Jia Tolentino is a staff writer at The New Yorker known for sharp cultural criticism and personal essays exploring identity, internet culture, and social dynamics. Her debut collection Trick Mirror became a bestseller and established her as a leading voice in contemporary nonfiction. Her reading recommendations reveal deep engagement with memoir, psychology, and cultural analysis.
10 Books Recommended by Jia Tolentino
Ranked by popularity across all reading lists on this site
Pachinko
3 people recommendedI was basically gasping as I read this saga of an ethnically Korean family in Japan.
Also recommended by: Barack Obama, Emma Watson
Know My Name
2 people recommendedHope itβs required reading in HS & colleges.
Also recommended by: Peter King
Minor Feelings
Serves as a case study in how a feminist point of view can both deepen an inquiry and widen its resonances to something like universality.
The Longing for Less
Arrives not as an addition to the minimalist canon but as a corrective to it.
Children of the Land
If anyone is looking for a good book about the border, migration, humanity in the face of dehumanization.
The Gimmicks
A little universe (rainy Armenia, love triangles, wrestlers on the road, scheming guerrillas!) & it is so, so good.
The Testaments
May surprise readers who wondered, when the sequel was announced, whether [the author] was making a mistake in returning to her earlier work.