40 of the Most Inspirational Books for Women

In this New York Times bestseller, authors Katty Kay and Claire Shipman assert that confidence is the primary reason men have more career success than women. This practical book by the authors of Womanetics is a guide to confidence that women can use at any age or stage to achieve transformative results in their professions. The principles are based on cutting-edge research in genetics, gender, cognition, and behavior.

Why we love it: Because it shares the stories of women who've used confidence to succeed to illustrate exactly how it's done.

Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski tackles the connection between women's self-worth and financial and career success in her New York Times bestseller. Using interviews across industries and fields, she tells us how powerful women moved up in their careers. The book provides research-backed answers to why the gender wage persists and what to do about it. Brzezinski's stories of leaders show us how to raise our own personal bar.

Why we love it: You'll learn the stories of influential women like Valerie Jarrett, Susie Essman, the late Nora Ephron, Sheryl Sandberg and Joy Behar.

In this instant New York Times bestseller, Elizabeth Gilbert brings us more of her rich wisdom and distinctive viewpoints, this time on being creative. She encourages us to dig deeply within to purge unnecessary suffering, uncover the "strange jewels" hidden there, and express our creativity fearlessly. So, write that book, make that art, or change careers with the motivation gleaned from this book.

Why we love it: Gilbert's practical spirituality is soulful, joyful, and helpful in inspiring us to achieve our goals no matter what they are.

This powerful story is from the author of Infidel, which spent 31 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. A continuation of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's life story, this book is about her journey to America to start a new life away from the death threats she received from European Muslims for exposing truths about radical Islam. She explores the challenges of breaking away from the hobbling beliefs she'd learned in Islam and integrating into Western society. This celebration of free speech and democracy is Ali's psychological coming of age.

Why we love it: It portrays a woman not too different from the rest of us who struggles to define herself outside the philosophies imposed on her early in life.

Former Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief Kate White shares her secrets to becoming an enormously successful business woman in this New York Times bestseller. Called "a witty, wise, straight-talking career guide for women," this book provides the keys to professional achievement and encourages the fearless pursuit of lofty occupational goals.

Why we love it: White shares her wisdom as a real-life powerbroker in a male-dominated industry.

From Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever, the authors behind Women Don't Ask, this four-phase negotiation program teaches women how to regularly negotiate what they want. Based on years of research, it shows readers how to recognize what they truly deserve, maximize their bargaining power, and formulate the right plan for their situation in work and life. You'll learn how to get doors opened that were previously closed to you using the strategies here.

Why we love it: You'll find out how to use your unique characteristics to slay that negative inner voice and build the best life possible by learning what many men already know: how to effectively negotiate.

This Amazon bestseller by Peabody Award-winning and National Humanities Medalist Krista Tippett is based on her NPR show and podcast, On Being. A veteran interviewer of scientists in a variety of fields, theologians from various faiths, and activists and poets, Tippett has placed those insights on life and being into narrative form. This "master class on living" inspires change and encourages the reader to live and love life on its own terms.

Why we love it: This deep-thinking, spiritually inspired tomes that gives us the strength to contend with the world where it is, but also hope for its improvement.

This classic Amazon bestseller, which has sold over 5 million copies, addresses an issue that still challenges women of all generations: codependency. Using the book's simple, straightforward strategies, readers can overcome destructive behavior, extricate themselves from other people's drama, and regain sight of their own lives.

Why we love it: Through a series of interactive activities supported by enlightening anecdotes, this book lays out a path to independence, wholeness, and lasting happiness.

New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project Gretchen Rubin tackles the question of how we change by addressing our habits. She walks readers through how to transform negative, dysfunction-producing habits into those that help build happier, healthier lives. While the book is backed by rigorous research, Rubin also uses herself as a guinea pig and tests her theories on friends and family, making for a fun read.

Why we love it: Rubin uses humor along with a realistic action items to help readers dissect their habits and reshape more productive lives.

