Just 7 Great Books Every New Grad Should Own

Graduation is a huge life change, and a great time to do a little reading!

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Whether it's high school or college that's coming to an end, graduation is a big damn deal! And a huge life transition like this is a great time to do a little reading.

Rachel Miller / BuzzFeed

So whether you're the one graduating (CONGRATS!!!), or you just know someone who is, here are a bunch of books worth adding to your cart.

1. Ask a Manager: How to Navigate Clueless Colleagues, Lunch-Stealing Bosses, and the Rest of Your Life at Work, which will teach you how to get and keep a job and how to be a good coworker/boss/human being at work.

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I've long been a fan of Alison Green's Ask a Manager work advice column — see some of my favorite letters of all time here — and her new book does not disappoint. I got an advance copy and after I read it, I passed it around to everyone on my team at BF to read, too. It's got her signature practical advice, grounded in her deep knowledge of how businesses and professional relationships work (or how they should work), plus common sense, empathy, and humor. It's a total must-read, regardless of where you are in your career.

Get it from Amazon for $14.40, Barnes & Noble for $14.64, or a local bookstore through IndieBound here.

2. There Is No Good Card for This: What To Say and Do When Life Is Scary, Awful, and Unfair to People You Love, a book that will help you be a better friend when shit gets real (as it most definitely will).

Rachel Miller

I'm such a fan of this book, which, according to the authors, "not chicken soup for the soul, but whiskey for the wounded." It offers thoughtful, practical, genuinely great advice for being a good friend to people going through something awful, advice that's informed by empathy experts/research and also the fact that both authors have gone through some really heavy shit. It's just a lovely little book about how to be decent, and how to show up and do your best, and I learned a lot from it.

PS You can get a preview of the tone/vibe here: 6 Not-Shitty Things To Say To A Friend Going Through A Shitty Time.

Get it for $19.61 from Amazon or Barnes & Noble, or a local bookstore through IndieBound here.

3. Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House, which will ensure that you don't live in squalor.

Tom Vellner / BuzzFeed

Look, I will stan Home Comforts til the day I die. I personally own the paperback and the Kindle edition, and I've lost count of how many copies I've gifted at this point. (I think we're up to nine or so?) It's just an exhaustive encyclopedia that will help you with everything from dishes to laundry to sheets to foodborne pathogens. It's basically the Home Ec class you wish you'd taken at some point in the past four (or eight) years. You don't have to read it cover to cover (though I definitely recommend reading the intro plus the chapters that are most relevant to your day to day); it's just a great reference book that you'll turn to again and again throughout your life.

See more: This Modern Home Ec Book Will Stop People From Asking, "You Live Like This???"

Get it from Amazon $16.93, Barnes & Noble for $18.31, or a local bookstore through IndieBound here.

4. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead, which will leave you feeling both softer and stronger.

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Brené Brown's research and wise words about vulnerability, shame, and human connection has gone viral for a reason. Consider this a leveled-up alternative to Oh the Places You'll Go!

Get a sense of it: Brené Brown's The Power of Vulnerability TED Talk

Buy it from Amazon for $13.59, Barnes & Noble for $14, or a local bookstore through IndieBound here.

5. Joy of Cooking, which will teach you what you need to know — over and over again for basically the rest of your life.

Rachel Miller

There are tons of great beginner cookbooks out there, but The Joy of Cooking is the OG cookbook for me (for beginners or...anyone). Much like Home Comforts, it's a great reference book with that Home Ec vibe. Not only will ensure that you have hundreds of delicious, rigorously-tested recipes at your fingertips, it also explains techniques and terms you may not recognize in clear and easy-to-follow language.

While I wouldn't gift it to someone moving into a dorm room without a kitchen — there are better gifts for them, is all — it is a great one for college grads, or anyone who will have their own kitchen and a need to feed themselves.

Get it from Amazon for $20.14, Barnes & Noble for $23.93, or a local bookstore through IndieBound here.

6. Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health, which will make you appreciate the human body in a whole new way.

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Every single person I know who read this book in their twenties had the exact same takeaway: "You should read this even if you aren't planning on having kids any time soon, even if you don't ever want kids. It just teaches you so much about your body." It may actually be older than some new grads, but it's basically a cult favorite at this point.

Get it from Amazon for $20.73, Barnes & Noble for $21.37, or a local bookstore through IndieBound here.

7. And Heart Talk: Poetic Wisdom for a Better Life, which will soothe your weary soul when you need it most.

Rachel Miller

This is an easy read but it's just so affirming. It's the kind of book you can pick up, flip open to any page, and immediately feel your shoulders start to come down from your ears. You'll highlight, you'll dog-ear, you'll post pics of relevant passages to your Instagram.

Get it from Amazon for $12.83, Barnes & Noble for $13.55, or a local bookstore through IndieBound here.

Read more:

• 15 Things About Starting Your First Job I Wish Someone Had Told Me, So I’m Telling You

• 16 Graduation Gifts College Students Will Actually Want To Receive