The Best Books to Read in Your 20’s
The getting-your-shit-together years, or as some might call them, your 20’s, is a great time to pick up a reading habit. For those of you that somehow made it to this article without reading the title a few inches above this text, it may surprise you to learn that we happen to gather over 440 books you can read to start that new habit. For everyone else, a list like this is probably exactly what you expected when clicking on whatever it was that brought you here. Well, we tried to make it worth your time. 33 different sources were consulted with 124 books mentioned more than once. You can find the top 55 mentioned books with pictures and links below and the full list of books at the bottom of the page.
Happy Scrolling!
The Top 55 Books You Should Read In Your 20’s
1) The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Appears On: 9 Lists
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2) How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Appears On: 7 Lists
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3) The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
Appears On: 7 Lists
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4) The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Appears On: 7 Lists
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5) Bossypants by Tina Fey
Appears On: 5 Lists
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6) On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Appears On: 5 Lists
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7) White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Appears On: 5 Lists
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8) A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Appears On: 4 Lists
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9) Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close
Appears On: 4 Lists
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10) Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling
Appears On: 4 Lists
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11) Just Kids by Patti Smith
Appears On: 4 Lists
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12) Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
Appears On: 4 Lists
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13) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey
Appears On: 4 Lists
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14) The Alchemist by Paolo Coehlo
Appears On: 4 Lists
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15) The Defining Decade by Meg Jay
Appears On: 4 Lists
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16) The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Appears On: 4 Lists
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17) The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Appears On: 4 Lists
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18) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Appears On: 4 Lists
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19) The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko
Appears On: 4 Lists
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20) Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Appears On: 4 Lists
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21) What She Saw… by Lucinda Rosenfeld
Appears On: 4 Lists
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22) Bad Behavior by Mary Gaitskill
Appears On: 3 Lists
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23) Beloved by Toni Morrison
Appears On: 3 Lists
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24) Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Appears On: 3 Lists
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25) Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Appears On: 3 Lists
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26) Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
Appears On: 3 Lists
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27) Generation X by Douglas Coupland
Appears On: 3 Lists
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28) Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
Appears On: 3 Lists
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29) Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Appears On: 3 Lists
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30) How to Lose Friends and Alienate People by Toby Young
Appears On: 3 Lists
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31) I Don’t Care About Your Band by Julie Klausner
Appears On: 3 Lists
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32) I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
Appears On: 3 Lists
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33) Life After College: The Complete Guide to Getting What You Want by Jenny Blake
Appears On: 3 Lists
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34) Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid
Appears On: 3 Lists
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35) Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Appears On: 3 Lists
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36) Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Appears On: 3 Lists
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37) Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
Appears On: 3 Lists
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38) She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
Appears On: 3 Lists
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39) Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
Appears On: 3 Lists
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40) Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
Appears On: 3 Lists
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41) The Art Of War by Sun Tzu
Appears On: 3 Lists
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42) The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
Appears On: 3 Lists
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43) The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Appears On: 3 Lists
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44) The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Appears On: 3 Lists
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45) The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
Appears On: 3 Lists
