Yahoo Lifestyle People Are Sharing The One Book That Has Stood Out To Them In All Their Years Of Reading
There are millions upon millions of books out there, and it's simply impossible to read them all let alone make a dent in all the literature that exists. But every once is a while, you finish a book that speaks to you in such a profound way that makes you think everyone else should read it. So, I browsed through the subreddit r/books and parsed through responses from the BuzzFeed Community. These are the very best books to put on your bucket list, according to avid readers like you.
1."The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. This book resonated with me on such a deep level. Even though I’m Mexican and not Indian like the characters, I could still relate strongly to the main character’s inner conflict over his cultural identity. Not to mention Lahiri is an incredible writer. It's such an unforgettable book."
What it's about: "The Namesake takes the Ganguli family from their tradition-bound life in Calcutta through their fraught transformation into Americans. On the heels of their arranged wedding, Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli settle together in Cambridge, Massachusetts. An engineer by training, Ashoke adapts far less warily than his wife, who resists all things American and pines for her family. When their son is born, the task of naming him betrays the vexed results of bringing old ways to the new world. Named for a Russian writer by his Indian parents in memory of a catastrophe years before, Gogol Ganguli knows only that he suffers the burden of his heritage as well as his odd, antic name." —Goodreads
2."Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner. My heart broke in so many ways when I read this book. Zauner is an incredibly talented writer. The relationship with her mother is deeply moving."
3."We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. It's been two years since I read this book, and I still think about the twist. It's really well-written and gut-wrenching, ultimately leaving you with the question: Is a parent's love truly unconditional?"
What it's about: "Eva never really wanted to be a mother — and certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and a much-adored teacher who tried to befriend him, all two days before his sixteenth birthday. Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood, and Kevin's horrific rampage in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her estranged husband, Franklin. Uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood from the start, Eva fears that her alarming dislike for her own son may be responsible for driving him so nihilistically off the rails." —Goodreads
4.“The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker is my personal favorite. The story tore my mind and my heart apart and pieced both back together numerous times, and I loved the journey."
What it's about: "A poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats spans the decades between the 1950s and the present. When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be…until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the reader’s belief in the power of love to move mountains." —Goodreads
5."The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. This big boy sat on my bookshelf for years intimidating me. I mentally set aside a couple months to work my way through it, planning to read some other short novels simultaneously. But I couldn’t put this book down. The length turned out to be the best part cause I never wanted it to end! There is so much that happens over the course of this very clever plot. I just loved it."
What it's about: "Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantès is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo, and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration. Dumas’ epic tale of suffering and retribution, inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment, was a hugely popular success when it was first serialized in the 1840s." —Goodreads
6."100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. It's magical, enlightening, tragic, and serene. It's everything."
What it's about: "'The brilliant, bestselling, landmark novel that tells the story of the Buendia family, and chronicles the irreconcilable conflict between the desire for solitude and the need for love — in rich, imaginative prose that has come to define an entire genre known as 'magical realism.'" —Goodreads
7."A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. It's funny, it's heartbreaking, and it's the only book I've read in my adult years that I have kept thinking about every so often even a long time after finishing it."
What it's about: "Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time? Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So, when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations." —Goodreads
8."A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I first read it at age 10 and have re-read it every couple of years since. It's like an old friend now, but I wish I could go back to the beginning and re-experience that moment when I realized the main character was basically me, and that being a book-mad misfit wasn't necessarily a bad thing to be."
What it's about: "The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the century, Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than 60 years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness — in a work of literary art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience." —Goodreads
9."Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman. I wish I could read it again for the first time. I came out later in life (I had known for a long time before I admitted to myself or anyone else that I was gay), and it was that book, especially Mr. Perlman's speech at the end, that had me sobbing at 2 a.m. It finally made me realize that I needed to speak my truth no matter the consequences."
What it's about: "Call Me by Your Name is the story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents' cliffside mansion on the Italian Riviera. Unprepared for the consequences of their attraction, at first each feigns indifference. But during the restless summer weeks that follow, unrelenting buried currents of obsession and fear, fascination and desire, intensify their passion as they test the charged ground between them." —Goodreads
10."The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. It was the first time I ever read about mental illness in a way that I connected with. I finally felt like there was a voice out there that went through the same struggles that I have."
What it's about: "The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under — maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic." —Goodreads
11."The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I recommend literally everyone I know to read this book. It's the best storytelling I think I have ever read and ever will read. I think about this book every day — that’s how impactful it is."
What it's about: "1970s Afghanistan: Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the local kite-fighting tournament, and his loyal friend Hassan promises to help him. But neither of the boys can foresee what would happen to Hassan that afternoon, an event that is to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family is forced to flee to America, Amir realizes that one day he must return to an Afghanistan under Taliban rule to find the one thing that his new world cannot grant him: redemption." —Goodreads
12."The Secret History by Donna Tartt. There is no experience akin to reading that for the first time. You suspect a lot of things throughout the story, only to find out that the details are so much wilder than you thought!"
