Image by Stewart Butterfield/Wikimedia Commons

By PJ Grisar November 18, 2019

Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, loves to read cookbooks, essays, novels and even philosophy. A woman of eclectic tastes, some of her favorite authors happen to be of the Jewish persuasion while — alas — she herself is not (we’ve been over this). Here are some of Markle’s top picks, courtesy of Book Riot, so you too can have a bookshelf like royalty.

In her summer reading list, Meghan Markle suggests “The Dud Avocado” by Elaine Dundy, a book much-admired by Groucho Marx, who said it made him “laugh, scream and guffaw (which incidentally is a great name for a law firm).” For autumn, Markle loves Ina Yalof’s “Food in the City,” about New York’s bustling food service scene, and Amy Schumer’s irreverent “The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo,” which pairs nicely with Lena Dunham’s collection “Not That Kind of Girl.” The Duchess also enjoys Lauren Elkin’s “Flâneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice, and London,” a good companion for an autumn stroll, and is fond of Neil Abramson’s debut novel, “Unsaid.”

Markle’s nonfiction favorites make for a who’s who of Jewish intellectuals. She puts in plugs form Noam Chomsky’s “Who Rules the World?” and “Requiem for the American Dream,” as well as Annie Liebovitz’s “Linda McCartney: Life in Photographs” and Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In.”

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A fashionista of the highest order, Markle also suggests you take a look at legendary Vogue Paris editor Carine Roitfleld’s self-titled “Carine Roitfeld: Irreverent” and Stephanie Mark and Jake Rosenberg’s coffee table offering “The Coveteur: Private Spaces, Personal Style.” Naturally, she also has nice things to say about her friend Lindsay Jill Roth’s novel “What Pretty Girls Are Made Of.”

As a new mother, Markle has some children’s book recommendations. Among them is Shel Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree,” about a jerky, ungrateful kid who takes shameless advantage of a poor tree who, despite indignities, is pleased to make sacrifice after sacrifice. Its reflection of an abusive relationship always made us squirm a bit. At least the illustrations are nice? Honestly, it makes us a little concerned for Archie. Might we instead suggest “Where the Sidewalk Ends”?

PJ Grisar is the Forward’s culture fellow. He can be reached at [email protected]

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