64 books like Hues Of Hope

By Balroop Singh,

Here are 64 books that Hues Of Hope fans have personally recommended if you like Hues Of Hope. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Best of It: New and Selected Poems

Harmony Kent Author Of Life & Soul

From my list on poetry to inspire and uplift you.

Why am I passionate about this?

I spent years trapped inside a devastating lack of self-esteem. To face my demons, and find the freedom and confidence to give expression to the creative soul buried within, I had to dive deep beneath life’s surface. After a life-changing injury, I began anew at age forty, and the writer and poet version of me was born. If I’ve learnt one thing, it’s that it’s never too late to be who you were meant to be. For me, poetry needs to inspire, make me think, and move me. I love to write poems that surprise, startle, reach the soul, and are layered with life, love, and meaning. 

Harmony's book list on poetry to inspire and uplift you

Harmony Kent Why did Harmony love this book?

The Best of It seems like an easy, leisurely read at first. However, so many of Kay Ryan’s poems lulled me into a false sense of security, and then they pounced. Not with claws out, but rather with padded paws to catch my mind-fall as my brain went, Wait. What? and I had to stop and read the poem or lines over again. This simple yet complex and profound collection of contemporary poetry will stay with me for life to inspire, question, make me laugh, and offer solace.

By Kay Ryan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Best of It as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

Kay Ryan’s recent appointment as the Library of Congress’s sixteenth poet laureate is just the latest in an amazing array of accolades for this wonderfully accessible, widely loved poet. Salon has compared her poems to “Fabergé eggs, tiny, ingenious devices that inevitably conceal some hidden wonder.” The two hundred poems in Ryan’s The Best of It offer a stunning retrospective of her work, as well as a swath of never-before-published poems of which are sure to appeal equally to longtime fans and general readers.


Book cover of Penguin's Poems for Life

Harmony Kent Author Of Life & Soul

From my list on poetry to inspire and uplift you.

Why am I passionate about this?

I spent years trapped inside a devastating lack of self-esteem. To face my demons, and find the freedom and confidence to give expression to the creative soul buried within, I had to dive deep beneath life’s surface. After a life-changing injury, I began anew at age forty, and the writer and poet version of me was born. If I’ve learnt one thing, it’s that it’s never too late to be who you were meant to be. For me, poetry needs to inspire, make me think, and move me. I love to write poems that surprise, startle, reach the soul, and are layered with life, love, and meaning. 

Harmony's book list on poetry to inspire and uplift you

Harmony Kent Why did Harmony love this book?

Poems for Life is one of my all-time favourite poetry collections because it offers something for every mood and occasion. At those times I’ve found myself planning a celebration, trying to write a love poem for dear hubby’s birthday, or struggling to find words for a funeral, and stuck for ideas, this book has provided the perfect sentiment and inspiration. It takes us from birth and beginnings, through childhood and childish things, into growing up and first impressions, to making a living and making love, as well as family life, growing older, and all the way through to death and mourning. This delightful book of poems offers comfort and words to treasure for a lifetime.

By Laura Barber,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Penguin's Poems for Life as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Taking its inspiration from Shakespeare's idea of the 'seven ages' of a human life, this new anthology brings together the best-loved poems in English to inspire, comfort and delight readers for a lifetime. Beginning with babies, the book is divided into sections on childhood, growing up, making a living and making love, family life, getting older, and approaching death, ending with poems of mourning and commemoration.

Ranging from Chaucer to Carol Ann Duffy, via Shakespeare, Keats, and Lemn Sissay, this book offers something for each of those moments in life - whether falling in love, finding your first grey hair…


Book cover of The War Poets: an anthology

Harmony Kent Author Of Life & Soul

From my list on poetry to inspire and uplift you.

Why am I passionate about this?

I spent years trapped inside a devastating lack of self-esteem. To face my demons, and find the freedom and confidence to give expression to the creative soul buried within, I had to dive deep beneath life’s surface. After a life-changing injury, I began anew at age forty, and the writer and poet version of me was born. If I’ve learnt one thing, it’s that it’s never too late to be who you were meant to be. For me, poetry needs to inspire, make me think, and move me. I love to write poems that surprise, startle, reach the soul, and are layered with life, love, and meaning. 

