100 books like Magnificent Rebels

This book is another top pick of mine. Helgesen and Goldsmith provide advice for leaders who are ready to move forward, but are confused by what is holding them back. The book breaks down the 12 habits that hold women back (and some men) and prevents them from taking their careers to new heights. I love their direct no nonsense approach and pragmatic suggestions. A must read for women who are ready to break through and achieve greatness.

Set in the 1990s, this very engaging novel tracks the arrival of a young, angry, and confused Tara Marconi to a southeast Alaska town and then follows her as she matures alongside a set of memorable and often damaged characters.

The depictions of small-town life and the fishing industry are well-wrought, as are the conflicts that many Alaskans face with themselves, their pasts, and the environment. This counts as a coming-of-age story but is unique in its depiction of a strong, smart, and adaptable young woman finding her true, independent self in a place where self-realization is not just allowed but encouraged.

At its most basic, The Alaskan Laundry is a testament to how places and spaces shape us, and how we find where we belong. 

When I picked up Tsumura’s first novel to be translated into English, I’d just given notice at my hectic corporate job. So when the burned-out narrator tells her employment agency she’s looking for an easy job that’s “ideally, something along the lines of sitting all day in a chair,” I could relate.

She searches for that elusive work-life balance at a series of strange positions, but when she lands a plum gig working in a small hut in a forest, the story’s disparate strands weave together into an emotionally satisfying whole.

This book by Gary John Bishop is a no-nonsense guide to breaking free from self-limiting beliefs and rediscovering your inner strength. Grounded in the theme of self-discovery and empowerment, this book offers practical strategies for overcoming obstacles and creating a life of purpose and fulfillment.

His straightforward approach is both refreshing and empowering. He cuts through the noise of self-help clichés to deliver actionable advice that gets to the heart of personal transformation. Through a combination of candid anecdotes and powerful insights, readers are challenged to confront their inner critic and take ownership of their lives. I actually read this book to help me get out of my head during a period of time when I struggled with boundaries and anxiety along with my “superwoman syndrome." 

He encourages readers to stop making excuses and start taking control of their thoughts, actions, and outcomes. By shifting their mindset and adopting a… show more.

Rob used to write for The New York Times and I was lucky enough to interview him on my podcast Mouthwash. His book is an inspiring read that helps you notice more around you. Beyond this it’s a rallying cry for attention and how you choose to utilise it. The book isn’t meant to be a business book, but I have found that there are massive sections that should be applied to business – especially in this remote working world. Buy one for you and one for a friend. 

This mesmerised me and I still think about it often.

A daughter has taken her mother to Spain to see a doctor who they hope will be able to cure her from a mysterious physical paralysis. 

This is a throbbing sun-bleached, Mediterranean world, explorations of troubled familial bonds, of the nature of sexuality, an examination of exile, reminding me at times of Virginia Woolf in its interiority – and the writing is masterly: “My love for my mother is like an axe. It cuts very deep.”

A constellation of symbols scattered throughout with such a deft touch that it left me in love with Levy and wishing she was my friend in real life not just in the magic world of the written page.

Colm Toibin is one of my favorite writers. The drama in his novels is found in quiet moments with portraits of ordinary characters that we get to know and love. Nora Webster is a 44-year-old woman living in a small town in Ireland. We meet her soon after her husband dies, as she grieves amid navigating her new life with four children and little income.  

Through Toibin’s exceptional character development, we become immersed in Nora’s journey: her realization of feeling confined by the well-meaning expectations of her neighbors; her relationship with her sons as she struggles to parent them through their grief; her growing self-reflection as she awakens to her hidden strength. We cheer her as she achieves her newfound independence.

What happened to you? The thing I most like about my work is hearing people’s stories and I think this book really shines the light on people’s stories.

It’s not what is wrong with you which is so often how this is positioned, it is what happened to you? What is the story of how you got to be where you are today, I love the way the book positions where people are at, and I think it has a very hopeful premise. 

It has never been more important to ask this question after the tough few years we have been through. 

I love the way the author uses honest stories to impart valuable life lessons. He humbly shares what a jerk he had been and how he learned to be more tolerant and loving in relationships.

As a hospital chaplain he hears intimate life stories and often, dying wishes. This is where such profound wisdom comes from, I believe. God is mentioned a few times but there is no judgment or preaching from this guy.

I highlighted so much in this book I almost ran out of ink! I will be going back whenever I need inspiration.

This book will capture you with a heroine who is both irresistible and flawed, and will engross you with increasing twists in a triangle of love and sacrifice. The story explores how a fateful choice colors a decade of marriage, and challenges a young woman’s ambition already constrained by traditional Korean culture. Sam Park paints all the flavors of post-war Korea in this vivid debut, and his understanding and expression of the human heart is universal.