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Books that everyone should read
34
items Various books that I recommend, including fiction and nonfiction! I'm an avid reader and love finding a good book that sticks with me for a while after I've read it - these are those books.
Sections
6
Neurodivergence and Mental Health
Fiction
Personal Growth
LGBTQ+
Interesting Nonfiction
Books on Writing
Neurodivergence and Mental Health
Books that focus on neurodivergence (autism, ADHD, etc.) or mental health in some way!
Great and informative book on the history of autism as a diagnosis and the neurodiversity movement.
Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman, Oliver Sacks, and Oliver Sacks
An amazing book about masking in autism.
Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity by Devon Price
A really helpful guide to thriving with ADHD.
How to ADHD: An Insider's Guide to Working with Your Brain (Not Against It) by Jessica McCabe
This is so helpful, and it steers clear of toxic productivity advice, too! The tips work really well if you feel a lot of guilt or shame about not being able to keep up with cleaning.
How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing by KC Davis
An overview of healing trauma using the internal family systems model.
No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model by Richard Schwartz and Alanis Morissette
This book is a really good overview of the effects of trauma.
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk
Great overview of what burnout is, why it happens, and coping tips!
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Amelia Nagoski and Emily Nagoski
Fiction
Fiction that I've enjoyed, usually science fiction, science fantasy, or fantasy!
Great short read about how trying to fix a broken system from within the system itself often doesn't work.
Feed Them Silence by Lee Mandelo
Yes, it's lesbian necromancers in space, but it's also a murder mystery and honestly kind of hard to describe to someone who's never read it. Deserves all the hype it gets, though, so go read it!
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
I spent most of this book being confused, but like… in a good way.
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
An amazing work of historical fiction about WW2.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
I was obsessed with this book in high school.
I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
Patrick Ness is an amazing author, and this trilogy has to be some of my favourite books he's ever written.
The Knife of Never Letting Go (with Bonus Short Story) by Patrick Ness
Short, but packs an emotional punch. Could not put it down while reading!
The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James
I adore this trilogy, it was one of my favourite reads in high school.
Nyxia by Scott Reintgen
An amazing and relatable book about growing up gender-nonconforming and LGBTQ+.
Girl Mans Up by M-E Girard
This one's fairly well-known, but it deserves all the hype it gets.
The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey
A science-fiction thriller about a zombie outbreak on a small planet.
Contagion by Erin Bowman
If you enjoyed The Martian, you'll love this. And if you enjoy snarky, funny narration and characters using science to get out of bad situations (even when you don't fully understand the science being used), you'll also love this book.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
A neat book about memory, imperialism/colonialism, and political drama. Also has LGBTQ+ representation, and it seems like the author really put a lot of thought into how the memory aspect would work.
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
This trilogy deserves every amount of hype it gets, and it's enemies-to-lovers, which is one of my favourite tropes.
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
Personal Growth
Various books on self-improvement and productivity.
An insightful look into how laziness is almost never the actual culprit behind people's struggles.
Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price
Basically THE book on forming and keeping habits.
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
Ali Abdaal has a lot of great advice on productivity that's really helped me (even though I have ADHD, which is surprising!), and this book is no exception.
Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You
This book looks at how distraction impacts our productivity, and what we can do to fix that.
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
LGBTQ+
Various books about LGBTQ+ history, identity, and issues we face.
An incredibly important book on transmisogyny and how it works, written by a trans woman. Highly recommend that anyone looking to be an ally to trans women reads this.
Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity by Julia Serano
A great book on bisexuality, written by an openly bisexual author.
Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality by Julia Shaw
An informative look at asexuality and the societal norms around sex and sexuality (which hurt everyone, not just asexuals)!
Ace: What Asexuality Reveals about Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen
Interesting Nonfiction
Various nonfiction that I think everyone should read.
A fascinating look at animal communication (cetaceans in particular), how it's researched, the latest advancements in the field, and how environmental issues affect research in this area.
How to Speak Whale: The Power and Wonder of Listening to Animals by Tom Mustill
Parasites' influence on our ecosystems is often overlooked, but it's incredibly important (plus, parasites don't always function in the same way as we'd expect from studying other animals). This book is a deep dive into that, and it's well worth the ...
Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures by Carl Zimmer
This book got me interested in social justice and human rights as a teenager.
In Search of a Better World: A Human Rights Odyssey by Payam Akhavan
The memoir of a doctor who sadly passed away due to lung cancer, chronicling his experience suffering from it. May make you cry (I know it did for me). It's a good reminder of how precious and fragile life can be, and how we should strive to make the...
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi and Abraham Verghese
Books on Writing
Books on writing that have helped me!
Even if you're a pantser, I think everyone could benefit from knowing how to craft an outline, and this is essentially a very in-depth guide on how to do exactly that.
Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success by K. M. Weiland
Outlines aren't the only part of planning a novel - making sure the structure of your story is solid is important too! This book will guide you through that process.
Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys for Writing an Outstanding Story by K. M. Weiland