Good Books You Have To Read According To Real People

Most lists of “must-read books” arrive with a faint air of authority, compiled by critics, curated by algorithms, or optimized for clicks. This one begins elsewhere. It starts in conversations, a friend pressing a paperback into your hands with uncharacteristic urgency, a stranger online confessing that a novel changed how they saw grief, money, or love. These are not endorsements polished for marketing. They are testimonies.

According to research, readers are far more likely to pick up a book when the recommendation comes from someone who has actually lived with it, someone who has underlined its sentences, argued with its ideas, or carried it through a difficult season. That is the premise here. Instead of experts telling you what should matter, this list listens to what already does.

What follows is a collection of good books you have to read, not because they are fashionable or award-laden, but because real people, teachers, founders, parents, late-night readers, say they stayed with them long after the last page. If you have ever wondered which books quietly shape lives when no one is watching, this is a good place to begin.

Crying in H Mart

By Michelle Zauner

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

From the indie rock sensation known as Japanese Breakfast, an unforgettable memoir about family, food, grief, love, and growing up Korean American—“in losing her mother and cooking to bring her back to life, Zauner became herself” (NPR).

In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food.

As she grew up, moving to the East Coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, and performing gigs with her fledgling band--and meeting the man who would become her husband--her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live. It was her mother's diagnosis of terminal cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her.

Vivacious and plainspoken, lyrical and honest, Zauner's voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, and complete with family photos, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

By Betty Smith

USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR

Betty Smith's debut novel is universally regarded as a modern classic. The sprawling tale of an immigrant family in early 20th-century Brooklyn, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is one of the great distinctively American novels.

The Nolan family are first-generation immigrants to the United States. Originating in Ireland and Austria, their life in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn is poor and deprived, but their sacrifices make it possible for their children to grow up in a land of boundless opportunity.

Francie Nolan is the eldest daughter of the family. Alert, imaginative and resourceful, her journey through the first years of a century of profound change is difficult - and transformative. But amid the poverty and suffering among the poor of Brooklyn, there is hope, and the prospect of a brighter future.

A profoundly moving novel, and an honest and true one. It cuts right to the heart of life . . . If you miss A Tree Grows in Brooklyn you will deny yourself a rich experience... It is a poignant and deeply understanding story of childhood and family relationships. ― New York Times

This story radiates life. ― Daily Telegraph

One of the books of the century ― New York Public Library

Born to Rise: The Unspoken Principles Behind Power, Riches, and Lasting Wealth

By Shree Shambav

SALIS MANIA CHOICE AWARDS 2026 NOMINEE

What if everything you’ve been taught about success was only half the truth?

In a world obsessed with achievement, fame, and financial gain, Born to Rise – Foundations of Power, Riches & Wealth offers a radically different path—one that begins not with strategy, but with clarity.

This transformative first volume in the Born to Rise series is more than a personal development book. It is a wake-up call—to pause, reflect, and redefine what power, riches, and wealth truly mean in your life.

Through deeply insightful chapters and soul-stirring narratives, Shree Shambav takes you on an inner journey into the silent forces that shape your destiny—your mindset, beliefs, emotional intelligence, and your relationship with value itself.

Inside this powerful book, you’ll discover:

• What Power Really Is — and why it has nothing to do with domination and everything to do with presence and inner mastery.

• The Difference Between Riches and Wealth — and how confusing them can cost you your peace, purpose, and potential.

• Mental Models of the Wealthy and Wise — used not just to accumulate but to compound growth across time, relationships, and identity.

• The Hidden Psychology of Money — and how your beliefs around scarcity, worthiness, and success silently influence your outcomes.

• A Bridge to Book Two — revealing why ambition alone will never fulfil you, and why alignment is the next true frontier.

Who is this book for?

This is not a book for those chasing shortcuts. It is for the visionary. The leader. The seeker. The one who has tasted success but knows there is more. The one ready to rise—not just in the world’s eyes, but in their own soul. Whether you’re just starting your journey or reevaluating the one you’ve been on, this book will meet you where you are—and elevate you from the inside out.

What makes this book different?

Unlike conventional self-help or finance books, Born to Rise – Foundations of Power, Riches & Wealth blends timeless wisdom with modern relevance. It moves beyond tactics and into transformation, helping you build an unshakable foundation for success that is not only sustainable—but deeply fulfilling. This is not about hustle. This is about truth. This is not a manual. It is a mirror.

You were not just born to succeed. You were born to rise.

Let this book be the beginning.