I admit it. I am a reading junkie and am obsessed with literature. But really, I love it so much I got a degree in English Literature. Try finding a useful job with a degree in reading!! HA but for real, the power of words on our lives and the world we live in is massive. It is how we communicate, how we express emotion, how we understand the world around us. Reading can open up new opportunities, and change your world.
Books are a glimpse into another person’s mind, and have the ability to transport you to another land, another understanding, and can even change your views and beliefs. Since I love reading, I wanted to share my top 10 favorite novels you HAVE to read. These books have changed my life and my perspective on the challenges I face. I hope reading has the same power for you, and that these books are a hit and ones you reach for again and again on the bookshelf.
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I hope they can benefit you in some way and inspire you to live your best.
Here are my top 10 favorite novels you need to read:
The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
This book is one I continue to read over and over again. It inspires me to find hope, follow my dreams, and come back to the basics of living fully. The Alchemist shows the journey of a shepherd boy who wants to travel, and shares his epic lessons learned along the way.
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
“When Death has a story to tell, you listen.” Death took so many lives during World War II, and it’s narrative story around Liesel Meminger will change your life.
Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald – Therese Anne Fowler
“I wish I could tell everyone who thinks we’re ruined, Look closer…and you’ll see something extraordinary, mystifying, something real and true. We have never been what we seemed.”
Who is Zelda, other than the wife of a famous—sometimes infamous—husband? How can she forge her own identity while fighting her demons and Scott’s, too? With brilliant insight and imagination, Therese Anne Fowler’s New York Times bestseller brings us Zelda’s irresistible story as she herself might have told it. – AMAZON
The Boys in the Boat – Daniel James Brown
It was an unlikely quest from the start. With a team composed of the sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the University of Washington’s eight-oar crew team was never expected to defeat the elite teams of the East Coast and Great Britain, yet they did, going on to shock the world by defeating the German team rowing for Adolf Hitler. The emotional heart of the tale lies with Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not only to regain his shattered self-regard but also to find a real place for himself in the world. Drawing on the boys’ own journals and vivid memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, Brown has created an unforgettable portrait of an era, a celebration of a remarkable achievement, and a chronicle of one extraordinary young man’s personal quest. – AMAZON
The Map That Leads to You – JP Monninger
Two strangers take the road less traveled…
Heather Mulgrew’s world is mapped out: she is going to travel abroad with her friends after college, come back to a great career in September, and head into a life where not much is left to chance. But that was before an encounter on an overnight train introduces her to Jack, a passionate adventurer who changes the course of her journey and her life. Jack has a secret that could change everything. And Heather’s world is about to be shaken to the core.
J.P. Monniger’s The Map That Leads to You is a breathtaking novel about love, loss, and the best-laid plans that are meant to be broken. – AMAZON
Me Before You – Jojo Moyes
They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . .
Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has barely been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.
Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living. – AMAZON
Man’s Search For Meaning – Viktor Frankel
Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl’s memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of others he treated later in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. Frankl’s theory-known as logotherapy, from the Greek word logos (“meaning”)-holds that our primary drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful. – AMAZON
Daring Greatly – Brené Brown
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; …who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.” (Theodore Roosevelt)
Daring Greatly is not about winning or losing. It’s about courage. In a world where “never enough” dominates and feeling afraid has become second nature, vulnerability is subversive. Uncomfortable. It’s even a little dangerous at times. And, without question, putting ourselves out there means there’s a far greater risk of getting criticized or feeling hurt. But when we step back and examine our lives, we will find that nothing is as uncomfortable, dangerous, and hurtful as standing on the outside of our lives looking in and wondering what it would be like if we had the courage to step into the arena – whether it’s a new relationship, an important meeting, the creative process, or a difficult family conversation. Daring Greatly is a practice and a powerful new vision for letting ourselves be seen. – AMAZON
The History of Love – Nicole Krauss
Leo Gursky taps his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbor know he’s still alive. But it wasn’t always like this: in the Polish village of his youth, he fell in love and wrote a book…Sixty years later and half a world away, fourteen-year-old Alma undertakes an adventure to find her namesake and save her family. With virtuosic skill and soaring imaginative power, Nicole Krauss gradually draws these stories together toward a climax of “extraordinary depth and beauty” (Newsday). – AMAZON
The Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus Christ
The Book of Mormon is a volume of scripture comparable to the Bible. It is a record of God’s dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas and contains, as does the Bible, the fullness of the everlasting gospel.
The book was written by many ancient prophets by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. Their words, written on gold plates, were quoted and abridged by a prophet-historian named Mormon. The record gives an account of two great civilizations. One came from Jerusalem in 600 B.C., and afterward separated into two nations, known as the Nephites and the Lamanites. The other came much earlier when the Lord confounded the tongues at the Tower of Babel. This group is known as the Jaredites. After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are the principal ancestors of the American Indians. – AMAZON
Have more books you love reading, and continue to find inspiration from? Share your recommendations below in the comments!
Enjoy your reading!!
XO – Heather
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