20 books everyone should read in their 40s

woman reading book
These books are worth reading at any age — especially middle age.
Pixabay
  • Great memoirs for middle age include "Eat Pray Love," "Wild," and "The Rainbow Comes and Goes."
  • Books like "In Our Prime," "Shameless," and "Life Reimagined" show that there are plenty of adventures to be had in your 40s.
  • Novels like "The Kite Runner," "The Time Traveler's Wife," and "Wonder" are meaningful at any age.

 

You're most likely to make a Nobel Prize-winning discovery at 40 — or at least do your most outstanding work, according to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research. But leaving your 30s can also be daunting.

Luckily, there are books to guide you along, from memoirs of middle age to classic novels that never get old.

Here are 20 books everyone should read in their 40s, in no particular order.

"Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert

Eat Pray Love
Paperback, $11.49
Amazon

Amazon's synopsis: "In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want—husband, country home, successful career—but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she was consumed by panic and confusion. This wise and rapturous book is the story of how she left behind all these outward marks of success, and set out to explore three different aspects of her nature, against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence."

Buy it here.

"The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini

Kite Runner
Paperback, $12.89
Amazon

Amazon's synopsis: "The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant, caught in the tragic sweep of history, 'The Kite Runner' transports readers to Afghanistan at a tense and crucial moment of change and destruction. A powerful story of friendship, it is also about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons — their love, their sacrifices, their lies."

Buy it here.

"In Our Prime: The Invention of Middle Age" by Patricia Cohen

in our prime the invention of middle age book cover
Paperback, $4.95
Amazon

Amazon's synopsis: "For the first time ever, the middle-aged make up the biggest, richest, and most influential segment of the country, yet the history of middle age has remained largely untold. This important and immensely readable book finally fills the gap. 'In Our Prime' is a biography of the idea of middle age from its invention in the late nineteenth century to its current place at the center of American society, where it shapes the way we view our families, our professional obligations, and our inner lives."

Buy it here.

"Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake" by Anna Quindlen

lots of candles plenty of cake book cover
Paperback, $9.96
Amazon

Amazon's synopsis: "In this irresistible memoir, Anna Quindlen writes about a woman’s life, from childhood memories to manic motherhood to middle age, using the events of her life to illuminate ours. Considering — and celebrating — everything from marriage, girlfriends, our mothers, parenting, faith, loss, to all the stuff in our closets, and more, Quindlen says for us here what we may wish we could have said ourselves. As she did in her beloved New York Times columns, and in 'A Short Guide to a Happy Life,' Quindlen uses her past, present, and future to explore what matters most to women at different ages."

Buy it here.

"Shameless: How I Ditched the Diet, Got Naked, Found True Pleasure... and Somehow Got Home in Time To Cook Dinner" by Pamela Madsen

shameless book cover
Hardcover, $8.78
Amazon

Amazon's synopsis: "At 43 years old, Pamela Madsen was happily married to the man she fell in love with at 17. She was the mother of two sons and had a successful career as a nationally known advocate for fertility issues. But she felt a growing sexual restlessness and yearning that wouldn't let up. And though Pamela loved her husband and didn't want to have an affair, she knew deep down that she needed more, much more. In "Shameless," she tells the story of how she found it―and not only kept her marriage intact but made it stronger than ever."

Buy it here.

"The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger

the time traveler's wife
Paperback, $10.26
Amazon

Amazon's synopsis: "A most untraditional love story, this is the celebrated tale of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who inadvertently travels through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare’s passionate affair endures across a sea of time and captures them in an impossibly romantic trap that tests the strength of fate and basks in the bonds of love."

Buy it here.

"A Window Opens" by Elizabeth Egan

a window opens book
Paperback, $8.70
Amazon

Amazon's synopsis: "What happens when having it all proves too much to handle? In this 'fresh, funny take on the age-old struggle to have it all' (People) a wife and mother of three leaps at the chance to fulfill her professional destiny—only to learn every opportunity comes at a price."

Buy it here.

"A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara

a little life book
Paperback, $11.55
Amazon

Amazon's synopsis: "'A Little Life' follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves."

Buy it here.

"The Interestings" by Meg Wolitzer

the interestings meg wolitzer
Paperback, $11.77
Amazon

Amazon's synopsis: "The summer that Nixon resigns, six teenagers at a summer camp for the arts become inseparable. Decades later the bond remains powerful, but so much else has changed. In 'The Interestings,' Wolitzer follows these characters from the height of youth through middle age, as their talents, fortunes, and degrees of satisfaction diverge."

Buy it here.

"Alexander Hamilton" by Ron Chernow

alexander hamilton book cover
Paperback, $16.50
Amazon

Amazon's synopsis: "In the first full-length biography of Alexander Hamilton in decades, Ron Chernow tells the riveting story of a man who overcame all odds to shape, inspire, and scandalize the newborn America. According to historian Joseph Ellis, 'Alexander Hamilton' is 'a robust full-length portrait, in my view the best ever written, of the most brilliant, charismatic and dangerous founder of them all.'"

The book inspired the hit Broadway musical "Hamilton."

Buy it here.

"Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi

homegoing yaa gyasi book
Paperback, $11.21
Amazon

Amazon's synopsis: "Ghana, eighteenth century: two half sisters are born into different villages, each unaware of the other. One will marry an Englishman and lead a life of comfort in the palatial rooms of the Cape Coast Castle. The other will be captured in a raid on her village, imprisoned in the very same castle, and sold into slavery. 
 
