Women can do anything. Of course, historically speaking, that hasn’t always been the message we encounter in the media or popular culture. But today, there’s never been a better time to be looking for inspirational, motivational, and empowering books for Women, as the literary world is now spoiled for choice when it comes to stories of women’s bravery, grit, resilience, humor, and drive.

Sometimes you need a boost from a brave female historical figure. A bold female industry leader or a badass female character reminds you of all the things that women have accomplished and can achieve when they aren’t pushed to the margins and can claim their rightful space in the spotlight. We recommend some of our favorite inspirational books (nonfiction and fiction) for women in the list below. However, people of all genders will enjoy these powerful stories. You’re bound to find some uplift and motivation as these reads spark joy, outrage, entrepreneurial ambition, or some combination of them all. 

Nonfiction

1. Becoming by Michelle Obama

In Becoming, former First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama chronicles her journey to becoming one of the nation’s most prominent advocates for women’s rights and inclusion. This deeply personal memoir takes readers through her painful moments and private struggles as she fought to be heard as a black woman in America. From the South Side of Chicago to the national stage, Obama’s life story in her own words reminds us to be resilient and remember the power of constant growth and self-discovery.

2. More Than Enough by Elaine Welteroth

Elaine Welteroth tells the story of her rise in the world of media and high fashion and her early struggles never feeling quite “good enough.” Ultimately her ambition was ignited, and she became aware of her mission to celebrate diversity in the fashion and media industry. This groundbreaker successfully delivers a memoir that will inspire young women everywhere.

3. Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes

Nothing can stop Shonda Rhimes. The creative force behind Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder is always charging headfirst into her next project, producing so many series that soon enough, she’ll basically own TV. But even Shonda Rhimes isn’t totally fearless. In Year of Yes, Rhimes faces a yearlong challenge from her sister to try to say yes to the unexpected opportunities that come her way. Leaving room for the unplanned, opening up beyond her comfort zone, and simply saying yes to what the world has to offer makes anything seem possible.

4. Money: A Love Story by Kate Northrup

It’s time for women to break the money taboo. How do we do that? By talking about it! Kate Northrup does a great job of removing the fear around talking about money. Using client stories and her own story of going from $20,000 of debt to financial freedom, Northrup takes the conversation to a new level. She shares exactly what it takes to change your relationship with money so that you can love your life. Check It Here

5. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

What does it even mean to “find yourself”? After a series of personal tragedies in the wild, Cheryl Strayed decides to solo hike a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail. Her story of the epic hike captures surviving a bewildering time in her life and pushing through the pain to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Even if you don’t want to wander through the wilderness like her literally. Her story of resilience can help you appreciate your surroundings and start finding your footing one step at a time. Check it Here.

6. You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero

There are a million self-help books out there, each promising the key to becoming your best self. But if you’re going to read just one, make it You Are a Badass — success coach Jen Sincero literally inspires people for a living. Her no-BS guide eschews platitudes and cuts right to the chase, giving a real talk and concrete tips on how to become your own biggest supporter.

7. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

“Happiness” — this elusive idea has puzzled philosophers, psychologists, and everyday people alike for generations. What is it? And how can we get more of it? The Happiness Project is born of these age-old questions. Yet this is not just any old story of the pursuit of happiness! Gretchen Rubin takes a methodical and almost scientific approach to investigate her life and leads to contentment, making for a refreshing read of self-examination.

8. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

If you haven’t heard of Marie Kondo or her “spark joy” catchphrase by now, you must be living under a rock (and so probably would not benefit much from her organizational tips anyway). Whether you’ve got piles of junk in your house or need to declutter the thoughts in your head, Kondo’s bestseller The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up illuminates how simplifying your physical space and headspace can enable you to focus on what matters most.

9. Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life by Jane Sherron de Hart

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, also known as “Notorious R.B.G.,” is a Supreme Court Justice who has become a certified cultural icon and fodder for many memes. The definitive biography Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life untangles the myth and mystery surrounding the feminist and legal trailblazer, giving an impeccably researched and intimately detailed account of her life story as well as her social and political background.

10. We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

We Should All Be Feminists is a searing manifesto demanding an inclusive vision of feminism that everyone should read. The personal essay, which Adichie adapted from her TEDx talk, is short in length. However, it delivers a bold and blistering message of the urgent need to fight for women’s equality for women of a wide range of backgrounds and experiences.

11. Grit by Angela Duckworth

In this book, Angela Duckworth shows anyone striving to succeed that the secret to achieving success isn’t just talent, but a blend of passion and persistence she calls “grit.” She takes us on a journey to visit cadets struggling through their first days at West Point, teachers working in some of the toughest schools, and young finalists in the National Spelling Bee. Duckworth also shares what she’s learned from interviewing dozens of high achievers, including JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Seattle Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll. Most importantly, she shows us that grit can be learned. This book is truly life-changing.

