What better way to deal with feeling fed-up, lonely and pissed off than getting lost in a book?!

Inspired by my darling friend and future novelist, here are my top 9 to help you through these times:

1) The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho: For when you’re feeling lost

This beautiful short book is a perfect read for when you feel you’ve lost your way.  The narrative follows a shepherd through the desert as he learns how to listen to his heart.

2) Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton: For when you feel like the only single one

This book will make you smile, laugh and cry.  Truly uplifting and a gentle reminder that other people struggle with single life, relationships and growing up, too.

3) The Wrong Knickers by Bryony Gordon: For hilarious dating anecdotes

A very amusing book about Bryony Gordon’s dating disasters and her quest for love.

4 & 5) Hot Feminist by Polly Vernon and The Guilty Feminist by Deborah Frances-White: For modern feminism.

Deborah and Polly address what it means to be a feminist today without all the feminist rhetoric of ‘let’s smash the patriarchy’.

6) Milk and Honey and The Sun and Her Flowers, both by Rupi Kaur: For beautiful poetry about love, loss and finding your way.

Rupi’s poems are so heartfelt, all at once it’s impossible to put the book down and also impossible to keep reading.

7) She Must Be Mad by Charly Cox: For modern poems about discovering what it is to be a woman.

Quirky, intelligently observed and written; Charly perfectly captures the highs and lows of dating and single life as a Millennial.

8) Touch by Courtney Maum: For navigating a technological world whilst being programmed to desire human touch.

A novel unlike any I’ve read before. This feels like a zeitgeist book.

9) Cat Person by Kristen Roupenian: For a quick read in any situation.

A short story that has been so highly regarded, it would be stupid not to include it.