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46) The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Appears On: 3 Lists
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47) The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan
Appears On: 3 Lists
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48) The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis
Appears On: 3 Lists
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49) The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Appears On: 3 Lists
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50) The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Appears On: 3 Lists
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51) The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Appears On: 3 Lists
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52) Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Appears On: 3 Lists
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53) Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Appears On: 3 Lists
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54) Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Appears On: 3 Lists
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55) Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Appears On: 3 Lists
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Books 56-124
All Appear On 2 Lists Each
- 20 Something Manifesto: Quarter-Lifers Speak Out About Who They Are, What They Want, and How to Get It by Christine Hassler
- A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
- A Home at the End of the World, by Michael Cunningham
- A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
- Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, by Nick Flynn
- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
- Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach
- Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
- Bright Lights, Big City, by Jay McInerney
- Call Me by Your Name, by André Aciman
- Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, by Tom Robbins
- Everything is Perfect When You’re a Liar” by Kelly Oxford
- Fangirl
- Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
- Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (1936)
- Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDun
- Harry Potter” by J.K. Rowling
- He’s Just Not That Into You by Greg Behrendt
- His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman
- How to Be a Woman, by Caitlin Moran
- How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman
- Howl by Allen Ginsberg
- Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
- It’s Called a Breakup because it’s Broken — Greg Behrendt & Amiira Ruotola-Behrendt
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
- Lunar Park, by Bret Easton Ellis
- Main Street, by Sinclair Lewis
- Man’s Search for Meaning – Victor Frankl
- meditations’ by Marcus Aurelius
- Mindset – Carol Dweck
- MWF Seeking BFF,” Rachel Bertsche
- My Misspent Youth, by Meghan Daum
- Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
- Night by Elie Wiesel
- Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami
- Oh, the Places You’ll Go! – Dr. Seuss
- Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
- Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle
- Class Do Not! by Robert Kiyosaki
- Self-Help by Lorrie Moore
- Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon
- The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich,’ by David Bach
- The Deptford Trilogy, by Robertson Davies
- The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
- The Edible Woman, Margaret Atwood
- The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr and E.B. White
- The Emperor’s Children, by Claire Messud
- The Fall by Albert Camus
- The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
- The Fortress of Solitude, by Jonathan Lethem
- The Giver by Lois Lowr
- The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
- The Golden Notebook – Doris Lessing
- The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
- The Intelligent Investor’ by Benjamin Graham
- The Moviegoer, by Walker Percy
- The Outsider by Albert Camus
- The Portable Dorothy Parker, Dorothy Parker
- The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
- Tiny Beautiful Things’ by Cheryl Strayed
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes – William Bridges
- What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver
- Yes Please by Amy Poehler
The Additional 325 Titles Appearing on a Single List
- #GirlBoss” by Sophia Amoruso
- 1984 – George Orwell
- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
- A Field Guide to Getting Lost
- A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers
- A History of the Middle East by Peter Mansfield
- A Million Miles in a Thousand Years – Donald Miller
- A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (Oprah’s Book Club, Selection 61) by
Eckhart Tolle - A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
- A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man” by James Joyce
- A Room of One’s Own” by Virginia Woolf
- A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
- A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle
- Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think by Peter Diamandis
- Actual Air, by David Berman
- Against Interpretation, Susan Sontag
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll
- Alien vs. Predator, by Michael Robbins
- American Gods by Neil Gaiman
- Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Amusing Ourselves to Death – Neil Postman
- And the Heart Says Whatever
- Anna Karenina’ by Leo Tolstoy
- Anthropology of an American Girl
- At the Bottom of Everything
- Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
- Atonement by Ian McEwan
- Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson
- Automatic Wealth for Grads,’ by Michael Masterson
- Awaken the Giant Within : How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional,
Physical and Financial Destiny! by Tony Robbins - Bad Feminist” by Roxane Gay
- Bartending: The Fine Art Of Mixing Drinks
- Bastard Out of Carolina, Dorothy Allison
- Beauty” by Robin McKinley
- Birds of America by Lorrie Moore
- Blue Ocean Strategy – W. Chan Kim
- Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
- Career: The 48 Laws of Power
- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
