6 books Emma Watson thinks you should read

Emma Watson, UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, actor, model and gender equality campaigner, has started an online feminist book club.

Each month the Harry Potter star suggests a book for members to read and discuss via Emma’s Book Club – Our Shared Shelf.

The group, on the free book lovers’ website goodreads.com, aims to encourage open discussion of issues and themes raised by each month’s book.

Watson, who leads HeForShe, a campaign that encourages men to support women’s empowerment, explains that she has been reading books and essays about equality as part of her work with UN Women.

“There is so much amazing stuff out there! Funny, inspiring, sad, thought-provoking, empowering! I’ve been discovering so much that, at times, I’ve felt like my head was about to explode,” she writes.

“I decided to start a Feminist book club, as I want to share what I’m learning and hear your thoughts too.”

Here are six of Watson’s top picks to put on your summer reading list:

My Life on the Road

Gloria Steinem

Writer and activist Gloria Steinem’s candid account of how her early years led her to live a life on the road, traveling, listening to people, learning and creating change.

How to be a Woman

Caitlin Moran

“We need to reclaim the word 'feminism'. We need the word 'feminism' back real bad.”

Comedian and columnist Caitlin Moran’s book provides a humorous and anecdotal take on modern life and the expectations of the 21st century woman.

The Argonauts

Maggie Nelson

The Argonauts is the author’s story of her relationship with the fluidly gendered artist Harry Dodge.

It offers fresh thinking about desire, identity and the limitations and possibilities of love and language.

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The Complete Persepolis

Marjane Satrapi

Marjane Satrapi is an Iranian-born, French contemporary graphic novelist, author and illustrator.

Persepolis is the story of her unforgettable childhood and coming of age in a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution.

Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl

Carrie Brownstein

In Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl, Carrie Brownstein, member of feminist punk band Sleater-Kinney and comedic performer, provides a deeply personal narrative of her life as a musician and the sexism she faced from the music industry.

The Color Purple

Alice Walker

Set mostly in rural Georgia, Walker’s powerful Pulitzer-winning novel focuses on the lives of women of color in the southern United States in the 1930s.

The Color Purple addresses numerous issues including the treatment of women of colour by society.