Whether you want to explore a new hobby or just want to pass time, reading is a healthy habit that everyone should cultivate. If you’re unsure about what books to read next or would like to start with the must-read books for beginners, we’re here to help.
Below is a new selection of books, consisting of various genres such as novels, nonfiction, self-help, and business. Some of them even have interesting titles! All of these books can be bought online, so you don’t have to run to the bookstore. In fact, the prices online are even lower than the prices in the bookstores.
Table of Contents
- Genre: Psychological, fiction
- Average rating: 3.7/5
Despite its unusual title, Lord of the Flies is best rated as it addresses many uncomfortable truths about human nature. The plot follows a group of boys who are stranded on an island in the midst of a wartime evacuation.
In the early stages of their struggle for survival, the boys behave in a civilized way, enacting rules and leaders to live harmoniously. However, they soon begin to exhibit warlike, savage, and barbaric behaviour.
The main concept behind the story is conflicting human impulses between achieving individual power and collective harmony. It also touches on the tension between individuality and groupthink, which is very much relevant in the 21st century.
- Genre: Nautical, fiction
- Average rating: 3.8/5
Consisting of only 123 pages, the Old Man and the Sea is a classic literature about a heroic old man’s epic adventures on sea. Having caught nothing for 84 days, the ageing fisherman ventures out into the open sea and eventually catches a giant marlin, after much struggling with sharks and storms. Overall, the story features human endurance in facing hardships and sufferings in life.
Due to the book’s short length and exciting story, it’s a great stepping stone if you want to get started on your journey of reading.
- Genre: High fantasy, fiction
- Average rating: 4/5
Spanning 14 volumes: 1 prequel novel, 2 companion books; the Wheel of Time is not for the half-hearted reader. It may require much determination and persistence to finish the series, but worry not, because you’ll be flipping the pages non-stop.
Its plot takes place in an unnamed world, possibly both in the distant past and near future due to the cyclicality of time in this particular setting. The story centres around a man who learns that he is continually reincarnated as the world’s messiah, destined to save the Earth from an evil force known as the “Dark One”.
Note: In this listing, we have only included “The Eye of the World” - the first book in the series.
- Genre: Self-help
- Average rating: 4.2/5
As long as you are alive on Earth, high chances are, you will interact with people. Which is why it’s extremely important to develop and improve your people skills in order to live a harmonising life.
How to Win Friends & Influence People is an all-time favourite self-improvement book, guiding you on how to navigate tricky social situations. It also aims to teach you on how to be more likeable by others so that you can achieve better success in life.
Although the book has been in print since 1936, the techniques applied in the book is still very relevant in today’s generation.
- Genre: Non-fiction
- Average rating: 4/5
What makes a business truly phenomenal? More specifically, what makes them stand out from the crowd especially when their peers are slowly withering away?
In Built to Last, the authors dissected 18 exceptional businesses that have weathered through storms and have stood the test of time, with the average founding date being 1897. They studied these businesses from their early beginnings to their exponential growth and up to the present day.
All in all, the book is a blueprint filled with practical concepts that are useful for both managers and entrepreneurs.
- Genre: Psychological, philosophical, fiction
- Average rating: 3.9/5
Life of Pi is a heart-wrenching story about the will to live. It centres around the son of a zookeeper, Pi, whose family emigrates from India to North America, only to be shipwrecked during the journey.
The ship sinks and Pi finds himself alone on a lifeboat, with only a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra, and a Bengal tiger as companions. Miraculously, Pi managed to coexist with the tiger for 227 days at sea and survives to tell his story.
Throughout the story, you will witness them struggling and actively fighting for their lives under insurmountable circumstances.
- Genre: Investing, non-fiction
- Average rating: 4.2/5
Written by Peter Lynch, a renowned fund manager who has consistently beaten the market averages, One Up on Wall Street is a beginner-friendly book that explains how to identify and select winning stocks before the professional analysts discover them.
Making it possible for the average investor to be as good as Wall Street fund managers, the book teaches one to develop the right analysis, right mindset, and the ability to ignore the ups and downs of the stock market.
Overall, it’s a great guide if you want to invest in stocks for the long term while focusing on the fundamentals of the businesses behind the stocks.
- Genre: Self-help
- Average rating: 4/5
What’s interesting about the One Minute Millionaire is that it’s both a non-fiction book and a novel.
Wanting to cater to both “logical learners” and “visionary learners”, on one side of the book is a story about a widowed mother who must raise a million dollars in 90 days or risk losing custody of her children. Meanwhile, the other side explains the authors’ practical guide to achieving financial success.
The book opens your mind to the endless possibilities of entrepreneurship. It counsels readers to make the most of their limited resources and overcome their fear-based obstacles.
- Genre: Children-literature, fiction
- Average rating: 5/5
The Very Hungry Caterpillar takes the concept of metamorphosis and turns it into a story of growth and development. It has a simple plot: a newly hatched caterpillar that eats his way through all kinds of leaves and vegetables, eventually turning into a beautiful butterfly.
What makes it so suitable for babies is its immersive pages. Filled with finger-sized holds, die-cut pages, clear pictures, and simple language, children and babies can read and play along. It will also make an excellent bedtime story for kids.
- Genre: Children-literature, fiction
- Average rating: 4.4/5
The Giving Tree features a giving-taking relationship between an apple tree and a boy. Its unique story follows the protagonist - a boy, throughout his childhood years, teenage years, as a middle-aged man, and finally as an elderly man.
Throughout every stage of the boy’s life, he takes advantage of what the tree can offer, whether it’s her apples, branches, or trunks, whereas the tree never failed to give the boy her unconditional love.
Although the plot seems somewhat sad, it’s a great story to teach kids about the joys of giving as well as the value of friendships.