Depending on the specific books that you choose, reading is a great way to learn about others and the world we share. You can even discover something about yourself in the process. The best novels and works of nonfiction not only teach us something, but they also inspire us as much as they inform us. Looking for something good to read as the New Year fast approaches? Consider curling up with one of the following books.

Exit West: A Novel by Mohsin Hamid

Two very different, complex people meet, fall in love, and attempt to conduct their romance in secret. Soon, the risk of discovery becomes the least of their problems when their city is attacked. As the violence escalates and desperation grows, they make the decision to flee. The couple steps through a door from one world to the next, leaving behind everyone that they love. Upon arrival, they somehow must learn to survive in a place where every spoken word, custom and mode of living is completely unfamiliar to them. While a work of fiction, this novel provides an insider’s look at the situation faced by millions of refugees around our world every single day. Should we leave, or should we stay? Where will we go? How will we survive once we arrive?

From the Inside Out: A Nonprofit’s Guide to Meaningful Strategy by Michael E. Stone, PhD.

This book offers a new way for nonprofits to create their strategy. Before defining the corporate vision, nonprofits should first focus on identifying their core traits. They should then allow these key characteristics to change how they traditionally think and approach evaluation, alignment and implementation in order to create more relevant, and sustainable, impact.

Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel by Jesmyn Ward

The ghosts of the past sharply collide with events in the present day in this haunting tale. A young boy and his grandmother make a desperate attempt to save their family when they risk everything and flee their small, rural town in Mississippi to travel north. During their journey, readers get an intimate look at the graphic effects of drug abuse, poverty, racism and crime on multiple generations of one southern, African American family.

Engine of Impact: Essentials of Strategic Leadership in the Nonprofit Sector by William F. Meehan III and Kim Starkey Jonker

This work offers nonprofits a guide to seven key characteristics they must have to achieve high performance. This book explains how these traits work together to deliver greater financial support, and how to use this increased support to generate more significant impact for lasting good.  

Harmless Like You: A Novel by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan

Loss, abuse and neglect have long-term effects on individuals, and society. These experiences often lead to broken homes, and, broken people. In this work, readers see how the decisions made by one generation continue to affect those that come after them. The story is told from the perspective of two protagonists, Yuki, who was left behind in America by her own parents, and her now adult son Jay. When Jay’s father dies, he goes to talk to the mother who abandoned him so long ago. He can’t understand why any mother would leave her child behind. Readers soon learn about Yuki’s experiences growing up, feeling alone, and entering a very violent relationship. Even when she finds someone who genuinely values and cares for her, she ultimately leaves, just as her parents left. In the present, Jay struggles with his own conflicting feelings about relationships and fatherhood. He worries he will ultimately abandon his own family, just like his mother.

The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from Inside North Korea by Bandi. Translated by Deborah Smith

Have you ever wondered what life was like in communist North Korea during the days of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il? This novel is a compilation of seven short stories that reveal the darkness, and glimmers of hope, that people experience in their daily lives while living under the rule of such a repressive regime.

Packaging Good: The Healing Therapy of Giving by Sally Mundell

This book tells the true story of Sally Mundell, and how she and her daughters were able to deal with the loss of their husband and father by channelling their grief into the driving, creative force behind their nonprofit, which helps children to give back. The book also provides tips and insight on how others can give back each day in simple ways, along with a detailed guide on how others can create their own nonprofit and create a lasting impact on the world.