Recs if you like The Social Contract...

This is a list I’m making for all the people who aren’t philosophy majors who want to be better-read in the world of thought! Easier reads to get your toes wet.

A collection of acclaimed classic and contemporary Francophone literature. I chose to classify as Francophone rather than French in order to include authors who wrote in French but were/are not of French nationality, especially authors from colonised countries. Non-exhaustive as I'm not an expert I am keeping this list to one book per author but suggestions very welcome! :)

a collection of fiction and nonfiction texts on gender, race, culture, history, politics that feel like absolute must reads

We often talk about what Rizal wrote, but what did the National Hero consume to write so well? To think in that way? Rizal was known to be a voracious reader, getting it from his parents ("[My parents] urged me to read and understand them [books]") and then spending hours in libraries overseas. From his letter to Blumentritt (Nov. 8, 1888): "The Indio, in general, is very fond of reading and studying…”

Classic political works from before World War II. Some have modern publication dates because they have only received translations in the past couple of years; as long as the original work was published before 1939, it counts.