Harmony's book list on poetry to inspire and uplift you

Harmony Kent Why did Harmony love this book?

The War Poets is a powerful and moving collection that, despite being about fighting and dying, somehow managed to teach and inspire me. For certain, it made me stop and think deeply about life, choices, and consequences. This little book shows the hearts and minds of soldier poets who went to war, and the ultimate self-discoveries they achieved. For such a small book, The War Poets tackles a big topic and goes deep beneath the surface. At times in my life, I have struggled to simply accept, and this collection of raw and honest verse has helped me push on through to the other side.

By Various,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The War Poets as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This title is also available in French.

80 powerful and moving poems from the First World War, including works by Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sassoon and W. B. Yeats. Look out for more Pitkin Guides on the very best of British history, heritage and travel, particularly for more titles in the Pitkin Collectibles Series.


Book cover of The Emergency Poet: An Anti-Stress Poetry Anthology

Harmony Kent Author Of Life & Soul

From my list on poetry to inspire and uplift you.

Why am I passionate about this?

I spent years trapped inside a devastating lack of self-esteem. To face my demons, and find the freedom and confidence to give expression to the creative soul buried within, I had to dive deep beneath life’s surface. After a life-changing injury, I began anew at age forty, and the writer and poet version of me was born. If I’ve learnt one thing, it’s that it’s never too late to be who you were meant to be. For me, poetry needs to inspire, make me think, and move me. I love to write poems that surprise, startle, reach the soul, and are layered with life, love, and meaning. 

Harmony's book list on poetry to inspire and uplift you

Harmony Kent Why did Harmony love this book?

Any time I feel down or struggle with my long-term illness, I reach for this book of amazing poetry. The Emergency Poet never fails to soothe my distress. The verses within help me relax and take stock. To reassess and decompress. As I sit and absorb these wonderful words, I am reminded to live in the moment and value what I have. This book feels like a warm hug at the end of a long and tiring day and always lifts my spirits.

By Deborah Alma,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Emergency Poet as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A brilliant new anthology of poems that will help you to overcome stress, depression and other anxieties.

Arranged by spiritual ailment, the sections include a range of verse, new and old, which may be of comfort to those in need of a pick-me-up for the soul.

The collection has been carefully compiled by Deborah Alma, the world's first and only emergency poet, who travels to schools, libraries, festivals and other events in her 1970s ambulance to offer consultations and prescribe poems as cures for various maladies.

This collection is designed to lift your mood and offers poetic help whenever it…


Book cover of What the Day Owes the Night

Andrew Cairns Author Of The Witch's List

From my list on set in Africa that move, uplift, and inspire.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a Scottish writer who enjoys travelling and meeting people of different cultures and beliefs. I have always been a fan of adventure stories, particularly those with a strange or supernatural bent. My travels to The Ivory Coast and North Africa, hearing accounts of various witch stories, and encountering strange events and practices firsthand inspired me to write The Witch’s List Trilogy: the first two books published and the third in progress. 

Andrew's book list on set in Africa that move, uplift, and inspire

Andrew Cairns Why did Andrew love this book?

This is a story of love and friendship set in 1950s Algeria before and during the Algerian War of Independence. The main character, Younes, is an Arabic Algerian but forms friendships with some European boys and falls in love with Emilie a beautiful European girl. Great descriptions of the environment and the characters’ feelings make for an engrossing and moving read as Younes has to make choices about his loyalties towards his friends and family from the two different cultures. 

By Yasmina Khadra,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked What the Day Owes the Night as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Darling, this is Younes. Yesterday he was my nephew, today he is our son'.

Younes' life is changed forever when his poverty-stricken parents surrender him to the care of his more affluent uncle. Re-named Jonas, he grows up in a colourful colonial Algerian town, and forges a unique friendship with a group of boys, an enduring bond that nothing - not even the Algerian Revolt - will shake. He meets Emilie - a beautiful, beguiling girl who captures the hearts of all who see her - and an epic love story is set in motion.

