The Most Inspirational Books to Read in Your Search for Meaning

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Sometimes, we could all use a little inspiration. Whether we've hit a tough time or just need a pick-me-up, it can be easy to forget how miraculous our one wild and precious life is. At times like these, a few words of wisdom can go a long way, and what better place to find them than in a book?

These inspirational books offer a refreshing new way of looking at life to help you feel unstuck. They cross genres including fiction, self-help, poetry and memoir, and they will make you laugh, cry and feel ready to face new challenges. Some of these books have feel-good lessons. Others grapple with terrible tragedies, but remember, it's from overcoming adversity that we build resilience and hope. Whether upbeat or serious, every book on this list has something to teach you about life.

Self-help books like Atomic Habits will help you embrace the power of change and build better habits for life, while spiritual books like Siddhartha offer meditations on happiness and meaning. Some of the best memoirs like Glennon Doyle's Untamed show the importance of embracing yourself, while the best fiction like Life of Pi teaches us the power of storytelling and survival.

No matter the genre, these inspirational reads will help give you new ideas, a change in perspective and a new appreciation for the beauty of life, even with its hardships. What more could you want from a book?

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

This blunt book tells it like it is, encouraging you to care less about most things so you can focus more on what is actually important to you. It will inspire you to stop sweating the small stuff, stop feeling sorry about your problems and start building resilience and satisfaction in your life.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

When a ship sinks in the middle of the ocean, there is only one survivor: Pi, a 16-year-old boy who shelters on a lifeboat with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena and a Bengal tiger. This incredible story of love and survival shows off the awe-inspiring forces of nature and the power of stories to help make sense of hardship.

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The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

In this fable about following your dreams, an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago goes on a quest to discover a hidden treasure in the pyramids. But along the way, he finds a different treasure altogether as he learns more about life, wisdom and the importance of listening to your heart.

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb

Everybody knows the story of Malala, the brave Pakistani girl who stood up against the Taliban for her right to an education and was shot in the head at point blank range on her school bus. Now the youngest Nobel Laureate ever, winning the recognition at only 17, she is an education activist and a champion for girls everywhere.

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Atomic Habits by James Clear

This self-help book offers a straightforward framework for starting new habits and ending bad ones to change your life. Drawing on biology, psychology and neuroscience, this book will help catapult your progress forward to accomplish your goals.

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Untamed by Glennon Doyle

Part memoir, part self-help book, Glennon Doyle's Untamed is a manifesto for women to live their best and boldest life. She encourages you to leave people pleasing at the door, listen to your inner voice and practice the bravery to chase what you want, living a life untamed.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

Marie Kondo is a name that has become synonymous with decluttering — and for good reason. Her trademark strategies of only keeping items that spark joy and thanking items for their service when you are done with them will inspire you to have a cleaner home and simpler life.

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The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

A classic beloved by children and adults alike, The Little Prince is a French fable about a young prince's travels through space. Exploring themes of love, loss, loneliness and friendship, this book has been touching hearts for generations.

Becoming by Michelle Obama

This former-First Lady's memoir describes her childhood with her working class family on the South Side of Chicago all the way through her years in the White House. Throughout, she handles challenges with poise, becoming a role model for achieving your dreams and maintaining grace under pressure.

The Essential Rumi translated by Coleman Barks

Rumi was a 13th century Persian poet and Islamic Sufi mystic. Touching on love, faith, nature and freedom, his work is full of beautiful images and inspirational lines you are sure to take with you long after you close this volume of poetry.

A Man Called Ove: A Novel by Fredrik Backman

A curmudgeonly old man terrorizes the neighborhood until a chatty young couple and their daughters move in next door and truly get to know him. This funny and heartwarming tale highlights the impact one life can have on countless people.

Siddhartha: A Novel by Herman Hesse

Siddartha is the philosophical story of a young man's search for wisdom during the time of the Buddha. He leaves his family to find his own path, trying meditation, asceticism, worldly indulgences, love and more to find the path to true enlightenment and happiness.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Unhappy in her marriage and her life, Elizabeth Gilbert divorces her husband and travels the world to find herself in this memoir. With humor and compassion, she searches for pleasure in Italy, spirituality in India and love in Bali, ultimately finding what she needs to start her life again.

