When you’re entering adulthood
Am I Overthinking This?: Over-answering Life’s Questions In 101 Charts by Michelle Rial
For those of us sailing in an anxiety-ridden boat, Am I overthinking this? by Michelle Rial acts as a lifeline.
Adulthood is full of choices. If you’re always second-guessing, nay thousand-guessing yourself before you arrive at a decision or you feel paralysed by your manic overthinking before making a choice, this book with its art, humour, and answers will show you how it’s done.
When you lose someone you love for the first time
Her: A Memoir by Christa Parravani
When we talk about the milestones of life we often forego grief, the silent killer. But it is inevitable you shall face it, in the form of a dead parent, sibling, or any other person in your life so how do you cope with it? Christa Parravani’s Her delves into how you can learn to live again when you lose the other part of you: your identical twin.
The line between your personhood and someone who’s so important to you can be blurry, and even more so when that person is no longer in this world. This book seeks to answer what it is like to lose a part of yourself and how, rather if, you can even come back from that.
When you’re starting over in life
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Ever catch yourself wondering what your life might have looked like had you been born in a different place and time? Protagonist Ursula realises that wish, but the catch is that she has to keep dying and being reborn again on a loop. One wrong decision and she could be roadkill.
For those of us who are starting over in a new city, job, or even a relationship, this book will give you a tantalising peek into the world of endless second chances and what would’ve happened if you didn’t make the decisions that have led you to where you are today.
When you’ve decided to get married
Gardens of Love: Stories of A Marriage by Meera Godbole-Krishnamurthy
Deciding to get married is a big turning point in everyone’s life. But it is important to make that decision with your eyes wide open and armament in your arsenal to fight any upcoming battles, for battles there surely will be. Gardens of Love: Stories of a Marriage by Meera Godbole-Krishnamurthy paints a (visually beautiful) picture of a modern-day marriage and the know-how to fight its battles.
When you’ve decided to bring new life into this world
Like a mother by Angela Garbes
If you’ve decided to bring a new life into this world, Like a mother by Angela Garbes is the feminist treasure trove of scientific and cultural explorations you need to dive into.
Often many pregnancy guides can be condescending and didactic but Garbes turns that notion on its head with her refreshing candour in Like a mother, from what in the world actually constitutes a placenta and if you should abstain from the best sushi in your life to that dreaded post-partum poop.
When you’re going through a breakup
The Madwoman In The Volvo: My Year Of Raging Hormones by Sandra Tsing Loh
A breakup in any form is painful but what do you do when your divorce has been tumultuous, to say the least, while you bring up teenage daughters and care for an elderly father, all while going through menopause? You write a book, like Sandra Tsing Loh did. If your life has been turned upside down by a breakup or divorce, Loh’s Madwoman In The Volvo will make you laugh and wince along while filling you with the strength to keep marching on forward.
When the days of your retirement are close
Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
Often your days of retirement are viewed in popular culture as the stage between your life and death as you wait for the latter to arrive but Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf will show you that is far from the truth.
At an age where the world thinks love has no place in your life, this book is a gorgeous rendering of how love can transform your very being, even if you’re a senior citizen.