“If you have recently bumped into that word, grit, Duckworth is the reason…In education and parenting circles, her research has provided a much-needed antipode to hovering, by which children are systematically deprived of the opportunity to experience setbacks, much less overcome them…” – The Atlantic See Grit Here

12. The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World by Melinda Gates

Philanthropist Melinda Gates has devoted her life and tremendous resources to providing opportunities to those in need. One of her biggest takeaways has been that to elevate society. We need to stop putting women down. In The Moment of Lift, Gates reflects on her work, travels, and the women’s issues that most urgently need our attention. The result is a compelling commentary on how you can leverage your privilege to effect positive change.

13. Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit

At one point or another, every woman has probably had something “mansplained” to them. Read the essays that inspired the term in Men Explain Things to Me and find someone who can share in your frustration and fury! Women are subjected to constant condescension. Solnit gives a scathing take on the near-universal yet often unspoken microaggressions against women, leaving you ready to call out mansplaining and remove the patriarchy.

14. Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

Even though Gay calls herself a Bad Feminist, her collection of essays about her experience as a woman, and a woman of color, does something undeniably good — it empowers readers to look at feminism with a critical eye. In this book, Gay unleashes her acerbic wit to ask us to do better and takedown stereotypes about feminism; yes, you can have your favorite color be pink and still be a feminist.

15. The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance — What Women Should Know by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman

Some people seem to be so naturally confident that you start to wonder if maybe it’s in their DNA. The Confidence Code dives into neuroscience to see if such a “confidence gene” exists. Not only that, it digs into the social factors that continuously instill a lack of confidence in women and leave them to be taken less seriously than men — giving a significant new dimension to the nature vs. nurture debate.

16. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Know her name: Henrietta Lacks. Scientists knew her only as “HeLa” when they took her cells and used them for research without her knowledge. Yet, these cells were used to make breakthroughs in science and medicine long after Lacks’ death. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks interrogates medicine’s ethics and racial politics while also telling Lacks’s life. It’s a brilliant biography that is often uncanny and uncomfortable, as it follows the extraordinary journey of a tiny group of cells and the reverberations one life can leave.

17. Bossypants by Tina Fey

Bossypants is technically a collection of autobiographical essays, but it reads more like a series of the wise-cracking comedy sketches that made Fey famous. Come for the jokes and the behind-the-scenes shenanigans at SNL and 30 Rock — and stay for Fey’s revelations on making it big in showbiz and taking her “bossy” label in sardonic stride.

18. Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits–to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life by Gretchen Rubin

In this book, Gretchen Rubin tackles the tough question of how humans change. The answer is through habits. It takes work to create a habit, but we can harness their energy to build happier, more productive lives once habits are formed. Rubin presents a practical, concrete framework that allows readers to understand their habits and change them for the better. Whether you want to sleep more, spend less time on your mobile phone or lose weight, this book will help make change possible. Check the book Here

19. My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem

Feminist icon Gloria Steinem has always been a little restless — never settling in or slowing down in her work advocating for equity and equality. My Life on the Road allows Steinem to speak candidly about her travels and the “on the road” mindset that has inspired her to interact with the fullness of the world for decades. When life seems hard, she keeps moving.

20. Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly

Maybe you’ve already seen the Oscar-nominated movie, but we promise the book is even better. While all twelve people who walked on the moon to date have been American white men, they only got there thanks to black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations ensured their safety. Hidden Figures gives these brainy women their due, probing their personal histories and experiences as they navigate intense racial and gender bias while navigating a path to outer space.

21. The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish

Haddish is the snarky best friend we all wish we had by our sides to constantly run her hilariously unfiltered commentary and not care what anyone else thinks. The comedian and actor grew up in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Los Angeles, but it seems like there’s absolutely nothing she can’t rise above or make us laugh about as her star continues to rise. As we’d expect, she holds nothing back in The Last Black Unicorn, which is chock full of personal essays that get really personal — maybe a little TMI, but never too much inspiration from Haddish to be your authentic self.

22. Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In created an international sensation when it was published in 2013. Sandberg incisively examines the state of the contemporary workplace, asking questions about the obstacles that women face when they express ambition, seek mentors, show leadership, and confront the challenges of motherhood. Sandberg’s witty, direct, and informative approach makes reading Lean In an empowering act in itself. 

23. The Power is Within You by Louise Hay

Motivational author Louise Hay survived childhood abuse, rape, and cervical cancer and in the late 1980s. She led support groups for people with HIV/AIDS. She emerged from these experiences as a champion of the power of positive thinking and self-love. The Power is Within You is the best-selling author’s self-help manifesto on nurturing yourself, listening to your inner voice, and treating yourself with the kindness you deserve. 

