In this article, we talk about
the best books for women in their 30s. We have looked at life-changing books, self-development books, personal development books, and
good books for middle-aged women all books every woman should read, and recommended The Best Books for Women in Their 30s should read from those.
Today's topic is The Best Books for Women in Their 30s, this is a world that has become colorful because of the existence of women. Women who are fashionable and intelligent will inevitably become the goal of every woman who yearns for happiness. The Best Books for Women in Their 30s
Women in 30, have families, and babies, and like reading quietly to
improve themselves. Women who read are beautiful. So 30 books all women should read in their lifetime. As the famous writer, Shumin
said, "The day goes by day, the book should be read page by page. The
breeze is bright and the moon is dripping with stones, and it is read for
years and years.
Books are like microwaves, which vibrate our hearts from the
inside to the outside. When they are heated slowly, the structure of spiritual
molecules will change. When they are mature, the effectiveness of books will be
highlighted.
"Women can't do without reading. Women become beautiful and
intelligent because of the nourishment of reading. that's why the best books for every woman should read in Their 30s.
Shakespeare once said, "Books are the nourishment of the world. Life without books is like no sunshine; wisdom without books is like a bird without wings. “A good book is the source of a woman's temperament and spirit to keep her youth forever. It makes a woman intelligent and mature, and makes her understand that packaging appearance is important, but more important is the moistening of the soul.
Some time ago, my friend asked me to recommend some books
to her, but I didn't answer immediately. The reason is that there are
different choices due to different genders, ages, hobbies, and orientations in
reading. However, trust in bloggers cannot be fruitless.
Therefore, after
consulting relevant materials and editing this bibliography for women, this
article can be regarded as an answer to my friend and also a recommendation for 30 Books Every Woman Should Read Before Turning 30 and females who love reading.
1. The Second sex
Author: Simone de Beauvoir
Women are not born, but rather gradually formed. Physically,
psychologically, or economically, no destiny can determine the image of human
women in society. It is the whole civilization that determines the so-called
femininity between men and eunuchs.
---------Second sex
Simone de Beauvoir, the author of the second sex, is known
as "the most sound, most rational and most intelligent book on women in
history", and even honored as the "Bible" of Western women.
Based on the cultural contents covering philosophy, history, literature,
biology, ancient myths, and customs, she discusses the actual situation of
women's situation, status, and rights in the historical evolution from primitive
society to modern society, and probes into the gender differences shown in the
history of women's individual development.
"Second sex" can be regarded
as an encyclopedia overlooking the whole female world. It opens the prelude to
the war of women's cultural movement towards long-standing sexism.
Promising review:
I believe that this book is even more timely and significant today than ever before. Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (originally published in 1949), is a groundbreaking study, that was clearly years ahead of its time (it still is), in providing a thorough and well-thought-out thesis, that examines what/who has shaped the role, place, and personality of Women in the world at large, from the ancient societies of Mesopotamia right down to the present time.
—Read More—Carlos Romero natural cinephile
About the Author: Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (9 January 1908 - 14 April 1986) was a French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist, and social theorist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, she had a significant influence on both feminist existentialism and feminist theory.
—Read More—Simone de Beauvoir
2. I Feel Bad About My Neck
by Nora Ephron
With her disarming, intimate, completely accessible voice, and dry sense of humor, Nora Ephron shares with us her ups and downs in I Feel Bad About My Neck, a candid, hilarious look at women who are getting older and dealing with the tribulations of maintenance, menopause, empty nests, and life itself.
Ephron chronicles her life as an obsessed cook, passionate city dweller, and hapless parent. But mostly she speaks frankly and uproariously about life as a woman of a certain age. Utterly courageous, uproariously funny, and unexpectedly moving in its truth-telling, I Feel Bad About My Neck is a scrumptious, irresistible treat of a book, full of truths, and laugh-out-loud moments that will appeal to readers of all ages.
