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Just like our lives can often be divided into chapters, there are also different books that can define each decade.
In your 20s, you're exploring the world and figuring out who you are and who you want to be with, while your 30s may be time to start thinking about that first home, changing diapers or getting ahead in your career.
To track down the best books for each decade, the folks over at Kobo Canada came up with a list of the best reads depending on your age. While some titles are practical how-to guides on things like saving money and staying fit, fiction like Life of Pi, for example, would work for any age group.
In this particular collection, your 40s are about checking off adventures on your bucket list, your 50s are about "me time" and your 60s involve enjoying retirement and celebrating the "Golden Years."
And while this is not an official guide — who says you can't read 50 Shades of Grey in your 60s? — it's a good gauge of what other people your age are reading, or at least expected to be.
What would you add to the list? Let us know in the comments below:
LOOK — The best reads throughout the decades:
Best Books For Your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s And 60s
20s(01 of43)
On the Road by Jack Kerouac This book focuses on Jack Kerouac's years traveling the North American continent with his friend Neal Cassady,
20s(02 of43)
Rabbit, Run by John UpdikeHarry Angstrom was a star basketball player in high school and now in his mid-20s, his work is unfulfilling, his marriage is moribund, and he tries to find happiness with another woman.
20s(03 of43)
How to Be Interesting by Jessica HagyHow to Be Interesting combines fresh, surprising lessons with deceptively simple diagrams and charts. It’s an inspiring guide to leading a richer life that nudges us out of our comfort zones and into places where everything is possible.
20s(04 of43)
I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit SethiA completely practical approach based around the four pillars of personal finance banking, saving, budgeting, and investingand the wealth-building ideas of personal entrepreneurship.
20s(05 of43)
Modern Dating: A Field Guide by Chiara AtikRather than listing a set of "rules," Modern Dating offers advice on modern challenges, like how to send a relatively unembarrassing sext, how to create a failproof first date idea, and how to make sure you're getting into a relationship for the right reasons.
20s(06 of43)
The Namesake by Jhumpa LahiriThe Namesake takes the Ganguli family from their tradition-bound life in Calcutta through their fraught transformation into Americans.
20s(07 of43)
The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter – And How to Make the Most of Them Now by Meg JayDr. Meg Jay, a clinical psychologist, argues that twentysomethings have been caught in a swirl of hype and misinformation, much of which has trivialized what is actually the most defining decade of adulthood.
20s(08 of43)
Amazing Things Will Happen by C.C. Chapman Through personal anecdotes from the author's life, and interviews of successful individuals across several industries, this book demonstrates how to achieve success, in all aspects of life, through hard work and acts of kindness.
20s(09 of43)
Wild by Cheryl StrayedThe story of an 1100 mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—and built her back up again.
30s(10 of43)
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole and Walker PercyJohn Kennedy Toole’s hero is one Ignatius J. Reilly, huge, obese, fractious, fastidious, and a latter-day Gargantua, a Don Quixote of the French Quarter
30s(11 of43)
White Noise by Don DeLilloJack and his fourth wife, Babette, bound by their love, fear of death, and four ultramodern offspring, navigate the usual rocky passages of family life to the background babble of brand-name consumerism.
30s(12 of43)
Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures by Amber Dusick" I needed a place to vent about the funny (and frustrating) day-to-day things that happened to me as a parent. Turns out, poop is hilarious! At least when you're not the one wiping it up."
30s(13 of43)
Instant Mom by Nia VardalosFor the first time, Nia Vardalos, writer and star of 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding,' tells her hilarious and heartfelt bumpy-road-to-parenting story that eventually leads to her meeting an almost-three-year old girl who she knows instantly is her daughter.
30s(14 of43)
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding dazzling urban satire of modern human relations? An ironic, tragic insight into the demise of the nuclear family? Or the confused ramblings of a pissed thirty-something? 'A brilliant evocation of life as a single girl in a certain time.
30s(15 of43)
First-Time Home Buying In Detail by Grace G. MaximsWithout doubt, home buying is no easy task for anyone buying a new home, let alone the first-time home buyer. As there are many specifics and technicalities to go over, it can turn out to be a really overwhelming process.
30s(16 of43)
Gone Girl by Gillian FlynnMarriage can be a real killer. One of the most critically acclaimed suspense writers of our time, New York Times bestseller Gillian Flynn takes that statement to its darkest place in this unputdownable masterpiece about a marriage gone terribly, terribly wrong.
30s(17 of43)
Lean In by Sheryl SandbergThirty years after women became 50 per cent of the college graduates in the United States, men still hold the vast majority of leadership positions in government and industry.
40s(18 of43)
My 40s Unfiltered: Women Get Real about the Good, the Bad and the Unexpected by Laura SchaeferHave you ever wondered what women have to say about their lives--without the media filter? Grab this collection of candid women sharing their thoughts about the good, the bad and the unexpected when it comes to their 40s.
40s(19 of43)
50 Ways to Leave Your 40s by Sheila Key and Peggy Spencer, MDIf you're approaching that huge milepost with less than your usual birthday enthusiasm open this book to discover all the ways in which turning fifty might just be the best thing yet.
40s(20 of43)
The Cold Hard Truth on Men, Women and Money by Kevin O’LearyWhether you're a parent struggling to explain savings to your children, a newly engaged couple considering joint bank accounts, or a baby boomer entering retirement, Kevin O'Leary has advice to help you make and keep more money.