What it's about: "Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality, they slip gradually from obsession to corruption and betrayal, and at last — inexorably — into evil." —Goodreads
13."The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. I generally cry quite a lot while reading, but this book made me SCREAM out of sorrow. It’s so beautiful and so heart-wrenching. I cried for weeks after I read it for the first time."
What it's about: "Achilles, 'the best of all the Greeks,' son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful, irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward, young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods' wrath. They are trained by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war and medicine, but when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, all the heroes of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the cruel Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice." —Goodreads
14."Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt. It's about a young girl named June who loses her uncle (her best friend) during the height of the AIDS epidemic. She later bonds with his boyfriend who is also dying from AIDS and is blamed by the family for infecting her uncle. The story deals with grief, navigating complex family bonds, and how it feels to be alone when you are a strange kid and the only person to understand you is gone."
What it's about: "In this striking literary debut, Carol Rifka Brunt unfolds a moving story of love, grief, and renewal as two lonely people become the unlikeliest of friends and find that sometimes you don't know you've lost someone until you've found them. An emotionally charged coming-of-age novel, Tell the Wolves I'm Home is a tender story of love lost and found, an unforgettable portrait of the way compassion can make us whole again." —Goodreads
15."The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It's absolutely stunning. It's one of those books where there's a before and after in your life after you've read it."
What it's about: "It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still. By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordion-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found. But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down." —Goodreads
16."The Infinite Plan by Isabel Allende. I was admittedly pretty young when I read it (my early 20s). But I really appreciated the message I took away from it: 'Everyone is damaged and muddling through life — it's not just you.'"
What it's about: "Isabel Allende’s first novel to be set in the United States and to portray American characters, The Infinite Plan is a vivid tale of one man’s search for love, and his struggle to come to terms with a childhood of poverty and neglect. As he journeys from the Hispanic barrio in Los Angeles to the killing fields of Vietnam to the frenetic life of a lawyer in San Francisco, Gregory Reeves loses himself in an illusory and wrongheaded quest. Only when he circles back to his roots does he find the love and acceptance he has been searching for." —Goodreads
17."All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. It parallels the lives of a blind French girl and orphaned German boy during WWII. It is the standard by which I now judge all other books. So much more than a war story. It's the kind of book you're sad to finish because the journey and magic have come to an end."
What it's about: "Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is 12, the Nazis occupy Paris, and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel. In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another." —Goodreads
18."Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. As an American-Nigerian, this book spoke to me on so many levels — from the simple joy of a text interspersed with the language of my parents, to the struggle of understanding race in terms of the world beyond America. I highly recommend it."
—Chikodili Agwuna
What it's about: "Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be Black for the first time. Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post-9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria and reignite their passion — for each other and for their homeland." —Goodreads
19."The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson. This book should be required reading for every student in the US. It’s so relevant today more than ever. As a white woman, this book left me shook and completely changed my perspective on the 400+ years of black oppression in our country. This is a book about things that were never taught in school or even talked about. It’s heartbreaking, and everyone should read it."
What it's about: "From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost 6 million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves." —Goodreads
20."Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is that rare, quiet, and dignified thing that sneaks up on you from behind and just devastates you. It's my constant reminder to approach people with an open heart, because you can never presume what path they're actually walking. There's nothing quite like it, and I don't want to give anything away — so, just go read it."
—R.Rodriguez
What it's about: "Hailsham seems like a pleasant English boarding school, far from the influences of the city. Its students are well-tended and supported, trained in art and literature, and become just the sort of people the world wants them to be. But, curiously, they are taught nothing of the outside world and are allowed little contact with it. Within the grounds of Hailsham, Kathy grows from schoolgirl to young woman, but it’s only when she and her friends Ruth and Tommy leave the safe grounds of the school (as they always knew they would) that they realize the full truth of what Hailsham is." —Goodreads
21."Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo. It's a heartbreaking tale of love and grief, which deals with the loss of a child and relationships in an extremely poignant and relatable way. It'll make you cry and captivate you."
What it's about: "Yejide and Akin have been married since they met and fell in love at university. Though many expected Akin to take several wives, he and Yejide have always agreed: Polygamy is not for them. But four years into their marriage — after consulting fertility doctors and healers, trying strange teas and unlikely cures — Yejide is still not pregnant. She assumes she still has time — until her family arrives on her doorstep with a young woman they introduce as Akin's second wife. Furious, shocked, and livid with jealousy, Yejide knows the only way to save her marriage is to get pregnant, which, finally, she does — but at a cost far greater than she could have dared to imagine. An electrifying novel of enormous emotional power, Stay with Me asks how much we can sacrifice for the sake of family." —Goodreads
22."A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. This is the story of two Afghan women who find their lives connected forever. It taught me about the struggles of womanhood, as well as the power and strength of sisterhood, and proves that not all love stories have to be romantic."