Promising review:
Wow! This book was definitely not what I was expecting. I was laughing out loud like a maniac! And then I was moved to tears by what she said. And then I was left thinking about what she said. I love bright, funny, creative women who are so so talented. I bought Heartburn as soon as I finished this one, which is a few hours after I started it because it absorbed me so completely that I didn't put it down until the end. Nora Ephron was a great writer and director. Her passing away was our loss.—
Mariela
3. Bossypants
by Tina Fey
Before Liz Lemon, before "Weekend Update", before "Sarah Palin", Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV.
She has seen both of those dreams come true.
At last, Tina Fey's story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon - from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence.
Tina Fey reveals all and proves what we've all suspected: you're no one until someone calls you bossy.
Promising review:
I so loved this book.
I especially loved it in her wise-cracking voice.
Last year, I invested my time in listening to Tina, Amy Poehler, Steve Martin, and plenty of other comedy luminaries.
Tina was an exceptional start to the year.
Listen carefully (and yes, I totally appreciated hearing the verse in her voice).
4. Invisible Man
by Ralph Ellison
The book's nameless narrator describes growing up in a black community in the South, attending a Negro college from which he is expelled, moving to New York, and becoming the chief spokesman of the Harlem branch of "the Brotherhood", before retreating amid violence and confusion to the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be.
Originally published in 1952 as the first novel by a then-unknown author, it remained on the bestseller list for sixteen weeks, won the National Book Award for fiction, and established Ralph Ellison as one of the key writers of the century. The book is a passionate and witty tour de force of style, strongly influenced by T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, Joyce, and Dostoevsky.
Promising review:
With my being so finicky about the books I choose to read, I have relatively high expectations for what lies within each one. I've seen this book for a while now, and on many recommended reads within Black Literature. With such a vague cover and an even more ambiguous title, I found myself constantly overlooking it without realizing that I had seen this book right in front of me time and time again, as I searched for my next enlightening piece of history. I realize now with the book being so inconspicuous, that the title itself is actually quite fitting.
—Read More—Mikey_and_Jenn02
5. One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez
Among The Best Books for Women in Their 30s. One of the most influential literary works of our time, One Hundred Years of Solitude remains a dazzling and original achievement by the masterful Gabriel Garcia Marquez, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendiá family. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad, and alive with unforgettable men and women—brimming with truth, compassion, and a lyrical magic that strikes the soul—this novel is a masterpiece in the art of fiction.
Promising review:
This is a stunning work, with a translation that is worthy of the author. I was an English teacher and a colleague who had dual citizenship in Colombia and she read both versions of this work and couldn't decide between the two. I've only read the English translation, but even the translation puts it in the top tier of all the novels I've read. that's good news and bad news maybe. that means that the work is easily available to English speakers, but that doesn't make it any easier to read as a work of literature. my guess is that it can be read on several levels at once, but I've never talked to anyone about the novel who wasn't a lit major. this work is so different and so interesting, you should try reading it no matter what your school experience with literature has been.
—William P. Xander
6. Lonesome Dove
by Larry McMurtry
The Pulitzer Prize–winning American classic of the American West follows two aging Texas Rangers embarking on one last adventure. An epic of the frontier, Lonesome Dove is the grandest novel ever written about the last defiant wilderness of America.
Journey to the dusty little Texas town of Lonesome Dove and meet an unforgettable assortment of heroes and outlaws, whores and ladies, Indians and settlers. Richly authentic, beautifully written, and always dramatic, Lonesome Dove is a book to make us laugh, weep, dream, and remember.
Promising review:
This book is a masterpiece. It's captivating and, frankly, quite remarkable. It's more than a western. It's more than a novel. It's a wonderfully thought-out story about America in an almost mythical time with so much depth and so many layers that reward readers over and over again. The story, in fact, has so much depth and so many layers, that it would be easy for a reader to miss the one consistent, central theme of the story. Thus the reader must work attentively through it just as the cowboys must, lest they find themselves lost looking for the Powder River in a mighty dust storm. The story is powerful both because it is wonderfully fantastic and because it is frighteningly real. The essence of much of our world can be related or explained by the narrative in an enduring way.