Devotions: Selected Poems by Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver is a contemporary American poet inspired by the natural world and its links to the sacred. Her beautiful imagery and simple language offer moving meditations on love and nature, painting the world around us in a clearer light. This volume contains her favorite works from across her career.

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

This harrowing memoir of Frankl's time in a Nazi concentration camp is an intense but powerful read. Although it's a difficult subject, Frankl writes both psychologically and philosophically about finding meaning even in the face of unimaginable circumstances.

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

In 1845, Henry David Thoreau moved to live in a small shack he helped build on the shores of Lake Walden in Massachusetts. He lived there for two years in isolation, seeking to better understand the world, society and nature. Meditative and insightful, these are his observations.

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

Following the sudden loss of her husband while their daughter was in a coma, Joan Didion wrote this book about her grief. Raw and heart wrenching, it's a moving meditation on love, illness and family.

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz Don Miguel Ruiz

In this classic book of wisdom, Don Miguel Ruiz shares four key insights from his Mexican Toltec ancestors to stop self-limiting behaviors and improve your life.

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

How do you gracefully face your own death? And what makes life worth living? These are the questions neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi must ask when he is diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer while he has a young son. This is a wrenching but profound look at life and death.

Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles

The Japanese concept of ikigai means purpose: It's what happens when what you love, what you’re good at, what you can make money doing, and what the world needs overlap. This volume delves into how to find it, and how it's brought long life and happiness to the Japanese village that has the highest percentage of 100-year-olds.

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

In this book, Americanah author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie appeals to both men and women to rethink gender expectations to allow for greater freedom and self-expression. Although this book is not perfect (many wish it had more representation of the experiences of the LGBTQ+ community), it's a straightforward introduction to gender equality that may change how you think.

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The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Narrated by Death, this extraordinary novel follows a young girl in Nazi Germany as she first learns to read and then starts to steal books, which she shares with the Jewish man hiding in her basement. Beautiful and haunting, the last words of this book will stay with you.

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

In college, Mitch Albom had a professor who was a mentor to him. Years later, Mitch and Morrie reconnected, when Morrie was slowly dying. The two began to meet every Tuesday to talk about life and death, and this book shares their wisdom.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

This is the powerful memoir of Maya Angelou, one of the most famous American poets. Intimate and insightful, it describes the racism and hardship she's endured and how she has overcome it. Her life story evokes one of her most famous lines of poetry: "Still I rise, still I rise, still I rise".

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

One of the great American novels, To Kill a Mockingbird follows six-year-old Scout as she grows up in Alabama in the '30s. When her father Atticus, a lawyer, decides to defend a Black man who has been accused of raping a white woman, Scout must confront the legacy of racism and follow her conscience.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Set in rural Georgia in the early 20th century, this novel follows Celie, a Black woman in poverty enduring abuse. The novel is told through letters from Celie to God and between Celie and her sister Nettie as Celie experiences friendship, love and sisterhood, overcoming the way she has been treated.

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The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor

In this book, Shawn Achor argues that happiness isn't the result of success — it's a prerequisite to it. Happier people are more creative, productive and successful, so this book shows how to take the first step of improving your outlook to get the rest to follow.

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

This Olympics-focused read is a true story that follows the American men's rowing team, a rag-tag group of working-class boys who have met unexpected underdog success. But their greatest challenge will be the 1936 Berlin Olympics, as they go oar to oar with Hitler's rowing team to prove their worth and chase their dreams.

Wonder by R. J. Palacio

This YA book is perfect for all ages, young or old. It follows Auggie, a young boy born with a facial difference. He goes to school for the first time as a fifth grader, but other kids aren't always so accepting of his looks. This book is a touching meditation on the power of kindness and acceptance as Auggie, his class and his community all learn to come together.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Lovingly called “the brick” by its readers, the 1,400 pages of Les Miserable are not for the faint of heart — or the short on time. But if you are willing to embrace the extensive commentaries and explanations of Parisian sewers, you’ll find a beautiful story of love, loss, redemption and fighting for what you believe in set amidst revolutionary France.

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