Must-read books for women, according to Lena Dunham

Added: 2026-05-16

[00:00:00]What are some books that every woman should read? Listen, I know women are not a monolith. Some women love romancy and dragons, but if I were to say, "Okay, here's a curriculum." This book is called Problems by Jade Sharma, and it is a brilliant novel about a woman >> [music] >> who is dealing with drug addiction. She is sex worker. She's in a marriage that she doesn't enjoy. And it sounds [music] bleak, but it's unbelievably funny because the main character's voice, like she's the friend who would just, you know, would like ride for you so hard and help you bury a body. Leslie Jamison is one of my favorite working writers. I love The Empathy Exams. I loved her book about getting sober. But, um, when I read an advanced copy of Splinters, it just blew my mind. I've never read a divorce or motherhood memoir like it. It totally [music] recalibrates our thoughts about what women should have to perform in the household, what our job is as moms, and ultimately that she has to be a mother to her child, and also she has to be faithful and loyal to her work. This is 100% my favorite Hollywood memoir. She was the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, but by the time she wrote this book, she was no longer really like kind of playing [music] in the Hollywood cesspool. So, she did not give an F who she made angry, which I think makes for the best [music] show business memoirs. I was certainly not going to mention certain people in my book because I still want a job.

[00:01:27]>> I can't help but notice that your name is on the cover, having blurbed this.

[00:01:32]But, Yes, I did. It's a must-read for anyone who wants to >> lean in or just freak out.

[00:01:37]>> Yeah, freak out more like it. Tess of the d'Urbervilles was one of the first like real grown-up books that I read, and I remember reading it in high school and raising my hand and being like, "Wait, so she has sex with one guy once, and then basically like her life is ruined, and she can never go back to where she lives, and she's just like lying on the ground in the woods flipping out?" But, I think that was a simplistic read. And and I read it again as an adult, I [music] felt that it had so much to say about [music] the female condition. So, if you can get past slightly yield English, you're going to have a ball.

[00:02:08]Amazing.