Brené Brown · Buy on Amazon

"This book validated what I saw in my life and work about how shame can crush us."

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf

Ntozake Shange (also rec’d by Alice Walker & Anita Hill ) · Buy on Amazon

"I have known, met or been every one of the women in this choreopoem. It amplifies the humanity of Black women unlike anything I have ever encountered."

One Drop

Yaba Blay · Buy on Amazon

"Never thought about the privilege of not having to identify as Black."

Sugar

Bernice L. McFadden · 2000 · Buy on Amazon

"This book is so engaging and beautiful and intriguing and satisfying that I could not put it down."

Wisdom from the Four Agreements

Don Miguel Ruiz · Buy on Amazon

"It is a wonderful grounding before going out in the world."

Meaty

Samantha Irby · Buy on Amazon

"Samantha Irby is a comedic and life genius. Period."

Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas

Maya Angelou · Buy on Amazon

"I read this title on my mom’s shelf for years. It reads like a song lyric."

How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America

Kiese Laymon · Buy on Amazon

"Kiese Laymon is unrelenting in his truth-telling. We are all the better for it."

The Body Keeps The Score

Bessel van der Kolk (also rec’d by Phoebe Bridgers ) · Buy on Amazon

"It will advance your healing work or help you to understand why you need it."

Untamed

Glennon Doyle (also rec’d by Mariah Carey ) · Buy on Amazon

"Glennon has a way of making things make sense and not seem as terrible."

More Beautiful and More Terrible

Imani Perry · Buy on Amazon

"Imani Perry is one of the greatest thinkers of our time, and I thought I wouldn’t understand this work but it is completely accessible and necessary reading."

The Bluest Eye

Toni Morrison (also rec’d by Gabrielle Union , George Saunders , Ibram X. Kendi & Jane Elliott ) · Buy on Amazon

"Because…Toni Morrison."

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