The singer-songwriter, whose new memoir is “No Walls and the Recurring Dream,” says her shelves contain “poetry for when my mind is spinning” and “a bunch of learn-how-to-meditate books that don’t seem to be helping.”

What books are on your nightstand?

“The Hidden Life of Trees,” by Peter Wohlleben, and “A Thousand Mornings,” by Mary Oliver.

What’s the last great book that you read?

When I started writing a memoir, I went and read a bunch of memoirs to get different people’s take on the whole thing. I was really struck by Assata Shakur’s “Assata” and Dr. Willie Parker’s “Life’s Work” (not technically classified as a memoir but I think of it that way). Barack Obama’s “Dreams From My Father” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” were also real standouts, both particularly epic. “Miles: The Autobiography,” a book put together by Quincy Troupe, sure left an impression, too. I was captured for a time by each of these books, but I think it was Parker’s voice that ended up providing the most guidance to mine as I was writing my own story.

Who are your favorite musician-writers? Your favorite memoir by a musician?

I thought the Springsteen memoir was an amazing piece of work. I especially loved how he wrote about his fellow musicians in the E Street Band and what it’s like to be part of a musical family. I was impressed with how vulnerable he allowed himself to be too, toward the end, when he shared with us the challenges of facing advancing age. I thought he was brave not to end the tale before the man “born to run” has to actually stop running and deal with himself. I also found books by lesser known artists, such as Suze Rotolo’s “A Freewheelin’ Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties” and Dave Van Ronk’s “The Mayor of MacDougal Street,” which I thought were great. Revealing of a whole cultural movement and era and scene. And speaking of a scene, there’s nothing quite like seeing all the greats of jazz through the eyes of Miles Davis! Now that was a gripping autobiography. Goddess bless Quincy Troupe for weaving together what must have been endless hours of taped interviews, with Miles and everyone, tons of research and reading, listening and corroborating and cat herding — and coming up with such a seamless and authentic-feeling narrative. Quincy wrote a story that feels like it’s coming hissing right out of Miles’s mouth into your ear.