As an avid reader, writer, and writing instructor, discovering a good book is one of the great joys of my life. I curated this collection of favorite reads to share this same joy with you. There’s a book for every reader, and hopefully you’ll find one of my favorites is one of yours too!
The links below are affiliate links, so if you purchase from one of my links, I little change will land in my pocket. Thanks for supporting my reading habit, as I hope to support yours!
*A note to sensitive readers, please use discretion and research the following books for content before choosing a title. Many of the books below have adult language, themes, and situations.
Books for Memoir Lovers:
Educated by Tara Westover
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr
This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff
Inheritance by Dani Shapiro
Placemaker by Christie Purifoy
The Solace of Open Spaces by Gretel Ehrlich
Why Be Happy When You Could be Normal? by Jeannette Winterson
Four Seasons in Rome by Anthony Doerr
All the Colors We Will See by Patrice Gopo
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
It Wasn’t Roaring, It Was Weeping by Lisa-Jo Baker
Books for Non-Fiction Lovers:
A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown
The Next Right Thing by Emily P. Freeman
The Next Right Thing Guided Journal by Emily P. Freeman
Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies by Marilyn McEntyre
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
The Quotidian Mysteries by Kathleen Norris
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kennison
Books for Writers and Artists:
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
On Writing by Stephen King
Walking on Water by Madeleine L’Engle
The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
Still Writing by Dani Shapiro
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
Letters and Life by Bret Lott
Breath for the Bones by Luci Shaw
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp
Beate Not the Poore Desk by Walter Wangerin
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainier Marie Rilke
Books for Fiction Lovers:
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
Deacon King Kong by James McBride
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Books for Spiritual Nourishment:
Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Haley Barton
Miracles and Other Reasonable Things by Sarah Bessey
The Inner Voice of Love by Henri Nouwen
At the Still Point by Sarah Arthur
Between Midnight and Dawn by Sarah Arthur
Light Upon Light by Sarah Arthur
Every Moment Holy by Doug McKelvey
Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer
An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor
Mere Christianity by CS Lewis
Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
The Lord is My Courage by KJ Ramsey
The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen
The God of the Garden by Andrew Peterson
In the Shelter by Padraig O’Tuama
Surrender to Love by David Benner
Black authors and anti-racist literature:
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Shoutin’ in the Fire by Danté Stewart
This Here Flesh by Cole Arthur Riley
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
I’m Still Here by Austin Channing
Be the Bridge by Latasha Morrison
ONE: Unity in a Divided World by Deidra Riggs
All the Colors We Will See by Patrice Gopo
March: Book One by John Lewis
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
How to Be an Anti-Racist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
Deacon King Kong by James McBride
Click here for a full list of anti-racism literature I use in the classroom
These lists are not exhaustive, and my favorites change frequently, however they should provide a good place to start. Stay tuned for recommendations on poetry and my favorite classics.
