What’s on Mariah Carey’s reading list? Her own book, dahling

Mariah Carey’s essential reading list includes, of course, her own memoir, dahlings

Dec. 1, 2020 10:44 AM PT

It’s the most Mariah Carey reading list ever, curated by Mariah Carey and including Mariah Carey’s new memoir, “The Meaning of Mariah Carey,” on the top of the pile.

Did we mention Carey co-wrote a book? Because yeah, she did.

The singer posted her list — a shot of herself leaning on a tidy tower of reading material — late Monday on social media. Her September memoir has decent celebrity company on the list in “Let Love Rule,” musician Lenny Kravitz’s recent memoir, and “Born a Crime” by TV host Trevor Noah, published in 2016.

Also making the grade were “Leave the World Behind” by Rumaan Alam, “The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennett, “Such a Fun Age” by Kiley Reid, “Caste” by Isabel Wilderson and “The Prophets” by Robert Jones Jr. Glennon Doyle is tapped for her memoir, “Untamed.”

But before we get too snarky about the songstress peddling her own wares, let’s take a look at what reviewers said about “The Meaning of Mariah Carey”:

Rolling Stone called the book, co-written with Michaela Angela Davis, “an instant classic of pop diva lit.” The New York Times dubbed the writing “decidedly human,” but in a good way, saying, “The memoir’s first sentence — ‘I refuse to acknowledge time, famously so’ — is *chef’s kiss*. There are plenty of dahlings sprinkled throughout.”

And the Los Angeles Times was effusive in its praise.

“The previously tight-lipped pop star connects dots from her life to her music as she never has before, weaving her lyrics in and out of relevant scenes, and sheds light on the real-life origins of eccentricities that practically ooze out of her pores under glaring studio lights,” reviewer Rich Juzwiak wrote.

“Carey’s Christmas fetish, her insistence that she’s ‘eternally 12,’ her strong preference for performing in fan-generated wind tunnels — many of her quirks are carefully sourced. If she is over the top, here’s a book-long theory of how she got there,” Juzwiak added.

Dare we say, it sounds like a good read?

But Monday’s proclamation is not Carey’s first “must read” list of 2020. She came up with a shorter one for the Amazon Book Review in October, in tandem with her own book release. It too, unsurprisingly, includes mention of her memoir.

She recommended “listening” to former First Lady Michelle Obama read the book “Becoming.” She commended Tina Fey for helping her through her pregnancy with the book “Bossypants,” which was released about three weeks before twins Moroccan and Monroe were born to Carey and ex-husband Nick Cannon in April 2011.

And in what was a preview to her current list, Noah’s book and “Caste” both won mention, with a note that Wilkerson’s book had been “recommended and sent to me by Ms. Oprah herself.”

Because how else does a diva know what to read next, dahling?