- Cherry by Mary Karr
- Choose Yourself!: Be Happy, Make Millions, Live the Dream by James Altucher
- Consider the Lobster & Other Essays by the David Foster Wallace
- Contagious, How Things Catch On
- Cooking: The Joy of Cooking
- Crazy Love by Francis Chan
- Crossing the Unknown Sea’ by David Whyte
- Crown Duel” by Sherwood Smith
- Daughters of the North/ The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall (2007)
- Dear Diary, by Lesley Arfin
- Debt Free U
- Debt-Free By 30: Practical Advice For The Young, Broke, And Upwardly Mobile,’ by Jason
Anthony and Karl Cluck - Defining Decade – Meg Jay
- Delores Claiborne
- Delta of Venus, Anaïs Nin
- Demian by Hermann Hesse
- Discourse: How To Tell A Story
- Distant View of a Minaret and Other Stories by Alifa Rifaat (1984)
- Do-Over – Jon Acuff
- Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, by Betty Edwards
- Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink
- East of Eden by John Steinbeck
- Eat to Live: The Amazing Nutrient-Rich Program for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss Joel
Fuhrman - EAT, PRAY, LOVE BY ELIZABETH GILBERT
- Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman
- Exit Here by Jason Myers
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
- Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas – Hunters S. Thompson
- Feel the Fear . . . and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers
- Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates
- Fifty Shades Of Grey
- Financial success: Rich Dad Poor Dad
- Financially Fearless: The LearnVest Program For Taking Control Of Your Money,’ by Alexa
Von Tobel - Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
- First They Killed My Father’ by Loung Ung
- Franny and Zooey
- Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee
- Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway (1986)
- Gerald’s Game by Stephen King
- Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties,’ by Beth Kobliner
- Get a Life, Not a Job: Do What You Love and Let Your Talents Work For You by Paula
Caligiuri PhD - Getting to Yes
- Give and Take’ by Adam Grant
- Go Kiss the World by Subroto Bagchi
- Graduates in Wonderland: The International Misadventures of Two (Almost) Adults
- Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
- Hard To Get: Twentysomething Women and the Paradox of Sexual Freedom by Leslie C. Bell
- Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, by Haruki Murakami
- Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munro
- Have Him At Hello,” Rachel Greenwald
- Heat by George Monbiot
- Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs
- Henry and June: The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin by Anaïs Nin
- High Windows – Philip Larkin
- House of Leaves
- Housekeeping, by Marilynne Robinson
- How to Build a Girl
- How To Raise A Boyfriend,” Rebecca Eckler
- How Will You Measure Your Life?’ by Clayton Christensen
- How’s Your Drink?, by Eric Felten
- Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
- Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress: Tales of Growing up Groovy and Clueless by Susan
Jane Gilman - I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron
- I Love Dick, by Chris Kraus
- I’ve Got Your Number,” Sophie Kinsella
- I’m with the Band, by Pamela Des Barres
- If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly,’ by William Bernstein
- Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity by Hugh MacLeod
- In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifestoby Michael Pollan
- In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies by Tom Peters
- In the Hand of Dante
- Into the Wild – Jon Krakauer
- iWant: My Journey from Addiction and Overconsumption to a Simpler, Honest Life by Jane
Velez-Mitchell - Jab Jab Jab, Right Hook
- Kim by Rudyard Kipling
- Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain
- Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life by Martin E. Seligman
- Less Than Zero – Bret Easton Ellis
- Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation – Parker Palmer
- Letters to a Young Contrarian, by Christopher Hitchens
- Life After Life
- Life philosophy: Man’s Search For Meaning
- Linchpin – Seth Godin
- Lines Written A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” by William Wordsworth
- Lit, by Mary Karr
- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
- Live Young Forever: 12 Steps to Optimum Health, Fitness and Longevity by Jack Lalanne
- Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
- Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
- Love Is Letting Go of Fear, Third Edition by Gerald G. Jampolsky
- Magic for Beginners, Kelly Link
- Magnified World,” Grace O’Connell
- Maine,” J. Courtney Sullivan
- Men Without Women – Ernest Hemingway
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis - Mindless Eating Brian Wansink
Miracles Now - My Ántonia by Willa Cather
- My Uncle Oswald – Roald Dahl
- My Year with Eleanor by Noelle Hancock
- Native Son by Richard Wright
- Naturally Thin — Bethenny Frankel
- Never Eat Alone.
- Nightwood, Djuna Barnes
- No Man is an Island – Thomas Merton
- No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July
- Not Quite Adults: Why 20-Somethings Are Choosing a Slower Path to Adulthood, and Why
It’s Good for Everyone by Richard Settersten - Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
- Nutrition: In Defense of Food
- Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
- Oh the Glory of it All, by Sean Wilsey
- On The Outside Looking Indian,” Rupinder Gill
- One Day,” David Nicholls
- One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kessey
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
- OVERQUALIFIED BY JOEY COMEAU
- Paint it Black
- Pastoralia, by George Saunders
- Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
- Pitch Perfect: How to Say It Right the First Time, Every Time by Bill McGowan
- Please Send Money: A Financial Survival Guide for Young Adults on Their Own,’ by Dara
Duguay - Pour Your Heart Into It.
- Predictably Irrational
- Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
- Pride & Prejudice,” Jane Austen
- Quarterlife Crisis: The Unique Challenges of Life in Your Twenties by Alexandra Robbins
- Quick Shots of False Hope, Laura Kightlinger
- Quicksand and Passing, by Nella Larsen
- Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy
- Quitter by Jon Acuff.
- Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx by Adrian Nicole
LeBlanc - Revenge of the Mooncake Vixen by Marilyn Chin
- Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits Of Wealthy Individuals,’ by Thomas Corley
- Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore
- Sandman
- Satanic Verses – Salman Rushdie
- Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford
- Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Ecker
- Seductive Delusions by Jill Grimes (2008)
- Sex: She Comes First
- Sisterhood Everlasting,” Ann Brashares
Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut - Smart Women Finish Rich
- SOMEDAY, SOMEDAY, MAYBE BY LAUREN GRAHAM
- Sports: The Game
- Start with Why – Simon Sinek
- Style: Build The Ultimate Watch Collection
- Sula, Toni Morrison
- Summer Sisters
- Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy and Fairy Tale – Frederick Buechner
- The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss
- The 4-Hour Body Tim Ferris
- The 48 Laws of Power Robert Greene
- The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts by Gary Chapman
- The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
- The Answer to the Riddle Is Me: A Memoir of Amnesia by David Stuart MacLean
- The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer
- The Attention Revolution: Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind by Allan Wallace
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin - The Awakening by Kate Chopin (1899)
- The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee by Sarah Silverman
- The Beggar Maid’ by Alice Munro
- The Best of Everything
- The Bhagavad Gita’ — author unknown
- The Black Swan’ by Nassim Taleb
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (1970)
- The Book of Awesome – Neil Pasricha
- The Book Thief
- The Boys in the Boat – Daniel James Brown
- The Breakout Principle: How to Activate the Natural Trigger That Maximizes Creativity,
Athletic Performance, Productivity, and Personal Well-Being by Herbert Benson - The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the
Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health by Thomas Campbell
and Colin Campbell - The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis
- The Collected Poems of Audre Lord, by Audre Lord
- The Collected Poems of Kenneth Koch, by Kenneth Koch
- The Complete Claudine, Colette
- The Complete Poems of Anne Sexton, by Anne Sexton
- The Complete Stories, Flannery O’Connor
- The Compound Effect
- The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
- The Country Girls
- The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan
- The Devil in the White City” by Erik Larson
- THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA BY LAUREN WEISBERGER
- The Dirt, by Mötley Crüe and Neil Strauss
- The Dragonriders of Pern: Dragonflight,” “Dragonquest,” and “The White Dragon,” by Anne
McCaffrey - The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow
- The Dvil Wears Prada” by Lauren Weisberger
- The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
- The Essential Rumi’ by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- The Forks Over Knives Plan: How to Transition to the Life-Saving, Whole-Food, Plant-
Based Diet Alona Pulde M.D. and Matthew Lederman M.D. - The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book) by
Don Miguel Ruiz
The Four Hour Workweek - The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishingby Melissa Bank
- The Girls,” Lori Lansens
- The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing
The God of Small Things’ by Arundhati Roy - The Golden Sayings by Epictus
- The Goose Girl” by Shannon Hale
- The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor
- The Greatest Salesman in the World Og Mandino
- The Group, by Mary McCarthy
- The Hero and the Crown” / “The Blue Sword” by Robin McKinley
- The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
- The Inferno” by Dante Alighieri
- The Investment Answer,’ by Daniel Goldie and Gordon Murray
- The Joy Luck Club,” Amy Tan
- The Language of Flowers
- The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr
- The Line Of Beauty – Alan Hollinghurst
- The Little Book of Common Sense Investing,’ by John C. Bogle
- The Little Bride by Anna Solomon
- The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.
- The Love Song Of Alfred J. Pruflock – T. S. Eliot
- The Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz
- The Miracle of Mindfulness’ by Thich Nhat Hanh
- The Money Book For The Young, Fabulous & Broke,’ by Suze Orman
The Myth of Sisyphus: And Other Essays’ by Albert Camus - The Myths of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky
- The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- The Picture Of Dorian Grey – Oscar Wilde
- The Power Broker’ by Robert Caro
- The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance
and Personal Renewal Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz - The Power of Myth’ by Joseph Campbell
- The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy
- The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
- The Psychopath Test
- The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves Matt Ridley
- The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller
- The Rise of Superman by Steven Kotler
- The Rise of the Trust Fall by Mindy Nettifee
- The Road – Cormac McCarthy
- The Road Less Traveled, Timeless Edition: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values
and Spiritual Growth by M. Scott Peck - The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
- The Robert Collier Letter Book Robert Collier
- The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
- The Scarlet Letter,” Nathaniel Hawthorne
- The Silent Woman, Janet Malcolm
- the Six Pillars of Self-Esteem: The Definitive Work on Self-Esteem by the Leading
Pioneer in the Field by Nathaniel Branden - The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano
- The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant
- The Tipping Point’ by Malcolm Gladwell
- The Touchstone by Edith Wharton
- The Undercover Economist Tim Harford
- The War of Art – Steven Pressfied
- The Wasp Factory
- The Watchmen – Alan Moore
- The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
- The World According to Garp’ by John Irving
- The World is Flat – Thomas Friedman
- The Wounded Heart: Hope for Adult Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse by Dan B. Allender
- There Are No Children Here’ by Alex Kotlowitz
- Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy by Simon Blackburn
This One is Mine by Maria Semple - Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius
- To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
- TwentySomeone: Finding Yourself in a Decade of Transition by Craig Dunham and Doug
Serven - Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
Unlimited Power: The New Science of Personal Achievement by Anthony Robbins - Up in the Old Hotel, by Joseph Mitchell
- Use Your Body to Heal Your Mind: Revolutionary Methods to Release All Barriers to
Health, Healing and Happiness by Ph.D Henry Grayson - Vagabonding
- Veronica by Mary Gaitskill
- Wait, How Do I Write This Email? – Danny Rubin
- Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma by Peter A. Levine
- Walden by Henry David Thoreau
War and Peace - Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block
- What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
- What the Heck Am I Going to Do with My Life? (Twentys) by Margaret Feinberg
When Things Falls Apart - Who Moved My Cheese?
