National Book Month: 5 Reads That are Shaping My Year
October is National Book Month, and it feels like the perfect time to pause and reflect on the stories that have quietly changed me this year. Books have a way of doing that. They sit on your desk, waiting patiently, until one day you open a page that rearranges something inside you.
It is true that, when you build yourself, the future builds itself. For me, reading has become one of the most powerful ways to do that. These are the five books I’ve read this year that have reshaped how I live, act, and think. Each one found me at the right time, left a mark on how I see the world, and continues to guide how I want to build within it.
1️⃣ Think Like a Monk — Jay Shetty
This book isn’t just a guide to better living; it feels like a personal roadmap to peace and clarity. Jay Shetty takes timeless wisdom and turns it into something that feels real and usable in everyday life. He helps you understand not just how to quiet your mind, but how to live with intention.
What stood out most to me was the way he begins with values. He makes you question what truly matters and helps you see the gap between what you believe in and how you actually live. It’s such a simple idea, yet it hit me deeply. I realized how often we move through life on autopilot, chasing goals that do not align with who we really are. The exercises he includes helped me define my own values and start making choices that bring me closer to peace instead of pressure.
Another part that stayed with me was his reflection on forgiveness. Jay explains that forgiveness is not about letting others off the hook; it is about freeing yourself from the weight of resentment. Learning to forgive myself has been just as powerful as forgiving others, and this book gave me the tools to do both.
Every chapter felt like a calm conversation with a wiser friend. When life feels overwhelming or noisy, Think Like a Monk helps me return to stillness and see what really matters. Out of everything I have read, this book stands out as one I will keep coming back to whenever I need to reset, reflect, or simply remember who I want to be.
2️⃣ Source Code — Bill Gates
In his memoir Source Code, Bill Gates reflects on the many directions his life kept pulling him, from his early fascination with computers to the founding of Microsoft. What stands out most is how his journey was not built on intellect alone but on curiosity, competition, and conviction.
Gates shares how a group of young friends with a shared obsession turned code into a company that changed the world. He writes candidly about his early missteps, the intense drive that shaped him, and the steady influence of his family that kept him grounded. It is worth reading the whole story because every chapter holds moments that reveal how his worldview and choices were formed. You begin to see not just the making of Microsoft, but the making of Gates himself.
What makes this book powerful is not just the story of success but the mindset behind it. Gates shows how real innovation comes from disciplined obsession, the willingness to think long-term, and the courage to build something before anyone else believes in it. For anyone trying to build their own legacy, Source Code is a reminder that brilliance alone is not enough. You have to learn, evolve, and keep coding your way forward.
3️⃣ The Courage to Be Disliked — Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga
If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be unsettling. It flips everything we’ve been conditioned to believe about success, trauma, and happiness. Rooted in Adlerian psychology, it challenges the idea that our past defines us and argues that we are not prisoners of what happened to us, but creators of what comes next.
When the authors open with the statement, “Trauma is not real,” it feels almost offensive at first. But as the dialogue unfolds between the philosopher and the young man, you realize the point is not to dismiss pain, but to reclaim power from it. It’s about refusing to let old stories dictate who you become.
Reading this book felt like being confronted by your own excuses. It makes you uncomfortable in all the right ways. The philosopher keeps stripping away every belief that the young man clings to, that we need approval to be happy, that our past limits our potential, that other people’s opinions define our worth. By the end, you start seeing that freedom is not about being understood, but about having the courage to live truthfully, even when no one else agrees.
I’ll admit, it wasn’t an easy read. I found myself arguing with it in my head, then slowly realizing that the resistance I felt was exactly the point. This book doesn’t comfort you, it wakes you up. It challenges you to stop being a victim of circumstance and start becoming the architect of your own life.
4️⃣ Orbital — Samantha Harvey
Orbital isn’t just a book you read. It’s an experience that slows you down and lifts you out of yourself. Samantha Harvey follows six astronauts circling Earth over the course of a single day, but somehow she captures the entire human condition in those 24 hours.
The writing is lyrical and almost weightless. You start seeing the world as they do, from above, and suddenly, everything feels fragile and miraculous at once! The deadlines, the noise, the rush of daily life fade into the background, and what remains is a deep sense of awe for the simple fact that we exist.
This book reminded me that perspective is power. It helped me zoom out from the projects and problems right in front of me and remember that we are all part of something far greater. It’s humbling in the best way, a quiet nudge to look up more often, to breathe, and to realize that we don’t carry the world. The world carries us.
5️⃣ The Midnight Library — Matt Haig
I picked up The Midnight Library without knowing what I was getting into, and that is the beauty of fiction. It can quietly rearrange the way you see your own life. This book completely blew my mind.
Matt Haig tells the story of Nora Seed, a woman caught between life and death who finds herself in a magical library where every book holds a version of the life she could have lived. Each choice she once regretted opens a new door, a different career, a lost relationship, or a missed adventure. Through these alternate lives, Nora begins to see that every path, even the most dazzling ones, comes with its own shadows.
Like many of us, I’ve often caught myself wondering how life might have turned out if I had made different choices — if I’d been more successful, had deeper connections, or lived with more comfort and freedom. But through Nora’s story, I came to understand something deeper: every version of life carries its own joys and struggles, and chasing perfection only blinds us to the beauty of what already is.
The lesson that stayed with me is simple yet freeing. Fulfillment does not come from chasing a different life, but from choosing to live the one you already have fully. When I closed the book, I felt a strange calm, like I had just walked out of my own midnight library, certain that this, right here, is the best life I could be living.
If you enjoyed reading this, I’d love to hear from you. Comment below with your own book list or the one story that changed how you think, live, or build this year. Let’s turn National Book Month into a conversation about growth, one book, one idea, and one mindset at a time!
