Tia Mowry's Bookshelf Tour Includes a Batch of Inspiring Titles | Shelf Portrait | Marie Claire
Tia Mowry gives us a peek at her favorite reads! Get a close look at her personal bookshelves as she shares recommendations for titles that changed her life, what she loves reading with her kids, and much more.
Transcript
00:00 I didn't want to be scared about my pregnancy.
00:03 I wanted to laugh and really talk about
00:06 all of the crazy things that really go on
00:08 during your pregnancy, like peeing on yourself
00:11 when you laugh.
00:12 And you guys, that still happens.
00:15 Sorry to tell you, but it's the truth.
00:17 Hey guys, what's up?
00:19 Team Marie here.
00:20 So you guys, I'm about to give Marie Claire
00:22 a peek into my personal library.
00:27 Welcome to Shelf Portrait.
00:29 (upbeat music)
00:32 So my library is in my room.
00:34 I have a range of different books.
00:38 So I like a lot of health books
00:42 'cause I'm all about wellness.
00:43 And over in this area, I'll move over here.
00:46 This is kind of like my little,
00:49 I would say like shrine of accomplishments.
00:52 I wake up to it every morning
00:55 and it reminds me of all the hard work that I've done
00:58 and that I'm proud of.
01:00 So I have my book, "Oh Baby" here,
01:03 which is my first book that I've ever written.
01:05 I also have within my book collection,
01:09 some candles, some flowers,
01:11 maybe some pictures of myself and my husband
01:14 when I was pregnant.
01:15 Oh, I also have this really cool jar
01:18 with some sage and palo santos in there,
01:21 you know, to get a nice vibe going.
01:25 I have a picture of my brother, my YouTube plaque.
01:29 So yeah, so that's basically my personal library here.
01:34 (upbeat music)
01:37 Okay, you guys, so I'm gonna share with you
01:39 five of my favorite books of all time.
01:43 First, I will start with "A Million Little Pieces"
01:48 by James Fray.
01:50 It's about overcoming addiction,
01:54 but you don't have to, you know,
01:57 be addicted to drugs or anything like that to,
02:00 I feel like to be moved by this story or this book.
02:04 Everybody has some sort of struggle
02:08 that they're going through.
02:09 Oh my gosh, my favorite childhood book
02:12 would definitely have to be "Green Eggs and Ham"
02:15 by Dr. Seuss.
02:17 And I have a very vivid memory of that.
02:21 The school that I was going to in Hawaii,
02:23 we actually made green eggs and ham at school.
02:27 So it was just a great experience overall.
02:31 You know what I mean?
02:32 Like reading the book and then having to cook
02:35 and have an activity associated with the book.
02:38 What a great way to, you know, embed great memories.
02:42 (upbeat music)
02:45 Another one of my favorite books
02:50 would definitely have to be "The Secret."
02:53 Now you guys, this book changed my life for the better.
02:58 And at first I was apprehensive, you know,
03:01 'cause I was like, what's so like, you know,
03:05 amazing about this book.
03:07 But I will say it is very, very magical.
03:11 And to this day, I learned how to do my own vision board.
03:15 I learned how to just project and visualize my goals
03:21 and my aspirations, and then just kind of put them
03:25 out there into existence.
03:27 And that's what this book is about.
03:29 And I am telling you, ever since I started doing that,
03:34 I started to see a huge change in my career,
03:38 in my personal joy, in my life.
03:42 Once you realize that you do have the power
03:45 of your destiny, when you understand
03:48 that you do have that power, it is very magical.
03:51 Hmm, a book I'd love to see turn into a movie,
03:55 I would say a book that I wrote
03:59 with my sister called "Twin Tuition."
04:02 I just feel like this is just, you know, so adorable.
04:06 I could totally see this like on the Disney channel
04:10 or just something, you know.
04:11 It's again, magical and fun.
04:14 There we are in the back.
04:17 In the back, ah!