24. Very Good Lives by J.K. Rowling

Very Good Lives is J.K. Rowling’s Harvard commencement speech, a short book containing words of great wisdom. In this beautifully illustrated print version, the creator of Harry Potter reflects on her early life and focuses on two main lessons: learning to live with failure and understanding the power of imagination. This book is perfect for young people entering the world of adulthood — but these are also words to return to for the rest of your life.

25. Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham

Not That Kind of Girl, a collection of essays by Lena Dunham, creator of HBO’s Girls, is a fearless and witty examination of millennial girlhood. Dunham, famous for her feminist politics and admirable willingness to be vulnerable, does not shy away from difficult or graphic topics. She keeps things real and flawed and doesn’t sugarcoat anything instead of celebrating life for the inexplicable mess it often is. 

26. Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates

Everyday Sexism began as an online community project by British journalist Laura Bates. Exasperated by the normalization of everyday sexist behavior and sexual harassment, Bates created a community for over 50,000 women to share their stories. This book retells some of those stories, focusing on the pervasive impact of sexism on women’s lives in a world that largely seems to think it has overcome gender inequality. This book is an eye-opening call to arms, a reminder that the fight is not over.

27. Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez

A book that Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called “revelatory,” Invisible Women takes a hard look at the way contemporary society is designed for men rather than women. British journalist and activist Caroline Criado-Perez exposes the “data bias” inherent in various social structures, from public restroom availability to the size of technological devices like mobile phones. It’s a book that will make you view the world through a sharper lens and become much more attuned to subtle inequalities. 

28. Charlotte Brontë: A Fiery Heart by Claire Harman

Literary biographer and award-winning author Claire Harman champions the life of Charlotte Brontë and her fierce ambition and rebellion. This is no tragic tale of a meek and helpless Victorian girl — Harman’s multi-dimensional, well-researched biography does justice to a famous but somewhat misunderstood figure of the literary canon. Just over two hundred years after Brontë’s birth, Charlotte Brontë: A Fiery Heart reminds us why the author’s works have endured.

Fiction – Inspirational books for women

29. The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Set in rural Georgia, The Color Purple is an affecting and poetic saga of the bravery of black women. Celie is perhaps one of literature’s most gripping protagonists, bursting with love for the world around her despite the unspeakable abuse she faces —  and her epic story is an affirmation of life and the resilience of the human spirit.

30. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Mrs. Dalloway has a simple plot arc: it follows a single day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway as she goes about errands and plans a party. Yet this modernist portrait of one woman’s inner life, with her memories and stream-of-consciousness digressions, becomes a vivid account of imagining the paths not traveled when life feels like it has passed you by.

31. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Each family has its secrets. When the Lees’ middle daughter Lydia is found drowned in a lake, deep pain is brought to the surface as they confront their fraught past and feelings of alienation as a mixed-race Chinese-American family. Everything I Never Told You, Ng’s debut novel, weaves an achingly beautiful reflection on the burdens we place on one another and how we can understand one another with more empathy.

32. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

If the women’s rights protests featuring people dressed in handmaids’ red cloaks and bonnets are any sign, The Handmaid’s Tale inspires outrage and activism. Atwood’s dystopian future of women seen as property and enslaved as reproductive machines feels more prescient with each passing day, but it is also a rallying cry for women to fight against anyone trying to control their bodies.

33. Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante

In an epic series of four books spanning sixty years, Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels follow the friendship of the reserved Elena and brash Lila as they grow up and grow old in Italy, evoking them in all their confusions and complexities. The note-perfect quartet nails female friendship and stirs us to appreciate our relationships with all the women in our lives.

34. Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

You’ve never read a fairy tale quite like this before. Boy, Snow, Bird is a radical riff on the Snow White story, featuring a woman named Boy, her dark-skinned daughter Bird, and Bird’s sister Snow, who passes for white. Oyeyemi’s haunting prose prompts us to look at ourselves and our self-images in new ways, acknowledging the thorniness of beauty and perception.

35. It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way: Finding Unexpected Strength by Lysa TerKeurst

“Have you ever struggled with the fact that your life doesn’t look the way you thought it would? Maybe you have this feeling that circumstances, relationships, and finances should be better than they are.

And underneath it all, you’re disappointed. Yes, disappointment is a feeling we all have, but few of us know how to process it or find God’s goodness in the midst of it.” -Lysa TerKeurst

See it here

36. Circe by Madeline Miller

A modern feminist re-telling of the story of Circe, the famous witch from Homer’s Odyssey, Circe by Madeline Miller, is a book you never want to end. Lyrical and poetic, Miller’s book allows Circe to claim her voice in the narrative, pushing her way in from the obscurity of the margins. The reader watches Circe grow up to be a sensitive, wise, and fierce goddess. This novel’s glimmering prose is sure to have you rethinking old myths and gifting the book to all of your friends.