—Susan M.
What it's about: "Mariam is only 15 when she is sent to Kabul to marry the troubled and bitter Rasheed, who is 30 years her senior. Nearly two decades later, in a climate of growing unrest, tragedy strikes 15-year-old Laila, who must leave her home and join Mariam's unhappy household. Laila and Mariam are to find consolation in each other, their friendship to grow as deep as the bond between sisters, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter. With the passing of time comes Taliban rule over Afghanistan, the streets of Kabul loud with the sound of gunfire and bombs, life a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality, and fear, the women's endurance tested beyond their worst imaginings. Yet, love can move people to act in unexpected ways, leading them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism. In the end, it is love that triumphs over death and destruction." —Goodreads
Get it from Amazon or Bookshop.
23."Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. This book was so eye-opening in regards to how horrible it was for Koreans, especially Korean women, who lived in Japan during the annexation. It changed my views on my family, life, and culture, and I would 100% recommend it to everyone."
What it's about: "In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant — and that her lover is married — she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home, and to reject her son's powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations." —Goodreads
24."Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. It's based on true, historical events in the late 1930s when poor children were put into orphanages and sold to wealthy families. I could not put it down once I started it!"
What it's about: "Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals — in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country — Lisa Wingate’s riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong." —Goodreads
25."Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan. The main character, Pino, is still a kid during WWII, but he's expected to act like an adult with all the experience of one. He's trying to understand the horrible world created by WWII. It’s a tragic love story and paints an untold perspective of the time. It’s also a true story, which makes it all the more heartbreaking."
What it's about: "Based on the true story of a forgotten hero, Beneath a Scarlet Sky is the triumphant, epic tale of one young man’s incredible courage and resilience during one of history’s darkest hours. Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He’s a normal Italian teenager — obsessed with music, food, and girls — but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior." —Goodreads
26."I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. No other book has made me cry like that. It made me feel understood and empowered."
What it's about: "Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local 'powhitetrash.' At 8 years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age — and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors ('I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare') will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned." —Goodreads
27."The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. I'll never forget when O'Brien writes, 'A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth.' The idea that the fabrication of a truth can be truer than the event itself really made my head spin. It says so much about the importance of authors and writing. It's not a typical war story at all, and more about storytelling."
What it's about: "In 1979, Tim O'Brien's Going After Cacciato — a novel about the Vietnam War — won the National Book Award. In this, his second work of fiction about Vietnam, O'Brien's unique artistic vision is again clearly demonstrated. Neither a novel nor a short story collection, it is an arc of fictional episodes, taking place in the childhoods of its characters, in the jungles of Vietnam and back home in America two decades later." —Goodreads
28."When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi is an unbearably beautiful description of a man writing about his terminal cancer diagnosis. It made me see the whole world with more empathy and honesty. I re-read it every few years just to be reminded."
What it's about: "At the age of 36, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day, he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next, he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a naïve medical student "possessed," as he wrote, "by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life" into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality." —Goodreads
29."The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab. I just read it recently and was floored by how beautiful the writing was and how intricately the author weaved together the story lines, both past and present."
What it's about: "France, 1714: In a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world. But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name." —Goodreads
30."Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb. I started reading this book because it seemed like suddenly everyone was talking about it, but I wasn't sure it would be my cup of tea. I wasn't sure I'd really enjoy a book about therapy. But turns out, I could not put it down. This was one of the best books I've read in my life. This nonfiction book was insightful, engaging, and emotional. It made me feel vulnerable, introspective, and most importantly, human. Even if you don't think therapy is 'for you,' you will take something incredibly important away from this book."
What it's about: "One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet, he will turn out to be anything but. As Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her patients' lives — a self-absorbed Hollywood producer, a young newlywed diagnosed with a terminal illness, a senior citizen threatening to end her life on her birthday if nothing gets better, and a 20-something who can't stop hooking up with the wrong guys — she finds that the questions they are struggling with are the very ones she is now bringing to Wendell." —Goodreads
Get it from Amazon or Bookshop.
31."I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb quickly became my favorite book of all time. Reading it is quite the undertaking, but it is such a great book. The story spans a couple of generations, and it's a deep look into mental illness. I only wish there were a sequel so I could see what happens to the main character."
What it's about: "'On the afternoon of October 12, 1990, my twin brother, Thomas, entered the Three Rivers, Connecticut, public library, retreated to one of the rear study carrels, and prayed to God the sacrifice he was about to commit would be deemed acceptable...' One of the most acclaimed novels of our time, Wally Lamb's I Know This Much Is True is a story of alienation and connection, devastation and renewal, at once joyous, heartbreaking, poignant, mystical, and powerfully, profoundly human." —Goodreads
What's the best book you've ever read — the one that you couldn't stop thinking about, made you see the world differently, or wanted to recommend to everyone you know? Tell us in the comments.