'Homegoing' follows the parallel paths of these sisters and their descendants through eight generations: from the Gold Coast to the plantations of Mississippi, from the American Civil War to Jazz Age Harlem. Yaa Gyasi’s extraordinary novel illuminates slavery’s troubled legacy both for those who were taken and those who stayed—and shows how the memory of captivity has been inscribed on the soul of our nation."

Buy it here.

"The Samurai's Garden" by Gail Tsukiyama

the samurai's garden gail tsukiyama
Paperback, $9.59
Amazon

Amazon's synopsis: "The daughter of a Chinese mother and a Japanese father, Tsukiyama uses the Japanese invasion of China during the late 1930s as a somber backdrop for her unusual story about a 20-year-old Chinese painter named Stephen who is sent to his family's summer home in a Japanese coastal village to recover from a bout with tuberculosis. Here he is cared for by Matsu, a reticent housekeeper and a master gardener. Over the course of a remarkable year, Stephen learns Matsu's secret and gains not only physical strength, but also profound spiritual insight. Matsu is a samurai of the soul, a man devoted to doing good and finding beauty in a cruel and arbitrary world, and Stephen is a noble student, learning to appreciate Matsu's generous and nurturing way of life and to love Matsu's soulmate, gentle Sachi, a woman afflicted with leprosy."

Buy it here.

"Gilead" by Marilynne Robinson

gilead book
Paperback, $9.15
Amazon

Amazon's synopsis: "Nearly 25 years after 'Housekeeping,' Marilynne Robinson returns with an intimate tale of three generations, from the Civil War to the 20th century: a story about fathers and sons and the spiritual battles that still rage at America's heart. In the words of Kirkus, it is a novel 'as big as a nation, as quiet as thought, and moving as prayer. Matchless and towering.' 'Gilead' tells the story of America and will break your heart."

Buy it here.

"Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri

interperter of maladies
Paperback, $10.03
Amazon

Amazon's synopsis: "Navigating between the Indian traditions they've inherited and the baffling new world, the characters in Jhumpa Lahiri's elegant, touching stories seek love beyond the barriers of culture and generations. In "A Temporary Matter," published in The New Yorker, a young Indian-American couple faces the heartbreak of a stillborn birth while their Boston neighborhood copes with a nightly blackout. In the title story, an interpreter guides an American family through the India of their ancestors and hears an astonishing confession. Lahiri writes with deft cultural insight reminiscent of Anita Desai and a nuanced depth that recalls Mavis Gallant."

Buy it here.

"Wild" by Cheryl Strayed

wild cheryl strayed
Paperback, $11.08
Amazon.com

Amazon's synopsis: "At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and she would do it alone. Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, 'Wild' powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her."

Buy it here.

"Wonder" by R.J. Palacio

wonder book cover
Hardcover, $10.69
Amazon

Amazon's synopsis: "August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. 'Wonder,' now a #1 New York Times bestseller and included on the Texas Bluebonnet Award master list, begins from Auggie’s point of view, but soon switches to include his classmates, his sister, her boyfriend, and others. These perspectives converge in a portrait of one community’s struggle with empathy, compassion, and acceptance."

Buy it here.

"The Year We Turned Forty" by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke

the year we turned 40 book
Paperback, $9.28
Amazon

Amazon's synopsis: "If you could repeat one year of your life, what would you do differently? This heartwarming and hilarious novel from the authors of 'The Status of All Things' and 'Your Perfect Life' features three best friends who get the chance to return to the year they turned forty—the year that altered all of their lives, in ways big and small—and also get the opportunity to change their future."

Buy it here.

 

"The Sleep Revolution" by Arianna Huffington

the sleep revolution
Paperback, $11.08
Amazon

Amazon's synopsis: "We are in the midst of a sleep deprivation crisis, with profound consequences to our health, our job performance, our relationships and our happiness. What we need is nothing short of a sleep revolution: only by renewing our relationship with sleep can we take back control of our lives.

In 'The Sleep Revolution,' Arianna explores all the latest science on what exactly is going on while we sleep and dream. She takes on the sleeping pill industry, and all the ways our addiction to technology disrupts our sleep. She also offers a range of recommendations and tips from leading scientists on how we can get better and more restorative sleep, and harness its incredible power."

Buy it here.

"Life Reimagined" by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

life reimagined
Paperback, $13.60
Amazon

Amazon's synopsis: "There’s no such thing as an inevitable midlife crisis, Barbara Bradley Hagerty writes in this provocative, hopeful book. It’s a myth, an illusion. New scientific research explodes the fable that midlife is a time when things start to go downhill for everybody. In fact, midlife can be a great new adventure, when you can embrace fresh possibilities, purposes, and pleasures. In 'Life Reimagined,' Hagerty explains that midlife is about renewal: It’s the time to renegotiate your purpose, refocus your relationships, and transform the way you think about the world and yourself. Drawing from emerging information in neurology, psychology, biology, genetics, and sociology—as well as her own story of midlife transformation—Hagerty redraws the map for people in midlife and plots a new course forward in understanding our health, our relationships, even our futures."

Buy it here.

"The Rainbow Comes and Goes" by Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt

the rainbow comes and goes
Hardcover, $5.08
Amazon

Amazon's synopsis: "Though Anderson Cooper has always considered himself close to his mother, his intensely busy career as a journalist for CNN and CBS affords him little time to spend with her. After she suffers a brief but serious illness at the age of ninety-one, they resolve to change their relationship by beginning a year-long conversation unlike any they had ever had before. The result is a correspondence of surprising honesty and depth in which they discuss their lives, the things that matter to them, and what they still want to learn about each other."

Buy it here.

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