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.
00:00I didn't want to be scared about my pregnancy. I wanted to laugh and really talk about all of the crazy things that really go on during your pregnancy, like peeing on yourself when you laugh. And you guys, that still happens. Sorry to tell you, but it's the truth.
00:17Hey, guys, what's up? Team Marie here. So, you guys, I'm about to give Marie Claire a peek into my personal library. Welcome to Shelf Portrait.
00:32So my library is in my room. I have a range of different books. So I like a lot of health books because I'm all about wellness.
00:43And over in this area, I'll move over here. This is kind of like my little, I would say like shrine of accomplishments.
00:52I wake up to it every morning and it reminds me of all the hard work that I've done and that, you know, I'm proud of.
01:00So I have my book called Baby here, which is my first book that I've ever written.
01:05And I also have within my book collection, some candles, some flowers, maybe some pictures of, you know, myself and my husband when I was pregnant.
01:15Oh, I also have this really cool jar with some sage and palo santos in there, you know, to get a nice vibe going.
01:24I have a picture of my brother, my YouTube plaque.
01:30So, yeah, so that's basically my personal library here.
01:37Okay, you guys, so I'm going to share with you five of my favorite books of all time.
01:43First, I will start with A Million Little Pieces by James Frey.
01:50It's about overcoming addiction, but you don't have to, you know, be addicted to drugs or anything like that to, I feel like, to be moved by this story or this book.
02:04Everybody has some sort of struggle that they're going through.
02:09Oh, my gosh, my favorite childhood book would definitely have to be Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss.
02:16And I have a very vivid memory of that.
02:21The school that I was going to in Hawaii, we actually made Green Eggs and Ham at school.
02:28So it was just a great experience overall, you know what I mean?
02:32Like reading the book and then having to book and have an activity associated with the book.
02:38What a great way to, you know, embed great memories.
02:42Another one of my favorite books would definitely have to be The Secret.
02:53Now, you guys, this book changed my life for the better.
03:00And at first, I was apprehensive, you know, because I was like, what's so, like, you know, amazing about this book?
03:07But I will say it is very, very magical.
03:11And to this day, I learned how to do my own vision board.
03:16I learned how to just project and visualize my goals and my aspirations and then just kind of put them out there into existence.
03:28And that's what this book is about.
03:30And I am telling you, ever since I started doing that, I started to see a huge change in my career, in my personal joy, in my life.
03:44Once you realize that you do have the power of your destiny, when you understand that you do have that power, it is very magical.
03:52Hmm, a book I'd love to see turn into a movie, I would say a book that I wrote with my sister called Twintuition.
04:04I just feel like this is just, you know, so adorable.
04:07I could totally see this, like, on the Disney Channel or just something, you know.
04:13It's, again, magical and fun.
04:16There we are in the back.
04:18But, yeah, totally Twintuition.
04:22Another one of my favorite books would definitely have to be The Four Agreements.
04:29This one, I would say, is my top favorite book of all time.
04:33Again, because it really changed my life.
04:37It was or is written by Don Miguel Ruiz.
04:41And it's called, you know, it's a Toltec wisdom book.
04:45And that's exactly what this did for me.
04:48It gave me wisdom.
04:50This book is all about realizing that you can have peace and joy while you're here on Earth.
04:56And the biggest takeaway that I got from this is not to take things personally.
05:03Forgiveness is, it's the secret.
05:07It's the key.
05:08One of the keys to having peace and having joy.
05:12So, this is a really, really cool series of books.
05:17It's called Little People, Big Dreams.
05:19And it has, like, really cool people that we kind of focus on, like Maya Angelou.
05:27And then we have Mother Teresa, Anne Frank, Rosa Parks, and Frida.
05:32All these amazing, wonderful women that have paved the way for, you know, really all of us.
05:40And I love teaching my daughter about such incredible women who are leaders in our history.
05:45Another one that I absolutely love is The Alchemist by Paolo Cuero.
05:52This book was recommended to me by a really, really good friend of mine.
05:56You may know him.
05:57His name is O.T. Black Bentley.
05:59And he is on The Handmaid's Tale.
06:02So, this book, it talks about omens and how, in life, you have signs from God.
06:10And prior to reading this book, I wasn't really keen or looking for, you know, specific little signs in life.
06:20And this really made me realize that God is always present, always on my side, always giving me omens and signs to pay attention to.
06:36And you only know those omens and those signs.
06:41Let's see.
06:41Do I prefer a hard copy or am I an e-reader?
06:46I would say both.
06:47Like, some books, I just want in my hand.
06:50You know what I mean?
06:51Like, I really want to just feel the pages and, like, have that book in my hand.
06:57And then other times, I will, you know, get an e-reader or even an audible.
07:05I tend to do a lot of health books that way because you can kind of get through those faster.
07:11But if it's, like, an autobiography or if it's, like, you know, a fictional or fiction, there's something about curling up in your bed with the candles on, creating some sort of mood with the covers over you and reading a book.
07:28The last book that I will talk about, which is, oh my gosh, you guys, this is, like, definitely one of my favorites as well.
07:42And I learned a lot from this book, Eat, Pray, Love.
07:47But what I loved about this book is I feel like, you know, there's a lot of stigma on women in that women kind of have to follow what society says we have to be.
08:02So it starts with Elizabeth, you know, in a relationship with her husband.
08:07She was not in a great place and she felt like she had to be married, but she didn't want to be married.
08:13What I love about this book is she's teaching people to follow their own journey.
08:19If you want to be married and have kids, great.
08:21If you don't want to be married and you don't want to have kids, that's great, too.
08:25Do whatever the hell you want to do.
08:27And that's what she did.
08:28She went around the world and she traveled.
08:31I took a lot from that and I absolutely love her bravery and just her courage to follow her heart.
08:40And that's what I love about this book.
08:49Thank you guys so much for watching Shelf Portrait.
08:52I hope you guys liked my personal library.
08:55Make sure you check out Family Reunion on Netflix and don't forget to subscribe to Marie Claire.