—Read More—The Periodic Carpenter
7. Slouching Toward Bethlehem
by Joan Didion
The first nonfiction work by one of the most distinctive prose stylists of our era, Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem remains decades after its first publication, the essential portrait of America―particularly California―in the sixties.
It focuses on such subjects as John Wayne and Howard Hughes, growing up a girl in California, ruminating on the nature of good and evil in a Death Valley motel room, and, especially, the essence of San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury, the heart of the counterculture.
Promising review:
Joan Didion is a pleasure to read. She is not the kind of author who appealed to me in my youth. Although I knew of her, the first book that I read was Blue Nights, which I reviewed very favorably in 2011.
An Internet article recently piqued my interest in Slouching Toward Bethlehem. It is a collection of essays written in the 1960s, all of them more than 50 years old. This is before most readers were born, talking about a time and place that they did not experience.
—Read More—Graham H. Seibert
8. Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay
by Nancy Milford
If F. Scott Fitzgerald was the hero of the Jazz Age, Edna St. Vincent Millay, as flamboyant in her love affairs as she was in her art, was its heroine. The first woman ever to win the Pulitzer Prize, Millay was dazzling in her performance of herself. Her voice was likened to an instrument of seduction and her impact on crowds, and on men, was legendary. Yet beneath her studied act, all was not well. Milford calls her book "a family romance"—for the love between the three Millay sisters and their mother was so deep as to be dangerous. As a family, they were like real-life Little Women, with a touch of Mommie Dearest.
Nancy Milford was given exclusive access to Millay's papers, and what she found was an extraordinary treasure. Boxes and boxes of letters flew back and forth among the three sisters and their mother—and Millay kept the most intimate diary, one whose ruthless honesty brings to mind, Sylvia Plath. Written with passion and flair, Savage Beauty is an iconic portrait of a woman's life
Promising review:
First up: Like all Kindle products, the download is perfect and accessed and reads easily. You can use the search function if you want to find specific passages, such as where it alludes to Vincent's meeting with Georgia O'Keeffe, for instance. I recommend Kindle.
As for this book: It's delightful. Vincent was a complex genius and a pure hellion and a wildcat who just plain burned herself out, twenty years too soon. Using her own letters and journals and diaries and the letters and first-hand reports of others, it paints a vivid and complete image of her and shows her sometimes bizarre journey thru life.
—Read More—Mike Morrison
9. We Should All Be Feminists
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This personal, eloquently-argued essay—adapted from the much-admired TEDx talk of the same name—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century, one rooted in inclusion and awareness.
Drawing extensively on her own experiences and her deep understanding of the often masked realities of sexual politics, here is one remarkable author’s exploration of what it means to be a woman now—and an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists.
Promising review:
I'm a "baby boomer," raised by World War II veterans and descendants of Buffalo Soldiers, taught from a Eurocentric perspective that might is right; it doesn't get any more macho than that. By the mid-60s I was introduced to nonviolence civil disobedience, and passive resistance, caught between Malcolm and Martin searching for manhood; living within a strong black community where the lines between patriarchal and matriarchal cultures are blared because men and women worked and shared in the leadership of the church, school, and home.—Read More—Paul Fletcher
10. The World According to Garp
by John Irving
Among The Best Books for Women in Their 30s. This is the life and times of T. S. Garp, the bastard son of Jenny Fields--a feminist leader ahead of her times. This is the life and death of a famous mother and her almost-famous son; theirs is a world of sexual extremes--even of sexual assassinations.
It is a novel rich with "lunacy and sorrow"; yet the dark, violent events of the story do not undermine a comedy both ribald and robust. In more than thirty languages, in more than forty countries-- with more than ten million copies in print--this novel provides almost cheerful, even hilarious evidence of its famous last line: "In the world according to Garp, we are all terminal cases."