This New York Times bestseller is the story of a young Jewish woman who escapes the strict Satmar sect of Hasidic Judaism into which she was born. While this sect conscribed her in every area of life, including what she read, the powerful female protagonists in books by Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott (which she read secretly) helped Feldman envision a life where she controlled her own destiny.

Why we love it: This inspiring book emboldens women to imagine lives free of constraints imposed on them by others, particularly religious and cultural ones.

A New York Times Notable Book and one of TIME's "Best Comix of the Year" in 2003, this graphic novel has landed at the top of multiple bestseller lists. In it, author Marjane Satrapji uses black and white images to tell the story of an intelligent, outspoken only child growing up in Iran during the time of the Shah's overthrow. The book shows how this self-empowered great-granddaughter of one of Iran's last emperors emotionally and psychologically overcame the tumult that was the Iran of her childhood.

Why we love it: It's a reminder of the cost of war and political repression, showing us how, with an indomitable spirit, we can persevere when faced with absurdity and human tragedy.

This New York Times bestseller tells the love story between the author, Christina Haag, and John F. Kennedy, Jr. The two had crossed paths frequently in childhood, but it wasn't until they were cast in a play together as adults that JFK, Jr. revealed a long-time crush on Haag and their love affair began. The five-year relationship, which was lived out in public but passionate in private, transformed them both.

Why we love it: This inspiring story of rediscovered love shows us how life-altering true love can be even for the wealthy and glamorous.

Popular spiritual author Marianne Williamson wrote this reflection on her bestseller, A Course in Miracles, to demonstrate its applicability in the search for inner peace. A number no. 1 bestseller itself, this volume shows readers how, by accepting God and displaying love in our daily lives, we can overcome psychic pain in the area of careers, relationships, and health.

Why we love it: You'll learn how to apply love as the salve for what ails you, bringing more peace to your life.

This blockbuster classic novel about female empowerment and freedom, said to have launched a sexual revolution, is still inspiring women today. It tells the story of Isadora Wing, who, while at a crossroads in her five-year marriage, ditches her husband during a European trip to find a man who can ignite unbridled passion in her. What she finds instead are life lessons on liberation and happiness.

Why we love it: Because, though published in 1973, its original insight, energy, and acerbic intellect still apply to a modern audience.

This national bestseller is the powerful true story of how a pregnancy with an unexpected child alters a career-driven couple's life direction. John and Martha Beck had mapped out dual careers in Harvard's ivory tower when their unborn son, Adam, was diagnosed with Down syndrome. Beck and her husband were forced to rethink their entire lives and everything they valued.

Why we love it: Anyone who's ever had a curve ball thrown at them by life will appreciate the reflection on learning how to fly—successfully—without a net.

What was meant to be the joyous occasion of the birth of her child turned into harrowing nightmare when Lindsey O'Connor fell into a 47-day coma during the birth. When she awakens from that coma, she knows who and where she is but other life details remain murky. As she rebuilds her life, her own faith and that of her loved ones is challenged.

Why we love it: As we take the journey of reawakening with this writer, her honest, poignant story, which could become ours, inspires faith against seemly insurmountable odds.

After the tragic loss of her 12-year-old son, Jack, in a neighborhood flood, Anna Whiston-Donaldson and her family are forced to cope with unimaginable grief and the fear that life will never have happiness again. The story shows how this mother's loss leads to hope over time and a renewed faith in God that, she believes, supersedes all earthly experiences.

Why we love it: As we yearn with Anna for peace, she is an example of how to endure through heartbreak and find courage—and God—in the most devastating circumstances.

Our lives are full of unexpected challenges, even for those with deep faith, and Amy Julie Becker intends to show us how to handle it all with grace. Using her own story of disappointment turned blessing, she takes us on her journey to discovering faith through weakness and accepting that we all need God and each other to make life work.

Why we love it: Because, in a landscape often flooded with shallow memoirs, Becker's bold truth is refreshing.

Babies don't come with operating instructions but in this hilarious national bestseller, single parent Anne Lamott takes readers through her first year struggling to parent without dad's help. She shows us how her faith, friends, and the La Leche league hotline—as well as humor—help her support her little family while staying both sober and sane.