Time and again Jonas is…


Book cover of The Moral Premise: Harnessing Virtue & Vice for Box Office Success

Marshall Dotson Author Of Actions and Goals: The Story Structure Secret

From my list on story structure.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been a student of story structure for decades. As a novelist, this initially started as a means to learn as much as I could from those with more experience than myself, but quickly grew into a passion. I read everything on the subject I could get my hands on and eventually began analyzing the plots of novels and movies for myself, amalgamating what I had learned with my own theories and insights which coalesced into a wholly new structural paradigm. Since then, I’ve had the privilege of working with many talented screenwriters and novelists to help them shape their stories using Six Act Structure. 

Marshall's book list on story structure

Marshall Dotson Why did Marshall love this book?

As the title suggests, Williams’ book focuses on identifying the Moral Premise at the heart of your story idea and building around it. It’s a very thematic approach to storytelling. This Moral Premise essentially breaks the story into four components: a positive “virtue”, a negative “vice”, desirable consequences (success), and undesirable consequences (defeat). You can use this to create a simple structure of “Vice leads to undesirable consequences (defeat), while Virtue leads to desirable consequences (success)”. I'm admittedly oversimplifying it, but it's a great tactic to get to the heart of your story's theme and strengthen your narrative. 

By Stanley D. Williams,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Moral Premise as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Moral Premise reveals the foundational concept at the heart of all storytelling and successful box office movies. In concrete terms it explains how you can create your own success and, in the process, entertain, delight, challenge, and uplift this generation and the ones to come.


Book cover of The Selected Stories of O. Henry

B.J. Neblett Author Of Planet Alt-Sete-Nine: The Lost Princess

From my list on normal people thrown into unexpected circumstances.

Why am I passionate about this?

A child of the 50s and 60s, I grew up on Saturday matinee monsters and prime-time sitcoms; the race for space and the cold war; on flower power and power to the people. With a fertile, if not warped imagination, and a fascination for space and time travel, the ironic short story and the contemporary fantasy novel come naturally to me. There’s irony in everything and a story in everyone. I try to convey this in my books and stories without taking myself, or the world too seriously.

B.J.'s book list on normal people thrown into unexpected circumstances

B.J. Neblett Why did B.J. love this book?

Growing up I often found myself looking at the world through a question mark, often finding irony all around me. An irony that most adults either didn’t recognize or didn’t care to recognize. When my junior high English teacher turned me on to the works of O. Henry, I found a kindred spirit. O. Henry’s slightly askew, often humorous stories mirrored my own often warped view of the world. And I delighted in the brevity with which he told his tales. The short story genre became a favorite of mine. In the fast-paced, no time to spare world we’ve created, O. Henry’s delightful quick reads are an oasis of enjoyment.

By O. Henry,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Selected Stories of O. Henry as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Features:
* annotated introductions to the works, giving contextual information
* illustrated with many images relating to O. Henry’s life, works, places and film adaptations
* ALL the short story collections and each with their own contents table
* overall contents tables for the short stories – both alphabetical and chronological – find that special story quickly and easily!
* rare short story collections like O HENRYANA and THE TWO WOMEN – often missed out of collections
* includes O. Henry’s poetry and letters
* EVEN includes the enigmatic LETTERS TO LITHOPOLIS FROM O. HENRY TO MABEL WAGNALLS, available in…


Book cover of How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope

Shannan Martin Author Of Start with Hello: (And Other Simple Ways to Live as Neighbors)

From my list on cultivating empathy and connection in a divided world.

Why am I passionate about this?

A dozen years ago, my family moved from a homogeneous community where everyone looked, lived, and believed as we did to a vibrant neighborhood filled with difference and complexity. This shifted something deep inside me and ultimately changed the way I see the world and myself within it. It set me on a path toward understanding how authentic, ordinary community holds the power to transform our world. To live as neighbors is to draw near to each other. I have written three books on this central theme and plan to spend the rest of my life reaching for empathy as our best tool in reclaiming the goodness of humanity.  

Shannan's book list on cultivating empathy and connection in a divided world

Shannan Martin Why did Shannan love this book?

This is the poetry book for people like me, who aren’t “good” at poetry, but who desperately need to believe humanity is still mostly intact and the world around us still brims with beauty.

I keep this one on my bedside table and reach for it when I need a quick reminder that we still have a say in the direction our society leans. More blooms. More abundance. More ordinary goodness. More us. 