Promising review:
Well, I'm not sure if it's good or bad news that my tastes haven't changed much since middle school ;)
As a tween, I made an English teacher super, super angry by attempting to do some sort of book report on Garp--after simply attempting to retell just *part* of the first chapter, someone needed to get out the smelling salts for that woman! (side note: If you ever tell a kid a book is "banned," that's a surefire way to make sure they devour it...)—Read More—Betsy
11. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
by Marjane Satrapi
Persepolis is the story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private life and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trials of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming--both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up.
Edgy, searingly observant, and candid, often heartbreaking but threaded throughout with raw humor and hard-earned wisdom--Persepolis is a stunning work from one of the most highly regarded, singularly talented graphic artists at work today.
Promising review:
A long time ago my high school history teacher put the movie version on in class, much to the dismay of my classmates. A lot of people began complaining about it so my teacher turned it off. I remember being so fascinated by Marjane Satrapi's story and finally picked up a copy of her book. What a wonderful story. I think what I love most about the book (which is made up of comic strips) is how different the emotions can be and change. One story/comic strip will have you laughing, another furious, and another heartbroken. It was truly inspiring to see how Ms. Satrapi moved about her life and the trials and tribulations that came with it. Loved it and would highly recommend it.—Amazon Customer
12. Depression Hates a Moving Target
by Nita Sweeney
Before she discovered running, Nita Sweeney was 49 years old, chronically depressed, occasionally manic, and unable to jog for more than 60 seconds at a time. Using exercise, Nita discovered an inner strength she didn’t know she possessed, and with the help of her canine companion, she found herself on the way to completing her first marathon. In her memoir, Sweeney shares how she overcame emotional and physical challenges to finish the race and come back from the brink.
Anyone who has struggled with depression knows the ways the mind can defeat you. However, it is possible to transform yourself with the power of running. You may learn that you can endure more than you think and that there’s no other therapy quite like the pavement beneath your feet.
Promising review:
Love this! Recommended for: runners, writers, and anyone interested in mental health awareness. The author describes her journey from finding the courage to bounce along for 20 minutes in a secluded ravine to running her first 5K and eventually completing a marathon. A fast-paced and effortless read (ease in the reader, craft in the writer). Like any good running book, this makes you want to get up off the couch and go!—Read More—Sheltopia
13. The Year of Magical Thinking
by Joan Didion
From one of America’s iconic writers, a stunning book of electric honesty and passion. Joan Didion explores an intensely personal yet universal experience: a portrait of a marriage–and a life, in good times and bad–that will speak to anyone who has ever loved a husband or wife or child.
Several days before Christmas 2003, John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion saw their only daughter, Quintana, fall ill with what seemed at first flu, then pneumonia, then complete septic shock. She was put into an induced coma and placed on life support. Days later–the night before New Year’s Eve–the Dunnes were just sitting down to dinner after visiting the hospital when John Gregory Dunne suffered a massive and fatal coronary. In a second, this close, symbiotic partnership of forty years was over. Four weeks later, their daughter pulled through. Two months after that, arriving at LAX, she collapsed and underwent six hours of brain surgery at UCLA Medical Center to relieve a massive hematoma.