Why we love it: This book humanizes people of intense Christian faith and shows that they aren't all stiff and self-righteous or afraid to show vulnerability.

In this book of witty, mom-friendly essays, Taylor delivers straight-from-the-hip insight into all things motherhood to busy new moms. From Mommy-and-Me classes to addressing all the "sudden experts" in your life, she slays myths and motherhood at the same time. New mothers will walk away reassured that they can be good parents and confidently make their own decisions about childrearing.

Why we love it: Wilder-Taylor delivers real talk about new motherhood without the frightening studies and trendy information while providing encouragement and support.

It takes great courage to be vulnerable, argues Brene Brown, Ph.D., in this New York Times bestseller. She reveals through 12 years of research that it is vulnerability that is the core of difficult emotion and the birthplace of the most positive ones. Without courageously expressing it, we can't be live abundantly, she tells us in this transformative new revelation on leadership. This book encourages readers to step into new arenas and experience their best selves.

Why we love it: Because as usual, Brown, a matchless thought leader on powerful interpersonal growth, shows us how to step beyond our comfort zone into greatness.

Based on a social movement inspired by the blog Momastery, this New York Times bestseller is a collection of comical new essays and the best material from the blog. Momastery founder Glennon Doyle Melton's personal story shows women they are not alone in the struggle to be brave and kind, to let go of perfectionism, and to embrace the reality that motherhood and marriage are, well, hard.

Why we love it: Women see themselves in this humorous author who, through her books, becomes that funny, sage friend who's encouraging all of us to be better.

Anita Diamant's New York Times bestselling novel takes readers along on the life journey of protagonist, Addie Baum, a strong-willed daughter of Jewish immigrants, as she comes of age in Boston's North End in the early 1900s. While staying true to the historical detail of that time, this story of a young woman who wanted to go to college, have a career, and find true love, is the recounting of the now 85-year-old Addie's life.

Why we love it: This inspirational tale masterfully conveys the challenges of defining womanhood in early 20th century America—a narrative that still resonates in the early 21st century.

This National Book Award-winning memoir provides both comfort and humor for those caring for parents near the end of their lives. The laughs and tears that Roz Chast shares with her parents are conveyed to the reader through four-color cartoons, family photos, and documents. If you're in this stage of life, this book may encourage you.

Why we love it: Chast uses the unique medium of cartooning to share a family story and show us how to cope with the loss of aged parents with grace and humor.

Before she was known as the author of Wild, Cheryl Strayed wrote an advice column for literary blog the Rumpus. This book is the result of that work: a collection of poignant essays written in response to advice-seekers grappling with some of life's greatest dilemmas. New York magazine calls it "the self-help book women love to give each other," referring to the title's tendency of being passed around social circles.

Why we love it: Strayed is brutally honest, even harsh, with her assessments but unwavering in her acceptance and reassurance that, in the end, this too shall make you stronger.

Ironically, once people reach midlife or retirement, many feel reluctant to pursue the creativity they now have time for, asserts Julia Cameron, author of The Artist's Way, in her latest book. Readers at midlife and beyond will come away from this book inspired to trust their creative soul.

Why we love it: Because it speaks directly to midlife and retirees and encourages them to find and express their creative spark, not shrink back in fear.

This New York Times bestseller is exactly what it sounds like: a book designed to help women deal with the often-distressing symptoms of menopause—before they begin. It promises to help perimenopausal women head off "depression and mood swings, weight shifts, erratic sleep, and memory loss" without hormone treatment.

Why we love it: This manual empowers women to take control of their symptoms and health.

Zora Neale Hurston's 1937 coming-of-age classic follows Janie Crawford, who goes from a vivacious but disenfranchised teen to a woman determined to control her own destiny. It's set in central and southern Florida in the 1920s, a time when being African American in the Deep South could be harrowing. Will Janie persevere despite daunting odds and societal factors beyond her control?

Why we love it: It doesn't shrink back from the (often ugly) reality of life for African American women in the 1920s.