04:18 But yeah, totally, "Twin Tuition."
04:20 Another one of my favorite books would definitely
04:26 have to be "The Four Agreements."
04:29 This one I would say is my top favorite book of all time,
04:33 again, because it really changed my life.
04:37 It was, or is written by Don Miguel Ruiz,
04:41 and it's called, you know, it's a Toltec wisdom book.
04:45 And that's exactly what this did for me.
04:48 It gave me wisdom.
04:50 This book is all about realizing
04:52 that you can have peace and joy while you're here on earth.
04:56 And the biggest takeaway that I got from this
04:59 is not to take things personally.
05:02 Forgiveness is, it's the secret.
05:07 It's the key, one of the keys to having peace and having joy.
05:12 So this is a really, really cool series of books.
05:16 It's called "Little People, Big Dreams."
05:19 And it has like really cool people
05:23 that we kind of focus on, like Maya Angelou.
05:27 And then we have Mother Teresa, Anne Frank,
05:30 Rosa Parks, and Frida.
05:33 All these amazing, wonderful women
05:36 that have paved the way for, you know, really all of us.
05:39 And I love teaching my daughter
05:41 about such incredible women who are leaders in our history.
05:46 Another one that I absolutely love
05:48 is "The Alchemist" by Paolo Coelho.
05:52 This book was recommended to me
05:54 by a really, really good friend of mine.
05:56 You may know him.
05:57 His name is Oti Thaipenle, and he is on the Handmaid's Tale.
06:02 So this book, it talks about omens
06:06 and how in life you have signs from God.
06:10 And prior to reading this book,
06:12 I wasn't really keen or looking for, you know,
06:15 specific little signs in life.
06:20 And this really made me realize
06:24 that God is always present, always on my side,
06:29 always giving me omens and signs to pay attention to.
06:36 And you only know those omens
06:39 and those signs.
06:41 Let's see, do I prefer a hard copy or am I an e-reader?
06:45 I would say both.
06:47 Like some books, I just want in my hand.
06:50 You know what I mean?
06:51 Like I really wanna just feel the pages
06:54 and like have that book in my hand.
06:57 And then other times I will, you know,
07:01 get an e-reader or even an Audible.
07:04 I tend to do a lot of health books that way
07:08 'cause you can kind of get through those faster.
07:12 But if it's like an autobiography
07:15 or if it's like, you know, a fictional or fiction,
07:20 there's something about curling up in your bed
07:22 with the candles on, creating some sort of mood
07:25 with the covers over you and reading a book.
07:28 [upbeat music]
07:31 The last book that I will talk about,
07:34 which is, oh my gosh, you guys,
07:37 this is like definitely one of my favorites as well.
07:42 And I learned a lot from this book, "Eat, Pray, Love."
07:47 But what I loved about this book is I feel like,
07:52 you know, there's a lot of stigma on women
07:56 in that women kind of have to follow
08:00 what society says we have to be.
08:02 So it starts with Elizabeth, you know,
08:05 in a relationship with her husband,
08:07 she was not in a great place
08:10 and she felt like she had to be married,
08:11 but she didn't wanna be married.
08:13 What I love about this book is she's teaching people
08:16 to follow their own journey.
08:18 If you wanna be married and have kids, great.
08:21 If you don't wanna be married
08:22 and you don't wanna have kids, that's great too.
08:25 Do whatever the hell you wanna do.
08:26 And that's what she did.
08:27 She went around the world and she traveled.
08:31 I took a lot from that and I absolutely love her bravery.
08:36 And just her courage to follow her heart.
08:40 And that's what I love about this book.
08:42 (upbeat music)
08:46 Thank you guys so much for watching "Shelf Portrait."
08:52 I hope you guys liked my personal library.
08:55 Make sure you check out "Family Reunion" on Netflix
08:57 and don't forget to subscribe to Monique Blair.
09:00 Bye guys.