37. The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

In a project parallel to the aforementioned Circe, Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls is a feminist reinterpretation of Homer’s Iliad. Briseis, a former queen, reduced to being the spoils of war, replaces the Greek warriors as the story’s center. The Silence of the Girls casts an unflinching eye on the legendary Trojan War and the women behind the scenes. The tale of Ilium, Barker reminds us, was written by a man; but there’s always more than one side to the story.

38. The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy

The World’s Wife by former UK Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, titled after the expression “the world and his wife,” pointedly challenges the assumption that “the world” is somehow male. Duffy’s acerbic poetry collection takes the form of a series of dramatic monologues, each from a different female character from literature or history. Ranging from Eurydice to Anne Hathaway (wife of Shakespeare, not the actress) and Elvis’s twin sister, Duffy’s hilarious and arresting poems will have you nodding in agreement and laughing out loud.

39. Dear Life by Alice Munro

Canadian Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro’s latest collection of short stories, Dear Life, tells stories that resist neat closure in typical Munro fashion. Concerned with memory and the past, this collection features stories that push the boundaries of fiction and autobiography to land in the fascinating zone of autofiction. Spare, ironic, and masterful, these stories are a master-class in writing by one of the world’s most accomplished story writers and a reminder that short stories are not lesser than novels in any way.

40. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Barack Obama calls Tayari Jones’s novel An American Marriage “a moving portrayal of the effects of a wrongful conviction on a young African-American couple.” A love story shaped by forces outside its protagonists’ control, this book examines the effect of separation and incarceration on a married couple. Winner of the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction, An American Marriage is sure to captivate you with its intimate narrative and heart-rending plot.

41. Normal People by Sally Rooney

Sally Rooney’s hugely successful Normal People (recently adapted into a much-hyped TV show) focuses on the love story between two young Irish students, Marianne and Connell. Tender, intimate, and impressively minimal, it charts their strange but unique relationship as they move from rural Ireland to Dublin. Normal People chronicles a special connection between two people but is also a story that captures the most relatable elements of contemporary young love and the power of finding ourselves in others.

42. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

Another entry in the tradition of re-telling classical mythology, The Penelopiad foregrounds the voice of Penelope and the twelve maids who were hanged in Homer’s Odyssey. Penelope’s voice becomes distinctly modern, a smart and wise character who completely captivates her reader. Atwood also brilliantly places the emphasis on the twelve maids, who are entirely buried in the details in the original myth, yet here find justice and a space to speak.

43. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Jean Rhys’s 1966 novel Wide Sargasso Sea is a modern literary classic. Harking back to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Jean Rhys problematizes the “madwoman in the attic,” bringing her into the spotlight and beginning a process of questioning and challenging white male narrative authority. Here, Rochester is de-mythologized, and Antoinette, the ‘madwoman,’ is given the right to tell her story. Lyrical and uncompromising, this moving novel transforms the universe of Jane Eyre with feminism and post-colonialism in a way that cannot leave Brontë’s classic unchanged.

44. Middlemarch by George Eliot

George Eliot’s 19th century classic Middlemarch tells the story of several characters in provincial England. It’s a moving and wise narrative documenting a moment in time and a timeless tale about human nature. Eliot’s book is brimming with idealism and a belief in people’s power to do and be good; it’s no wonder that many consider Middlemarch the book that changed their lives. Brilliant and optimistic, this admittedly long novel really is worth your time.

45. A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen

Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House is another 19th-century masterpiece. Sometimes called a “proto-feminist” play, A Doll’s House mercilessly exposes social hypocrisy in the Victorian age, challenging the inequality of marriage through the character of Nora. In sharp contrast to her husband’s idea of her character, Nora’s independent nature and integrity stand out as a refreshing and honest voice. It sounds like heavy stuff, but A Doll’s House makes for a perfect short read about a complicated female character as a play.

46. The Power  by Naomi Alderman

In The Power, the world is a recognizable place: there’s a rich Nigerian kid who lounges around the family pool; a foster girl whose religious parents hide their true nature; a local American politician; a tough London girl from a tricky family. But something vital has changed, causing their lives to converge with devastating effects. Teenage girls now have immense physical power – they can cause agonizing pain and even death. And, with this small twist of nature, the world changes utterly.

This extraordinary novel by Naomi Alderman, a Sunday TimesYoung Writer of the Year and Granta Best of British writer, is not only a gripping story of how the world would change if power were in the hands of women but also exposes, with breath-taking daring, our contemporary world.

47. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witness