40s(21 of43)
Inferno by Dan BrownIn the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces...Dante’s Inferno.
40s(22 of43)
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth GilbertSetting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures, Gilbert explored the art of pleasure in Italy and the art of devotion in India, and then a balance between the two on the Indonesian island of Bali.
40s(23 of43)
Committed by Elizabeth GilbertAt the end of her memoir Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian living in Indonesia. The couple swore eternal love, but also swore (as skittish divorce survivors) never to marry.
40s(24 of43)
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. JamesWhen literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him.
40s(25 of43)
The Happiness Project by Gretchen RubinWhat if you could change your life--without changing your life? Gretchen had a good marriage, two healthy daughters, and work she loved--but one day, stuck on a city bus, she realized that time was flashing by, and she wasn’t thinking enough about the things that really mattered.
40s(26 of43)
Dad is Fat by Jim GaffiganIn Dad is Fat, stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan, who’s best known for his legendary riffs on Hot Pockets, bacon, manatees, and McDonald's, expresses all the joys and horrors of life with five young children.
40s(27 of43)
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhiggharles Duhigg takes readers inside labs where brain scans record habits as they flourish and die; classrooms in which students learn to boost their willpower; and boardrooms where executives dream up products that tug on our deepest habitual urges.
40s(28 of43)
It’s All Good by Gwyneth PaltrowGwyneth Paltrow, Academy-Award winning actress and bestselling cookbook author, returns with recipes for the foods she eats when she wants to lose weight, look good, and feel more energetic.
50s(29 of43)
Still Alice by Lisa GenovaStill Alice is a compelling debut novel about a 50-year-old woman's sudden descent into early onset Alzheimer's disease, written by first-time author Lisa Genova, who holds a Ph. D in neuroscience from Harvard University.
50s(30 of43)
First Sight by Danielle SteelParis, L.A., and the world of ready to wear fashion provide rich backdrops for Danielle Steel’s deeply involving story of a gifted designer whose talent and drive have brought her everything—except the ability to erase her past and trust relationships.
50s(31 of43)
And the Mountains Echoed by Khlaed HosseiniA multigenerational-family story revolving around brothers and sisters, it is an emotional, provocative, and unforgettable novel about how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations.
50s(32 of43)
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara KingsolverThe Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959.
50s(33 of43)
Live By Night by Dennis LehaneBoston, 1926. The '20s are roaring. Liquor is flowing, bullets are flying, and one man sets out to make his mark on the world.
50s(34 of43)
The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de WaalThe Ephrussis were a grand banking family, as rich and respected as the Rothschilds, who “burned like a comet” in nineteenth-century Paris and Vienna society. Yet by the end of World War II, almost the only thing remaining of their vast empire was a collection of 264 wood and ivory carvings, none of them larger than a matchbox.
50s(35 of43)
Touching the Void by Joe SimpsonTouching the Void is the tale of two mountaineer’s harrowing ordeal in the Peruvian Andes.
60s(36 of43)
Barney’s Version by Mordecai RichlerEbullient and perverse, thrice married, Barney Panofsky has always clung to two cherished beliefs: life is absurd and nobody truly ever understands anybody else. But when his sworn enemy publicly states that Barney is a wife abuser, an intellectual fraud and probably a murderer, he is driven to write his own memoirs.
60s(37 of43)
Fall in Love for Life: Inspiration from a 73-Year Marriage by Barbara “Cutie” Cooper Against all odds, Cutie and Harry Cooper persevered through seven decades of marriage, enjoying triumphant milestones and enduring devastating losses, all while keeping their sense of humor and connection intact.
60s(38 of43)
Staying Fit After 60: Introducing The Exercise For Life Program by Calvin HillThe author, Calvin Hill believes staying fit as we age is one of the greatest gifts we can give to our families and one of the greatest gifts we can give to ourselves.
60s(39 of43)
Beautiful Ruins by Jess WalterOn a rocky patch of the sun-drenched Italian coastline, a young innkeeper, chest-deep in daydreams, looks out over the incandescent waters of the Ligurian Sea and spies an apparition: a tall, thin woman, a vision in white, approaching him on a boat. She is an actress, he soon learns, an American starlet, and she is dying.
60s(40 of43)
Life After Life by Kate AtkinsonLife After Life follows Ursula Todd as she lives through the turbulent events of the last century again and again. With wit and compassion, she finds warmth even in life's bleakest moments, and shows an extraordinary ability to evoke the past.
60s(41 of43)
Paris by Edward RutherfurdFrom the grand master of the historical novel comes a dazzling epic portrait of Paris that leaps through centuries as it weaves the tales of families whose fates are forever entwined with the City of Lights.
60s(42 of43)
Some Assembly Required by Anne Lamott & Sam LamottAnne Lamott enters a new and unexpected chapter in her own life: grandmotherhood. Stunned to learn that her son, Sam, is about to become a father at nineteen, Lamott begins a journal about the first year of her grandson Jax’s life. In careful and often hilarious detail, Lamott and Sam—about whom she first wrote so movingly in Operating Instructions—struggle to balance their changing roles.
All Ages(43 of43)
Life of Pi by Yann Martel Life of Pi is a masterful and utterly original novel that is at once the story of a young castaway who faces immeasurable hardships on the high seas, and a meditation on religion, faith, art and life that is as witty as it is profound.