Promising review:
Joan Didion's "The Year Of Magical Thinking" is a brutally honest recounting of the grief Mrs. Didion felt after losing her husband, John Gregory Dunne, after forty years of marriage. As someone who believes that "honesty" is the one essential quality every piece of great writing has in common, well then Mrs. Didion has hit the ball out of the park. Her writing is not only honest, but enthralling, and compelling. Yet, this is not the type of book I would recommend to everyone. For people dealing with grief or who have experienced great grief one can easily relate and find a certain amount of comfort in the author's experiences, yet if one is in a happy mood or chronically depressed I would not recommend this book. It is a heart-wrenching story and sometimes it is better not to disturb one's peace of mind.—Joseph Sciuto
14. The 21-Day Financial Fast
by Michelle Singletary
In The 21-Day Financial Fast, award-winning writer and The Washington Post columnist Michelle Singletary proposes a field-tested financial challenge. For twenty-one days, participants will put away their credit cards and buy only the barest essentials. With Michelle's guidance during this three-week financial fast, you will discover how to:
- Break bad spending habits
- Plot a course to become debt-free with the Debt Dash Plan
- Avoid the temptation of overspending on college
- Learn how to prepare elderly relatives and yourself for future long-term care expenses
- Be prepared for any contingency with a Life Happens Fund
- Stop worrying about money and find the priceless power of financial peace
Promising review:
I participated in the 21-Day Financial Fast this past July. It was an excellent experience. The 21-Day Financial Fast: Your Path to Financial Peace and Freedom is required reading for participants. Michelle Singletary approaches the financial fast and lessons from a Biblical perspective. That may turn some folks off, but I want to encourage those of you who say Bleah to reconsider. I walk a slightly different spiritual path than Michelle but did not find anything presented in the book to be a turn off. It's kind of like a 12-step recovery program - your Higher Power and mine may be different, and they can very much co-exist together.—Read More—Karla Karoma
15. To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
Among The Best Books for Women in Their 30s. One of the most cherished stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than forty million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century by librarians across the country.
A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming of age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father-a crusading local lawyer—risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.
Promising review:
The setting for this book is the fictional town of Macomb, Alabama in the mid-1930s. The narrator of the story is Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, a 10-year-old tomboy. Her father, Atticus Finch, is a lawyer who is defending a black man accused of raping a white woman. The likelihood of a black man getting a fair trial in the south in the 1930s is about 1 in a million...optimistically speaking.—Read More—Teddie S
16. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
by Malcolm Gladwell
Why did crime in New York drop in the mid-90s? Why is teenage smoking out of control? Why are television shows like Sesame Street good at teaching kids how to read?
In The Tipping Point, New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell looks at why major changes in society happen suddenly and unexpectedly. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a few fare-beaters and graffiti artists fuel a subway crime wave, or a satisfied customer fills the empty tables of a new restaurant. These are social epidemics, and the moment when they take off when they reach their critical mass is the Tipping Point.—Read More
Promising review:
Some may say “The Tipping Point” belabors the obvious, which is that things change, sometimes overnight. True, too true, but so what? Malcolm Gladwell, the master of popularized social research, makes us care about the mechanisms of seemingly abrupt shifts in the course of human events—such as why William Dawes’ midnight ride to warn that the British were coming didn’t start the American Revolution, but Paul Revere’s did. Turns out Revere’s personality helped his news galvanize patriots to pick up their rifles, while Dawes’ identical cry made people turn over and go back to sleep.—Read More—Bart Mills
17. The Purpose-Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?
by Rick Warren
In The Purpose Driven Life you'll find the answers to three of life's most important questions:
- The Question of Existence: Why am I alive?
- The Question of Significance: Does my life matter?
- The Question of Purpose: What on earth am I here for?
Living out the purpose you were created for moves you beyond survival or success to a life of significance--the life you were meant to live.
Promising review:
Reading this was a life-changer for me. Helped me get through a very challenging time as well as strengthen my faith. Extremely easy to read (like a novel), no esoteric language, or terminology - just like having a conversation. I took the approach of reading a chapter a day (~10 min) to not overwhelm myself and maintain focus. Rick Warren explains things in such a clear way that I wish this book existed when I was younger.—The Wills
18. White Teeth
by Zadie Smith
At the center of this invigorating novel are two unlikely friends, Archie Jones, and Samad Iqbal. Hapless veterans of World War II, Archie and Samad, and their families become agents of England's irrevocable transformation. A second marriage to Clara Bowden, a beautiful, albeit tooth-challenged, Jamaican half his age, quite literally gives Archie a second lease on life and produces Irie, a knowing child whose personality doesn't quite match her name (Jamaican for "no problem").
