These books have all made a significant impact on my life, offering wisdom, comfort, and inspiration in their own unique ways. Here are my nine favourite books, plus a few honourable mentions, and why they made it onto this list. After this, maybe they’ll make it onto your too:
I’ve included Amazon links to each book, but you can also read where to get e-books and audiobooks for free for alternatives. (Check out how to gift Kindle books and how to gift Audible for digital versions.)
- 1. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
- 2. A Fortune Teller Told Me by Tiziano Terzani
- 3. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
- 4. Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
- 5. Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig
- 6. I Love Capri by Belinda Jones
- 7. Holes by Louis Sachar
- 8. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
- 9. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
- Honourable Mentions
- More of My Favourite Books
Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links. This means I earn a small commission if you choose to make a purchase using this link, but at no cost to you.
1. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
A powerful anti-war novel, Slaughterhouse-Five blends science fiction and personal reflection as it follows Billy Pilgrim, who becomes “unstuck in time” after surviving the bombing of Dresden in World War II. The novel jumps through different moments in Billy’s life, offering a satirical, darkly humorous look at the absurdity of war and human existence.
This book completely changed what I thought a book could and should be. When people ask me to describe it I say, “It’s a WWII book, partly autobiographical, but with time travel and aliens. It’s funny.”
As told throughout the novel, the author felt he couldn’t accurately articulate his own experience of Dresden, so he reaches past logic and linear narrative to conflicting genres, themes, and plot devices to paint a picture. It’s masterful.
Slaughterhouse-Five is laugh-out-loud hilarious, yet also desperately tragic and profound. This is my favourite book of all time (which is funny because time travel).
“So it goes.”
2. A Fortune Teller Told Me by Tiziano Terzani
A Fortune Teller Told Me is a memoir that recounts the year when journalist Tiziano Terzani, warned by a fortune teller to avoid air travel, decides to journey across Asia by land and sea, encountering different cultures and traditions of fortune-telling along the way.
This is not a book about fortune-tellers being right or wrong. When a fortune-teller in Hong Kong tells him he will die in a plane crash if he flies in 1993, he decides to take the opportunity to travel differently, and much slower. In fact, it’s particularly poignant in light of climate change and the increasingly fast pace of the world right now.
It’s also a beautiful reflection on fortune-telling as a practice: how so many cultures have a version of it, the importance of the comfort or motivation it brings, and why those practices continue to thrive.
“For all the fascination of the unknown, the first task of the traveller must always be to balance terror with wonder.”
3. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
This philosophical novel tells the story of Santiago, a shepherd who embarks on a quest to find a hidden treasure in the Egyptian desert.
Along the way, he learns valuable lessons about following one’s dreams, the interconnectedness of life, and the importance of listening to the heart. The Alchemist is a timeless fable about pursuing personal legend and self-discovery.
The Alchemist is a short novel, but packs a powerful punch. It reads almost like a children’s story, like a fairy-tale passed down through generations. And perhaps that’s true because the wisdom feels so true and strong. For anyone struggling in life, in anything, I suggest you read this book.
“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
Read next: I also included The Alchemist in my list of books to change your life around.
4. Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
In this seminal work on female empowerment, Jungian psychoanalyst Clarissa Pinkola Estés explores the wild, instinctual nature of women through myths, fairy tales, and folklore.
In Women Who Run With the Wolves, she examines how women can reconnect with their inner strength and creativity by embracing their natural instincts and reclaiming their voices. The book is a guide to unleashing the “wild woman” within.
Reading Women Who Run with the Wolves is like eating the most delicious, nourishing meal you’ve ever had. It feeds me in ways I didn’t know I needed to be fed. The vivid imagery of the myths and folklore, the theoretical explanations as to why we are the way we are… every woman should read this book. It’s a touchstone to your true self.
“Though fairy tales end after ten pages, our lives do not. We are multi-volume sets. In our lives, even though one episode amounts to a crash and burn, there is always another episode awaiting us and then another. There are always more opportunities to get it right, to fashion our lives in the ways we deserve to have them. Don’t waste your time hating a failure. Failure is a greater teacher than success.”
5. Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig
In this deeply personal memoir, Matt Haig recounts his experience with severe depression and anxiety, offering hope and practical advice for those facing mental health struggles. Reasons to Stay Alive blends Haig’s personal story with philosophical musings on life, love, and the human condition, providing a compassionate and uplifting perspective on the importance of mental well-being.
This book came to me at a time in my life when I was really struggling with depression and anxiety myself. A friend pressed it into my hands and I’ve been pressing it into the hands of others ever since.
Reasons to Stay Alive is a lifeline for anyone going through a tough time and it’s essential reading for anyone trying to support, help and understand a loved one going through a tough time.
“The key is in accepting your thoughts, all of them, even the bad ones. Accept thoughts, but don’t become them.”