- Why Men Love Bitches: From Doormat to Dreamgirl – A Woman’s Guide to Holding Her Own in
a Relationshipby Sherry Argov - Wild From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
- Wild Iris by Louise Glück
- Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender
- Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy F Baumeister and John
Tierney - Wings of fire by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Arun Tiwari
- Wonder
You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down, Alice Walker - You Majored in What?: Mapping Your Path from Chaos to Career by Katharine Brooks
- You’re So Money: Live Rich, Even When You’re Not,’ by Farnoosh Torabi
- Zen and the Art of Happiness by Chris Prentiss
- Zero Limits: The Secret Hawaiian System for Wealth, Health, Peace, and More by Joe
Vitale - Zero to One’ by Peter Thiel
The 33 Top “Books to Read in your 20’s” Listicles Consulted
- 8/3/2012: Thought Catalog – 11 Books You Should Read If You’re A Woman In Your 20s
- 8/15/2012: Huffington Post – Books For Your 20s: Books To Read For Twentysomething Women
- 1/3/2013: Flavorwire – 20 Books Every Woman Should Read in Her 20s
- 5/13/2013: Buzzfeed – 65 Books You Need To Read In Your 20s
- 6/21/2013: Gen Twenty – 10 Books to Read in Your 20s
- 9/19/2013: Levo – Bookshelf: 5 Books You Need to Read in Your 20s
- 10/28/2013: Cosmopolitan – 20 Books Every Twentysomething Woman Must Read
- 3/10/2014: Marie Claire – 10 Books Every 20-Something Should Read
- 3/15/2014: Books and Beverages – 8 Books to Read in Your Early 20s
- 6/5/2014: Thought Catalog – 5 Books You Should Read In Your 20s
- 6/9/2014: Bustle – 25 Books to Help You Survive Your Mid-20s
- 8/12/2014: Literally Darling – 20 BOOKS TO RE-READ IN YOUR 20S
- 10/19/2014: Grassroots Success – 5 Books Everyone Should Read In Their 20s
- 11/10/2014: Superhero You – 30 Non-Fiction Books to Read in Your 20s
- 1/8/2015: Bustle – 22 Books Every Woman Should Read at 22, Because You’re Going to Need a Little Bit of Help As Everything Is Changing
- 3/21/2015: Whitney Hansen – 20 Books To Read In Your 20’s
- 3/22/2015: Do College Better – 5 BOOKS TO READ IN YOUR 20’S
- 3/28/2015: Buzzfeed – 35 Books You Need To Read In Your Twenties
- 3/31/2015: Business Insider – 30 books everyone should read before turning 30
- 5/28/2015: Why To Read – 8 Best Books to Read in Your 20s
- 7/16/2015: Michael Gregory – 25 Best Self Development Books to read in your 20s
- 8/8/2015: Business Insider – 15 books to read in your 20s if you want to get rich
- 10/10/2015: Story Pick – 12 Non-Fiction Books You Need To Read In Your 20s
- 12/7/2015: The Odyssey Online – 10 Books You Should Read In Your 20’s
- 12/15/2015: Pop Sugar – A Book to Read Each Year of Your 20s
- 12/15/2015: Esquire – 30 Books Every Man Should Read By 30
- All Groan Up – [NEW] Top 27 Books For Twentysomethings
- All Women Talk – 21Absolutely Amazing Books to Read in Your 20s
- Ask Men – Top 10: Books To Read By Age 30
- Dose – 25 Books That You Need To Read In Your 20’s. How Many Have You Read?
- Glo – 30 books every woman should read by 30
- Quora – What are some must read books for people in their 20s?
- Ranker – 20 Books to Read in Your 20s