Samad's late-in-life arranged marriage (he had to wait for his bride to be born), produces twin sons whose separate paths confound Iqbal's every effort to direct them, and a renewed, if selective, submission to his Islamic faith. Set against London's racial and cultural tapestry, venturing across the former empire and into the past as it barrels toward the future, White Teeth revels in the ecstatic hodgepodge of modern life, flirting with disaster, confounding expectations, and embracing the comedy of daily existence.
Promising review:
This is far from a quick read, and even further from a light one. The accents are something to reckon with, and Smith's willingness to jump from character to character does, at times, impede the natural flow of reading. This is not a book you fall into, simply put.—Read More—Plubius
19. Persuasion
by Jane Austen
At twenty-seven, Anne Elliot is no longer young and has few romantic prospects. Eight years earlier, she had been persuaded by her friend Lady Russell to break off her engagement to Frederick Wentworth, a handsome naval captain with neither fortune nor rank.
What happens when they encounter each other again is movingly told in Jane Austen's last completed novel. Set in the fashionable societies of Lyme Regis and Bath, Persuasion is a brilliant satire of vanity and pretension, but, above all, it is a love story tinged with the heartache of missed opportunities.
Promising review:
EUREKA! I have found it. I have found the keyword. The keyword is “ENJOY.” I ENJOY being alive. I ENJOY breathing the air. I ENJOY being able to sleep, dream, think, to write. I ENJOY reading books. And I especially ENJOY writing personally-revealing reviews of personally-revealing books that ignite the imagination and send the mind flying!—Read More—Tom Dolan
20. It’s Called a Breakup Because It’s Broken
by Greg Behrendt and Amiira Ruotola-Behrendt
Among The Best Books for Women in Their 30s. There’s no doubt about it—breakups suck. But in the first few hours or days or weeks that follow, there’s one important truth you need to recognize: Some things can’t and shouldn’t be fixed, especially that loser who dumped you or forced you to dump him. Starting right here, right now, it’s time to dry your tears, and open this book to Chapter One–and start turning your breakup into a break-over.
The ultimate survival guide to getting over Mr. Wrong and reclaiming your inner Super fox. From how to put yourself through “he-tox,” to how to throw yourself a kick-ass pity party, and reframe reality— seeing the relationship for what it was. Complete with an essential workbook to help you put your emotions down on paper and heal.
Promising review:
Break-ups SUCK!!!! How can a guy that you are not so sure about at the very beginning of the relationship cause so much heartache at the end? Holy moly – I would do anything to make this pain go away.
I thought I was dating “the one”. Promises were made, he gave me a ring, and we were in love (or so I thought!). Then, without warning, he needed a “break” (read “break-up”, I am sure he was just trying to make it sound better). What on earth had I done? There were no warning signs. He went from lovey-dovey to “I can’t talk to you anymore” within a few hours.—Read More—6chickadees
21. #GirlBoss
by Sophia Amoruso
#GIRLBOSS includes Sophia’s story, yet is infinitely bigger than Sophia. It’s deeply personal yet universal. Filled with brazen wake-up calls (“You are not a special snowflake”), cunning and frank observations (“Failure is your invention”), and behind-the-scenes stories from Nasty Gal’s meteoric rise, #GIRLBOSS covers a lot of ground.
It proves that being successful isn’t about how popular you were in high school or where you went to college (if you went to college). Rather, success is about trusting your instincts and following your gut, knowing which rules to follow and which to break.
Promising review:
I've had a paperback copy of #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso on my bookshelf for about a year or more.
I started reading it once before thinking it would be a self-help book teaching me how to run my business and giving me pointers. Boy was I wrong.
At the time, it wasn't the book I was looking for so I put it back on my shelf and moved on.
Then a few weeks ago I found the show Girl Boss on Netflix and ended up binge-watching it for 2 days straight. I was curious when I noticed it said it was "loosely" based on the book. So I pulled it back off my shelf and started reading it again. —Read More—Jennifer Ellis (BarBelles and Book Nerds)
22. Lean In
by Sheryl Sandberg
"Lean In" - Sheryl Sandberg's provocative, inspiring book about women and power - grew out of an electrifying TED talk Sandberg gave in 2010, in which she expressed her concern that progress for women in achieving major leadership positions had stalled. The talk became a phenomenon and has since been viewed nearly 2,000,000 times. In Lean In, she fuses humorous personal anecdotes, singular lessons on confidence and leadership, and practical advice for women based on research, data, her own experiences, and the experiences of other women of all ages.