Read next: My favourite quotes from Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig
6. I Love Capri by Belinda Jones
A lighthearted and romantic escape, I Love Capri follows a British woman named Kim Rees, who takes a break from her routine life to spend a summer on the picturesque island of Capri, Italy. There, she encounters colorful locals, experiences unexpected adventures, and discovers romance, all while rediscovering her zest for life.
This is Chick Lit at it’s finest, but also something more. Yes, there’s the romance plot, but it’s also a book about daughter reconnecting with her mother, a love of Italy and travel (and food and languages), as well as learning to love yourself again. I Love Capri is the perfect travel companion.
“When you step into the sunlight of Capri, life is never quite the same again.”
Read next: I also included this book on my favourite books set in Italy.
7. Holes by Louis Sachar
Holes tells the story of Stanley Yelnats, a boy sent to a juvenile detention camp where the inmates are forced to dig large holes in the desert every day. As the mystery of why they are digging unfolds, Stanley uncovers family secrets, learns about friendship, and finds redemption.
I feel like Holes often gets pigeon-holed (pun intended) as a kids book, but it’s so much more. I first came across it at university, in a module on crossover literature (books read by both adults and kids), though I know it’s a regular on many secondary school syllabuses.
Just like the circular holes seem never-ending, so the same themes and motifs appear and reappear, and the characters seem destined to complete the cycle. It’s a beautifully written book that works as a fun adventure, but also has poignant messages about race, fate, justice and resilience.
“When you spend your whole life living in a hole, the only way you can go is up.”
8. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
This thought-provoking novel interweaves the stories of Nao, a Japanese schoolgirl writing a diary in Tokyo, and Ruth, a writer living on a remote island in British Columbia who discovers Nao’s diary washed ashore after the 2011 tsunami. A Tale for the Time Being explores the nature of time, the complexities of identity, and the ways our lives are interconnected across space and generations.
Just as Ruth gets lost in Nao’s diary, I got lost in this book and couldn’t put it down. Nao’s painful experiences at home and at school, and the strange solace she finds with unlikely or seedy characters, is gripping. You need to know whether she’ll be alright in the end.
“Sometimes when she told stories about the past her eyes would get teary from all the memories she had, but they weren’t tears. She wasn’t crying. They were just the memories, leaking out.”
Read next: I also included this book on my favourite Japanese novels.
9. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
The first book in Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels series, My Brilliant Friend follows the lifelong friendship between two women, Elena and Lila, from childhood to adulthood in a working-class neighborhood in Naples.
This book perfectly captures what it’s like to be a girl and the complexity of female relationships. Part rivals, part sisters, the girls push each other for better or worse. Sometimes their friendship is like a tense game of chess and at other times, they’re the only support each other have or need.
The power balance seesaws over time, swinging between envy and admiration, but after all, they are poor girls in post-war Naples, so things never quite work out the way they’d hoped.
“I was frightened of becoming like her, or not becoming like her. Both things, together.”
Read next: I also included this book on my favourite books set in Italy.
Honourable Mentions
1. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy
This beautifully illustrated book is a gentle and wise story about friendship, kindness, and resilience. The conversations between the boy, the mole, the fox, and the horse provide simple yet profound life lessons. Every line stops you in your tracks and makes you think.
“What do you think is the biggest waste of time?” “Comparing yourself to others,” said the mole.
2. Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker
This play is set in 18th-century Australia and follows a group of British convicts who are encouraged to put on a play by their officers. Our Country’s Good explores the power of art and theatre to transform individuals and society, even in the harshest circumstances. I love the Russian-doll effect of the play within a play, and how the playwright also plays with language to explain a difficult time in Australian history.
“A play is a world in itself, a tiny, separate world.”
3. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
This groundbreaking book on trauma and recovery explores how traumatic experiences affect the brain and body. The Body Keeps the Score offers insights into healing and the importance of understanding the mind-body connection in mental health. This book revolutionised how I viewed my mental health.
“Trauma is not what happens to you, it’s what happens inside you as a result of what happens to you.”
4. Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
Written by a former FBI hostage negotiator, Never Split the Difference provides practical techniques for negotiation and communication in high-stakes situations, offering insights that can be applied in everyday life. It’s a must-read for anyone who needs to negotiate anything, which is everyone because everything in life is a negotiation.
“He who has learned to disagree without being disagreeable has discovered the most valuable secret of negotiation.”
5. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki
In this classic personal finance book, Kiyosaki contrasts the financial advice he received from his own father (the “poor dad”) with that of a wealthy mentor (the “rich dad”). Rich Dad Poor Dad emphasises the importance of financial literacy, investing, and building wealth.
This book changed how I think about money and wealth. Whether we like it or not, creating wealth is a big part of our lives, and having the right mindset around money is transformational.
“The single most powerful asset we all have is our mind. If trained well, it can create enormous wealth.”
More of My Favourite Books
I will be updating this list if ever I come across a truly life-changing book, but for now, these are the ones that have stood the test of time and continue to resonate. For more recommended reads, check out the Books category of this blog for more book lists around destinations, themes and more.
What are your all-time favourite books? Let me know in the comments below.
Pin this post for later:
Leave a Reply