50 Books Everyone Should Read At least Once in Their Life

I caught the reading bug when I started writing for Hai, my wellness blog. To be a good writer, one needs to be an avid reader so I started by reading on Sundays and it grew from there. Now, I love to be the company of book. In my house, I surround myself with piles of books in whatever room I inhabit. Books about wellness, positive thinking, finances, gardening, and nature; books on different perspectives on success, health, and happiness; and those with profound thoughts on food as well as philosophy.

No matter how many books I have managed to read, and how many pages I have written, I still seek out more. I always want to get lost in books.

I have learnt that the right book at the right time can expand your life in the same way love does. It broadens one’s perspective beyond the confines of one’s own understanding, making you more thoughtful, more wise, more kind, more generous, more brave, more alert to the world’s wonders and more pained by its inequities.

"What if I had a bookstore?", I always wonder. What if I expanded my small library of books into a room full of books. I would ensure it held the best of books of all genres.

It would be a bookshop where any reading inclination— be it for thrillers or theology, or fashion and photography—might find reward. A book browser’s version of paradise.

This is a dream of mine. As a writer and aspiring bookseller, I love to be in the company of books. I aspire to spend my days indulging in miscellaneous learning in the Hai bookstore, where the undisciplined undirected curiosity of the indolent lover of reading can access thousands of volumes, unorganized by any larger purpose.

“Read at whim! Read at whim!” —Randall Jarrel

When I open this bookstore, the list below contains it's first 50 books. I have read them and think they belong in every library.

1. In the House of the Interpreter: A Memoir by Ngugi wa Thiong'o.

2. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

3. Who Moved My Cheese? For Those Who Refuse to Live as Mice in Someone Else's Maze by Deepak Malhotra.

4. Siku Njema by Ken Walibora.

5. Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson.

6. Things I Will Tell My Daughter: Uncensored Truths on Love, Money and Womanhood by Joan Thatiah.

7. Rich Dad Poor Dad:What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert Kiyosaki.

8. Welcome Home: A Guide to Building a Home for Your Soul by Najwa Zebian.

9. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson.

10. The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

11. The Princess Saves Herself in This One by Amanda Lovelace.

12. We're Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union.

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

14. The Long Walk to Freedom by Mandela Nelson.

15. Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

16. The 5 Second Rule: Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage by Mel Robbins.

17. I've Been Rich, I've Been Poor, Rich is Better by Judy Resnick.

18. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert.

19. A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle.

20. Kifo Kisimani by Kithaka wa Mberia.

21. The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur

22. 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson.

23. 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do:Take Back Your Power, Embrace Change, Face Your Fears, and Train Your Brain for Happiness and Success by Amy Morin.

24. Outwitting the Devil: The Secret to Freedom and Success by Napoleon Hill.

25. The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare.

26. As a Man Thinketh by James Allen.

27. The Secret by Rhonda Byrnes.

28. Encounters from Africa - An anthology of short stories by various authors.

29. The sun and her flowers by Rupi Kaur

30. The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale.

31. The Biology of Success: How to Have it All by Dr Bob Arnot.

32. The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask: (With Answers) by Mark Mittelberg.

33. The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason.

34. I'm too Pretty to be broke by Joan Thatiah.

35. His Needs, Her Needs: Building an Affair-Proof Marriage by Willard F. Harley Jr.

36. Coming to Birth by Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye.

37. It's Your Time: Activate Your Faith, Achieve Your Dreams, and Increase in God's Favor by Joel Osteen.

38. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You (10th Anniversary Edition) by John C.Maxwell.

39. The Kama Sutra by Vatsyayana.

40. The 5 AM Club by Robin Sharma.

41. Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe.

42. Betrayal in the City by Francis Imbuga.

43. Calm the F*ck Down: How to Control What You Can and Accept What You Can’t So You Can Stop Freaking Out and Get On With Your Life by Sarah Knight.

44. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey.

45. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.

46. Born A Crime by Trevoh Noah.

47. Vusi: Business & life lessons from a black dragon by Vusi Thembekwayo.

48. The Reckoning by John Grisham.

49. It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover.

50. Kidagaa Kimemwozea by Ken Walibora.

Happy reading!