Sandberg has an uncanny gift for cutting through layers of ambiguity that surround working women, and in Lean In she grapples, piercingly, with the great questions of modern life. Her message to women is overwhelmingly positive. She is a trailblazing model for the ideas she so passionately espouses, and she's on the pulse of a topic that has never been more relevant.
Promising review:
I read most of “Lean In” when it originally came out and decided to revisit it while on sabbatical this month. My favorite thing about it is Sheryl’s sheer honesty throughout. Here are four quotes from the book that gave me particular inspiration:—Read More—Leela Srinivasan
23. Americanah
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
Promising review:
I just have to say this first: I LOVED this book! And I also have to say that it was a little out of my comfort zone. Written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, this is a book about Nigeria. And Nigerians. And Nigerians who move to the United States. And England. And then move back to Nigeria. What does a white woman from the 'burbs—even though those 'burbs are considered THE most diverse city in the country (according to a 2017 WalletHub analysis of 313 U.S. cities)—know about Nigeria? Well, that, my friends, is the joy and wonder of reading. We can experience what we do not know in our limited real lives.—Read More—Cathryn Conroy—TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE
24. Everything I Never Told You
by Celeste Ng
“Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue.
But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos. A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.
Promising review:
I probably shouldn't review this book. Five years ago I lost a child. Two years ago I lost my husband, and in March I lost my daughter-in-law. So for me, this was not the time to read a book about a tragic death. It does remind you, as I remind myself daily, that you must tell the family you love them, do something nice for someone you hardly know, and say all you need to say before you lose them because those moments won't come back for even one minute. There are no "second chances" even if you think you can wait another day. I finished the book last night crying - because I know, there are things that you should say today, now, and not leave untold.
The family dynamics were amazing as it is for so many families. All that matters is love. Not what other people think doesn't live in your world. Go do, do it now.—Marsha Carpenter
25. The Goldfinch
by Donna Tartt
Among The Best Books for Women in Their 30s. Composed of the skills of a master, The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present-day America and a drama of enthralling force and acuity.
It begins with a boy. Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.—Read More
Promising review:
I bought The Little Friend some years back and thought it was an excellent book, lent it to friends that also enjoyed it. When I saw that she had won the Booker Prize I immediately thought to buy the book for my Kindle. Sadly I didn't, as I read so many poor reviews. too long, boring, heavy, etc Then just recently a friend told me that she had bought the book and loved it and passed it on to other friends so I downloaded it straight away.—Read More—Annie Athens
26. Beloved
by Toni Morrison
Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened.
And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died namelessly and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement.
Promising review:
I picked up this book because I wanted to get some perspective after the recent killings of unarmed black men by police officers. As a middle-aged white guy, it was hard for me to put wrap my head around the pain and the anger felt by the residents of Ferguson, and by the residents of New York. I have friends that are cops. My Facebook wall is filled with persuasive arguments in defense of the police actions. But I saw the video of Eric Garner. I followed the news about Michael Brown. Still, I sympathized with the officers, which I knew in my heart was wrong. I wanted to understand how black people in this country experience life, and starting with the shameful history of slavery seemed like a good start.—Read More—James S. Bennett
27. Mistakes I Made at Work
by Jessica Bacal
In "Mistakes I Made" at Work, a Publishers Weekly Top 10 Business Book for Spring 2014, Jessica Bacal interviews twenty-five successful women about their toughest on-the-job moments. These innovators across a variety of fields – from the arts to finance to tech – reveal that they’re more thoughtful, purposeful, and assertive as leaders because they learned from their mistakes, not because they never made any.
