What it is: a compelling and reflective chronicle of the author's struggles with and continued recovery from disordered eating.

Read it for: the emotionally affecting stories of family dysfunction and cycles of addiction. 

About the author: journalist and documentary producer Susan Burton is a long-time editor of This American Life. 

What it's about: the impact of unanticipated life change events (job loss, death of a loved one, etc.) and the importance of learning how to respond to them.  

Why you should read it: The advice is presented in easy-to-digest sections and written in an approachable, relaxed style. 

You might also like: The Power of Moments by Chip Heath and Women Rowing North by Mary Pipher.

What it is: a moving, stylistically complex reflection on life stages and the artistic process, written as advice to the author's grandson but filled with observations we can all benefit from.  

Author alert: MacArthur fellow, scholar, and political cartoonist Charles Johnson also wrote the novel Middle Passage, which won the National Book Award in 1990.

What it's about: the male bias at the heart of modern medical knowledge and how women can fight for the care they need.  

Topics include: pharmaceutical research with male-only subjects, nontraditional stroke and heart attack symptoms, disparities in pain management, and psychiatric misdiagnosis.

You might also like: Caring for Equality by David McBride; Everything Below the Waist by Jennifer Block. 

What it's about: the scientific underpinnings of habit formation, with insights about how to manage your expectations, motivations, and emotional responses.

Why you might like it: The advice presented here is well-grounded in research but is written in an inspiring tone and broken down into practical, approachable steps.

What it is: an accessible and thought-provoking look at how time (and our perception of it) impacts us in unexpected psychological, biological, and economic ways.  

Topics include: how the time of day might affect the decisions we make; the wide-ranging ripple effects of afternoon energy drops; how to best harness the power of your own circadian rhythm.

Want a taste? "If you want to measure the world’s emotional state, to find a mood ring large enough to encircle the globe, you could do worse than Twitter."

What it's about: the unequal expectations faced by many working women and how they spend their "free" time, with a focus on common disparities in household labor and ways to shrink the gap. 

Why you should read it: with the rapid increase of people working from home, these issues could not be more important or timely.

Reviewers say: Fair Play is "potentially revolutionary" and gives readers "the right combination of venting and commiserating balanced by practical solutions" (Booklist).

What it is: a no-nonsense guide to managing your time, changing your mindset toward getting work done, and building work habits that stick.

What sets it apart: the focus on customizing your approach to productivity; the author's willingness to engage with less commonly discussed obstacles like guilt and shame.

Includes: a 28-question Productivity Style Assessment, to help you determine your productivity type (Prioritizer, Visualizer, Arranger, or Planner) and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each.