The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

This is an amazing memoir about the unconventional, poverty-stricken upbringing Jeannette and her three siblings had endured due to their upbringing with dysfunctional parents. Jeanette tells the story from age 3 to how she carved a successful life for herself as an adult – it showcases a true triumph against all odds.

The Female of the Species by Lionel Shriver 

Returning to make a documentary at the site of her first great triumph in Kenya, Gray Kaiser is accompanied by her faithful middle-aged assistant, Errol McEchern, who has loved her for years in silence. When young graduate assistant Raphael Sarasola arrives on the scene, Gray is captivated and falls hopelessly in love-before an amazed Errol’s eyes. As he follows their affair with jealous fascination, Errol watches helplessly from the sidelines as a proud and fierce woman is reduced to miserable dependence.

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

This thriller novel focuses on a mother who turns up dead at the bottom of the river that runs through the town of Beckford, which also took the life of a teenage girl earlier that year. They are not the first women lost to these dark waters, but their deaths disturb the river causing old secrets to come to the surface. This novel is told from so many different perspectives, so readers can truly see how these events affect the townspeople.

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

This is a great fantasy novel, where Sophie has a great misfortune and is destined to fail miserably should she ever leave home to seek her fate. But when she unwittingly attracts the ire of the Witch of the Waste, Sophie finds herself under a horrid spell that transforms her into an old lady. Her only chance at breaking it lies in the ever-moving castle in the hills: the Wizard Howl’s castle.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden 

The historical fiction, best-selling novel, told in a first-person perspective, tells the story of a fictional geisha, a nine-year-old girl who is sold by her underprivileged family to a geisha house. We witness her transformation as she learns the rigorous arts of the geisha: dance and music; wearing kimono, elaborate makeup, and hair; pouring sake to reveal just a touch of inner wrist; competing with a jealous rival for men’s solicitude and the money that goes with it.

All Marketers are Liars by Seth Godin 

This non-fiction book focuses on the stories that marketers tell! And if they do it right, we believe them – we believe that an $80,000 Porsche is vastly superior to a $36,000 Volkswagen, even though that is virtually the same car. This book is an underground classic that explains how marketing works and why authenticity is the best marketing strategy of them all.