Interviewees include:
- Cheryl Strayed, bestselling author of Wild
- Anna Holmes, founding editor of Jezebel.com
- Kim Gordon, a founding member of the band Sonic Youth
- Joanna Barsch, Director Emeritus of McKinsey & Company
- Carol Dweck, Stanford psychology professor
- Ruth Ozeki, New York Times bestselling author of Tale for the Time Being
- And many more
Promising review:
After a rough day at work, I was looking for a book that would lift me up a bit! The biggest message that I took from this book is that everyone makes mistakes; often more experienced people do not speak of their prior mistakes and this doesn't help to calm the fears of those who are younger and who are going through this period.—Amazon Customer
28. The Queen’s Code
by Alison Armstrong
The long-standing war between the sexes is the stuff of legend. In TV ads, sitcoms, and chick flick everywhere, we've all seen the images - the long-suffering woman and the clueless, insensitive man.
But what if it's all a misunderstanding?
In this fairy tale for the contemporary woman, Kimberlee seeks advice and discovers a treasure chest of esoteric knowledge hidden within her own family. As she unravels the mysteries of men's behavior in this romantic journey, so will you. As she learns the Language of Heroes and transforms how she relates to men, so will you.—Read More
Promising review:
This book may have *saved my relationship* within 8 hours of my starting the book, and I'm only 15% of the way through it!!
First, let me qualify for my background, and why I bought this book:
I'm an expert on men.
No, really.
Oh sure, lots of people may say that, but I actually mean that I am a professional expert on men. No, I'm not a lady of the evening, I'm something much lower than that - I'm a lawyer. In fact, I was one of the very first fathers' rights lawyers in the United States, with a career spanning about 30 years working with single fathers, and a *lot* of that was counseling and coaching them.—Read More—Anne P. Mitchell—HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWER
29. Teaching Kids to Buy Stocks
by J.J. Wenrich
If today's youth are tomorrow's future, we the village need to properly equip ourselves in order to equip our youth for success.
That means not only parents but- grandparents
- aunts and uncles
- teachers
- friends
- neighbors... You get the picture.
This book seeks to educate the general population in a way that can be passed on to younger generations for years to come. It's adulting for all ages!
Promising review:
I started learning about investing about a year ago and found some wonderful books along the way. However, "Teaching Kids to Buy Stocks" is the one book that impressed me the most. It's easy to read, entertaining, and educational. I'll reread it a couple of times and will use it as a reference guide for my ongoing studies. If you're in any way interested in investing: read this book! It will help you understand and you'll have some fun while diving into this complex world.—Kindle Customer
30. How to Think Strategically
by Greg Githens
Among The Best Books for Women in Their 30s. How to Think Strategically provides numerous real-world examples of individual strategic thinkers in action describing how they constructed a winning strategic logic. Through these examples, you'll learn useful lessons that can be applied in any organization and in your personal life.
This book will show you how to:
- Internalize the 20 micro-skills of strategic thinking
- Develop your personal brand as a competent strategic thinker
- Pose high-quality questions that spark strategic insights
- Write a concise one-page statement strategy, with five essential concepts that will help you distinguish effective strategy from a list of goals
- A design strategy that is clever and powerful
- Recognize and mitigate blind spots and decision traps
- Distinguish strategic thinking from operational thinking and appropriately apply each
- Overcome the excuse of “I'm too busy to be strategic"
- Recognize and exploit the four X-factors of strategic thinking: Drive, Insight, Chance, and Emergence
- Practice extra-ordinary leadership to confront issues and leap into an unknown future
- Improve conversations with other strategists
Promising review:
Well-structured and additionally perfect if you've ever been provided with professional feedback to improve business acumen and strategy. "Think Strategically: Sharpen Your Mind. Develop Your Competency. Contribute to Success" frames an accessible path characterized by the 20 micro-skills of strategic thinking alone. The book also shapes the reader's understanding by laying out the foundational definition of strategy, contrasts strategy with operational thinking, and seamlessly associates known standards with published, related frameworks.—Read More—Mel