I have a confession to make: I have a minor addiction to what might be described as new school self-help books. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying? Yep, my apartment has been Kondo'd many times over. The Happiness Project? Before it was a podcast, it was a book that I turned to whenever I felt like my life was veering off course and needed a little redirection.
And then there's Tiny Beautiful Things, a collection of advice columns by Wild author Cheryl Strayed that has basically been my bible for how to be a better person — and also give myself a break for not being perfect. (We're all just human, right?)
So what do all these books have in common, apart from the fact that they're my go-to gifts for friends during the holidays? Though they vary in subject, these titles are all inspirational reads that might just help get you over the hump when you need a little push. Getting your read on never felt so good.
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The Empathy Exams
by Leslie Jamison
Jamison's series of essay is exactly what it purports to be: an examination of empathy. The first essay catalogues Jamison's experience as a practice medical patient. (As in, she pretended to be a patient for medical students.) What emerges is a deep rumination on how we cultivate empathy in our lives and how — most importantly — we can be empathetic towards ourselves.
Photo: Courtesy of Graywolf Press.
Bird By Bird
by Anne Lamott
Lamott's 1994 book on writing gives advice that applies to your writerly life — and literally everything else. The book derives its title from her father's advice re: a book report on birds.
"Just take it bird by bird." Want to write? Take it bird by bird. Sentence by sentence. Want to become a morning person? Take it day by day. Lamott's elegantly worded advice — she is a writer, after all — speaks to the quiet dedication life requires if you want to accomplish anything at all. She believes the act of writing (and the act of trying to write) more important than publication or reward. She encourages crappy writing and failed attempts. Read the book, page by page, and savor its kindly encouraging advice.
Photo: Courtesy of Anchor.
Not That Kind Of Girl
By Lena Dunham
Yep, we're counting this one as inspirational. Dunham is one of our favorite (literal) lady bosses; she accomplished a lot during the wild twentysomething years, and she definitely has wisdom to deliver, with wit to boot.
Photo: Courtesy of Random House.
How To Be A Person In The World
By Heather Havrilesky
Do you read Dear Polly? If you do, then you already know why this book is the best. If you don't, you're majorly missing out, for reasons that we explained in great detail right her e.
Photo: Courtesy of Doubleday.
The Year of Magical Thinking
By Joan Didion
When Joan Didion's husband, the writer John Gregory Dunne, passed away, she was left to cope with the hole in her life, and in her heart. But this memoir is more elegy than eulogy, as well as a beautiful portrait of how one woman grieves her great loss.
Photo: Courtesy of Vintage Books.
When Breath Becomes Air
By Paul Kalanithi
Paul Kanthani was a successful doctor in the prime of his life when he learned he had terminal cancer; but in addition to being a brilliant medical mind, he was also a beautiful writer and observer of the human condition.
Compiled from his papers and finished by his wife after Kalanithi's passing, When Breath Becomes Air is an at once heartbreaking and hope-giving book about what it means to truly appreciate life and the little moments that make up our days.
Photo: Courtesy of Random House.
The Happiness Project
By Gretchen Rubin
Another (slightly) oldie but still goodie: Gretchen Rubin shakes out the cobwebs of her life and figures out how to channel her days toward happiness in a larger sense. If you're feeling blue, this is a practical how-to for shaking things up.
Photo: Courtesy of Harper Collins.
The Five People You Meet In Heaven
By Mitch Albom
An oldie and a goodie, this book is a work of fiction that functions as a parable for appreciating the time we spend here on this pretty little planet.
Photo: Courtesy of Hachette Books.
Big Magic
By Elizabeth Gilbert
Even if you sort of think Eat, Pray, Love is insufferable, Big Magic is, well, actually magical. Smart and insightful, and full of that Elizabeth Gilbert charm, Big Magic is the author fully embracing her accidental guru side — and if you're someone who is still working on unleashing their creative potential (aren't we all) then this book, and the podcast of the same name, could be the answer.
Photo: Courtesy of Riverhead Books.
Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice On Love & Life From Dear Sugar
By Cheryl Strayed
Lifted directly from Strayed's long-running column at The Rumpus, Dear Sugar is a compilations of personal essays meant to answer the readers who wrote in with their heartaches, heartbreaks, and questions about how to deal with the curveballs life throws our way.
But while she's speaking to specific people, Strayed's writing is wonderfully universal, and her wisdom is at once deeply contextualizing and comforting. A perfect pick-me-up that will make you cry and also want to dry your tears.
Photo: Courtesy of Vintage Books.
The Year Of Yes
By Shonda Rhimes
Um, what advice wouldn't we take from the powerhouse of network TV? Rhimes is basically a genius in our book — and in her book, she proves that by giving badass and totally applicable advice about how to silence self-doubt and channel the person you are truly meant to be. There is a reason that this one is a bestseller many-times over, and you'll find it in the pages.
Photo: Courtesy of Simon & Schuster.
The Opposite Of Loneliness
By Marina Keegan
Elie Wiesel once said that the opposite of love isn't hate: It's indifference. The opposite of loneliness is equally opaque — but it's what this smart, thoughtful collection gets at.
Another layer: Keegan was newly graduate from Yale and starting a job at The New Yorker when she died tragically in a car crash; her hope for the future makes this collection all the more moving, a reminder that life is precious and should be lived to its fullest.
Photo: Photo Courtesy of Scribner.
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