I was scrolling through my reading tracker from the past few years and noticed a pattern. Murder trials. Brain injuries. Grief. A survivalist family in Idaho. The Taliban. Norwegians. Sexism. Racism. Self-help experiments. Jenny Lawson. Twice.
Apparently, I’ve been reading a lot of books by resilient women. Women who got knocked down and got back up. I’m a Midwest dad who plays in a 50-and-over softball league. I am not the target audience for most of these books. But a good story about a resilient woman (or 15) is just good reading.
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How to Use This List
- 😂 Want to laugh? Start with “They Laughed Through It.”
- 😭 Want to cry and then feel better? Go to “They Survived It.”
- 📋 Want a plan? Skip to “They Made a Plan.”
They Laughed Through It
Hard stuff, delivered with jokes. My home turf. If you like these, my lists of the best humor essays and funny memoirs have plenty more.
1. How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay by Jenny Lawson
My favorite humor writer. Lawson writes about depression and anxiety. It’s funny. It’s honest. It actually helps. Read my full review.
📦 Amazon
2. Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson
Yes, she’s on here twice. It’s my list. More Lawson on mental health, mixed with some of the funniest essays she’s written. If you need a laugh more than anything else, start with one of hers. Read my full review.
📦 Amazon
3. Birdie and Harlow by Taylor Wolfe
The best book I read in 2025. A woman, her wonderfully codependent dog, and the long road to motherhood. I laughed. I cried. I went and found a dog to hug. Read my full review, or check out more funny books about motherhood.
📦 Amazon
4. If You Can’t Take the Heat by Geraldine DeRuiter
Funny essays about food, travel, and sexism. DeRuiter is very sharp. I would not want to be the subject of one of her restaurant reviews. Read my full review.
📦 Amazon
5. You Can’t Touch My Hair by Phoebe Robinson
Comedian Phoebe Robinson on race, gender, and pop culture. I listened to the audiobook, and that’s the way to go. She’s a comedian. Let her do the voices. I am not a Black woman with natural hair trying to make it in the entertainment industry. But I’m inspired and entertained by Robinson, nonetheless.
📦 Amazon
6. A Frog in the Fjord by Lorelou Desjardins
A French woman moves to Norway and tries to become Norwegian. The language. The social rules. The weather. Starting over in a new country is hard, and Desjardins makes it funny. As a South Dakotan, I respect anyone who voluntarily moves somewhere colder.
📦 Amazon
They Survived It
The heavy hitters. Keep tissues nearby. Also maybe a dog.
7. Grace Through Fire by Deborah Samuel
Her elderly mother shoots her abusive father. That’s chapter one. Then come murder trials, a paralyzed wife, and money trouble. Samuel claws her way back through yoga, travel, and a lot of time on the water. The newest book on this list, and a five-star read. Read my full review.
📦 Amazon
8. Educated by Tara Westover
Raised by a survivalist family in rural Idaho with no formal schooling, Westover eventually earns a PhD from Cambridge. You’ve probably heard of this one. Believe the hype. I listened to the audiobook.
📦 Amazon
9. I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
Shot by the Taliban at 15 for speaking up about girls going to school. She survived, kept speaking, and became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner ever. At 15, my biggest concern was my batting average (It wasn’t very good.) Pairs well with Educated. Apparently school is worth fighting for.
📦 Amazon
10. And Then, We Laughed by Delaine Shay
A local one for me. Shay grew up in Trent, South Dakota, and lives here in Sioux Falls. Don’t let the title fool you. This is a heavy book about an unfathomable family tragedy, grief, survivor’s guilt, and faith. The laughing comes later. Read my full review.
📦 Amazon
11. A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas
After her husband suffers a traumatic brain injury, Thomas has to build a new life without the man she married, even though he’s still here. It’s short and quiet. Also, three dogs. You know where I stand on dogs.
📦 Amazon
12. No Happy Endings by Nora McInerny
After losing her husband, McInerny writes about what comes next. New love, kids, and grief that refuses to follow the rules. The title is a little misleading. It’s less “no happy endings” and more “no tidy ones.” Also, she’s from Minnesota, so she’s basically a neighbor.
📦 Amazon
13. Good for a Girl by Lauren Fleshman
Pro runner Lauren Fleshman on what the sports system does to young female athletes, and how she fought her way through it. Part memoir, part manifesto. As a lifelong sports guy, this one gave me plenty to chew on. So good I listened to it twice. The second time with my wife, a former elite runner herself. It hit close to home. Read my full review.
📦 Amazon
They Made a Plan
For people who read the memoirs above and thought, “Great. Now what do I actually do?” More like these on my list of personal growth books.
14. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
Stop trying to control what other people do. Let them. Then decide what you do next. Simple idea. Surprisingly powerful. Mel Robbins even commented on my video review, which I will be bringing up for the rest of my life. Read my full review.
📦 Amazon
15. How to Be Fine by Jolenta Greenberg and Kristen Meinzer
The hosts of the By the Book podcast lived by a pile of self-help books and reported back on what worked and what was nonsense. They did the homework so you don’t have to. I respect that. I don’t like doing homework. A smorgasbord of resilience advice.
📦 Amazon
What 15 Books Taught a Midwest Dad
Life’s grand plans can be taken away in an instant. You can still keep going. The new life might look nothing like the old plan. Sometimes it’s better.
And if you need something lighter after all that, Essays Out of Left Field contains zero murder trials.
Several of these were part of my 100 book reading challenge. Clearly I have a type.
What’s a book about getting back up that I should read next? Apparently I’m taking requests.
