25 Books That Inspired Maya Angelou, Frida Kahlo, Joan Didion and Other Remarkable Women

I wanted to try something different today. Rather than writing a traditional essay or book review, I thought I’d put together a visual journal exploring the books that helped shape six remarkable women whose work continues to influence our understanding of the world.

Some books have been documented through interviews, recommendations, or have been direct muses for their future creations, whether it’s art, film, or written works. Others have made their way onto this list through the evidence left behind. Annotations, revised pages, and signs of adoration were left lingering within the works mentioned.

Maya Angelou

Angelou often spoke about the significance of reading from a young age. The books she returned to varied from childhood classics to some of the defining works of twentieth-century American literature.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe

Collected Poems by Countee Cullen

bell hooks

For bell hooks, reading continued to be inseparable from learning how to think critically about the world. Her recommendations ranged from psychology, history, feminism, and spirituality to self-reflection.

Emotional Longevity by Norman B. Anderson

Everyday Sacred by Sue Bender

The Half Has Never Been Told by Edward E. Baptist

Dancing in the Flames by Marion Woodman

The Mermaid and the Minotaur by Dorothy Dinnerstein

Frida Kahlo

Kahlo’s library reflected a deep interest in philosophy, psychology, poetry, and even mythology. These are among the works most closely associated with her intellectual world and possible influence. Her shelf’s highlight includes Moses and Monotheism by Sigmund Freud, which inspired her painting Moses in 1945.

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The Golden Ass by Apuleius

Moses and Monotheism by Sigmund Freud

Joan Didion

Didion’s reading list directly mirrors her writing: direct, unsentimental, and concise with endless precision. Many of these books appeared on her own handwritten list of favourites.

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

Speedboat by Renata Adler

Guerrillas by V. S. Naipaul

Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell

Victory by Joseph Conrad

Joan Didion’s handwritten list of her favourite books.

Greta Gerwig

Long before directing Little Women, Gerwig had spoken about how deeply Louisa May Alcott’s novel shaped her. Her favourite books reveal an enduring love of character-driven fiction and modern literary classics. Her films continue to embody the same spirit.

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Middlemarch by George Eliot

The Idiot by Elif Batuman

The White Album by Joan Didion

Rita Moreno

Moreno’s selections reflect a lifelong curiosity about psychology, relationships, identity, and storytelling. The Yiddish Policeman’s Union was an afterthought, as she chose to read it after her husband couldn’t contain his laughter throughout most chapters. Just as she was persuaded by his love for it, I am currently sitting next to my copy. Why? Because she loved it. It’s amazing how close we can get to someone’s mind by reading the words that moved them.

Neurosis and Human Growth by Karen Horney

The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm

The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon

The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan

Books and their influence seldom stop at the reader who first picked them up. They continue to ripple outward through art, film, essays, memoirs, and conversations, influencing generations of readers who may never realise where an idea first began.