By James Crews (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked How to Love the World as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An Indie Poetry Bestseller! What the world needs now - featuring poems from inaugural poet Amanda Gorman, Ross Gay, Tracy K. Smith and more. More and more people are turning to poetry as an antidote to divisiveness, negativity, anxiety, and the frenetic pace of life. How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope offers readers uplifting, deeply felt, and relatable poems by well-known poets from all walks of life and all parts of the US, including inaugural poet Amanda Gorman, Joy Harjo, Naomi Shihab Nye, Ross Gay, Tracy K. Smith, and others. The work of these poets captures…


Book cover of Tomorrow I'll Be Brave

Jill Heinerth Author Of The Aquanaut

From my list on young explorers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm a world-class underwater explorer, writer, photographer, speaker, and filmmaker. A pioneer of technical rebreather diving, I have led expeditions into icebergs in Antarctica, volcanic lava tubes, and submerged caves worldwide. As a child, these fanciful places were just a part of my wildest dreams. The Aquanaut tells the story of how I turned my imaginative journeys into reality and became a celebrated underwater explorer.

Jill's book list on young explorers

Jill Heinerth Why did Jill love this book?

This inspirational book for young explorers offers uplifting messages for kids, encouraging them to try new things and not fret about failure. Hand-lettered words of wisdom help to define what it means to be brave and confident, while teaching patience and tenacity. The colorful illustrations are memorable and immersive, offering opportunities for discussion about each page of positive values.

By Jessica Hische,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Tomorrow I'll Be Brave as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 3, 4, 5, and 6.

What is this book about?

Tomorrow I'll be all the things I tried to be today:

Adventurous, Strong, Smart, Curious, Creative, Confident, & Brave.

And if I wasn't one of them, I know that it's OK.

Journey through a world filled with positive and beautifully hand-lettered words of widsom, inspiration, and motivation. As this book reminds readers, tomorrow is another day, full of endless opportunities - all you have to do is decide to make the day yours.

"Jessica Hische, one of the great designers and typographers, now shows herself equally adept at creating gorgeous and immersive images for young readers. This is a joyous…


Book cover of Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners

Brad Whittington Author Of Welcome to Fred

From my list on heartwarming stories about life in a small town.

Why am I passionate about this?

When I was in sixth grade, I was kidnapped by pirates, aka parents, who smuggled me from a city in Ohio to a desert island, aka a middle-of-nowhere, piney woods, East Texas town called Fred. The city limit signs were 0.9 miles apart, without a single stop sign or red light to get in the way. Not even a flashing yellow. To survive, I enrolled in a hands-on crash course in Small Town, aka baptism by fire. I regularly get notes from readers all over America saying Welcome to Fred transported them back to their childhood growing up in a small town.

Brad's book list on heartwarming stories about life in a small town

Brad Whittington Why did Brad love this book?

That’s what a minute said to an hour
Without me you are nothing

I know what you’re saying. First a kid’s book, now poems? Yes. Even though she has lived in St. Louis, Ramallah, Jerusalem, and now San Antonio, you would swear that she probably lived right down the street from wherever you are. In fact, she lives right down the road from me.

The wind never says
Call me back,
I’ll be waiting for your call.
All we know about wind’s address is
somewhere else.

Even though we share a birthday with Jack Kerouac and James Taylor, we have never met, but when I read her poems, I feel like I’m having a cup of coffee with a close friend, the friend you haven’t seen in years, but you know that if they walked in the door right now, you’d just pick up where you left off and talk…

By Naomi Shihab Nye,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Voices in the Air as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

"Nye once again deftly charts the world through verse."-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A beautifully constructed, thoughtful, and inspiring collection."-School Library Journal (starred review)

Young People's Poet Laureate and National Book Award Finalist Naomi Shihab Nye's uncommon and unforgettable voice offers readers peace, humor, inspiration, and solace. This volume of almost one hundred original poems is a stunning and engaging tribute to the diverse voices past and present that comfort us, compel us, lead us, and give us hope.

"I think the air is full of voices. If we slow down and practice listening, we hear those voices better. They live…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in hope, earth, and presidential biography?

Hope 18 books
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