Using Buddhist proverbs, guided meditations, and personal anecdotes, Tarah Bach takes readers through a series of steps to help them end self-judgement. This practical book is based on over 20 years of her work with therapy patients and Buddhism students.

Why we love it: This guide uses spiritual principles to help readers to stop being at war with themselves and live a life filled with love and wholeness.

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Why we love it: This book encourages women to view menopause as an empowering new beginning, not a scary end or downward spiral.

Author Claire Harman transforms Charlotte Brontë from a tragic figure to the heroine she actually was, in this story of a woman who grew up poor but was determined not to remain in poverty and obscurity. She used her writing to portray women as powerful, multidimensional masters of their own destiny and, in turn, transformed English literature and her own life.

Why we love it: This book portrays Brontë as an early role model for young women; someone who proved that we are smart, determined, and capable of greatness.

In her follow-up to Prince Charming Isn't Coming, Barbara Stanny implores women to overcome under-earning by showing them how to be one of the over 50 million women earning more than $100,000 annually. Through multiple interviews with high earners from different backgrounds, Stanny shows us the fundamental characteristics these women have in common.

Why we love it: This book directly confronts women's relationship with money, including their money fears, to help readers achieve sustainable wealth.

Valorie Burton, a professional certified coach, tells us successful women handle all of life's challenges completely unlike those who struggle to experience what she calls "victorious lives." She uses Biblical principles to demonstrate the ways in which effective women do life differently in order to achieve success in relationships, work, finances, health, and spiritual life.

Why we love it: It provides guidance any woman, regardless of her faith, can implement to achieve the victorious life we all crave.

Readers today still recognize themselves in the young women protagonists of this classic coming-of-age story set in Civil War-era New England. Alcott takes us through the trials and tribulations of sisters Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March, each of them more unique than the next. Written in 1868, the story is loosely based on Alcott's own childhood with her three sisters.

Why we love it: This tome shows women aspiring to move beyond the gender constraints of their day while embracing the good that is being a woman.

Anybody in recovery of any kind knows what a daily challenge it can be. Karen Casey endeavors to bring women courage in that ongoing process by helping women bridge the gap between themselves and a higher power. Each meditation begins with the quotes of famed women like Agatha Christie, Katharine Hepburn, and Annie Dillard.

Why we love it: Each meditation ends with an affirmation to marshal one's inner resources of feminine courage, wisdom, wit, and spirit.

Sophia A. Nelson asserts that all women live by a code, one that governs every area of her life. Inspired by her personal faith and own experience in business, she encourages women to apply her 20 keys to unlock their desired life. From knowing our own worth to lifting other women as we climb, this book is designed to help women love themselves and others into their best lives.

Why we love it: Rather than focusing solely on their own success, this book encourages women to help each other achieve, too.

Most women were raised to "be nice" and "play it safe" in all areas of their lives, including money. In her New York Times bestseller, Frankel implores readers to break the bad money habits that keep them broke. She isolates the money messages taught to us as little girls, gets us to the root of issues, and reprograms our thinking, helping us solve our financial problems.

Why we love it: This book pulls no punches with women about the money behaviors that keep them from building the wealth they deserve.

In a world where it's often violated, "trust" can be a loaded word wrought with fear. In this bestseller, Iyanla Vanzant takes on those fears to teach us how to trust in four critical areas. She delves into what trust really is, how to trust, and why we should. Following the practical trust-building steps in this book will inspire readers to pursue relationships with the mindset that we can build trust and avoid betrayal.

Why we love it: In her inimitable way, Vanzant challenges us to honestly confront our fears and move toward freedom in relationships and life.

This no. 1 New York Times bestseller celebrates life from childhood to motherhood to midlife. Anna Quindlen uses her life experiences to shed light on ours, considering and rejoicing in every aspect from girlfriends, marriage, parenting, our mothers, loss, grief, and even stuff in our closets. The book also includes an exclusive conversation between the author and Meryl Streep.

Why we love it: Quindlen uses her own experiences to explore what matters to women in every stage of life.