10 Books to Help You Practice Gratitude

About Tori Thurmond

Tori Thurmond combines her creative writing background with her marketing experience in her role as the Content Specialist at Brookdale. When she's not writing, she's probably spending time with her two cats or knitting.

With the holidays just around the corner, there’s lots of talk of being thankful. But practicing gratitude may look different for everyone. These 10 books can help inspire you to show gratitude for your life and those you love.

A Catalogue of Unabashed Gratitude and The Book of Delights by Ross Gay

Ross Gay is the first name that comes to mind when we think of books about gratitude. Gay is a poet and essayist whose joy shines through the pages of his work. In his poetry collection, A Catalogue of Unabashed Gratitude, Gay pays tribute to the little things in life like drinking water or buttoning a shirt. The Book of Delights displays a similar sense of gratitude for the small things in life as Gay writes a short essay every day for a year about something that delights him. Gay’s writing may bring a smile to your face and help you start noticing all of the little things in life that bring you joy.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Following the adventures of four sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, Little Women is a favorite novel of readers everywhere. Regardless of the difficult times the March family faces, they practice gratitude for what they have in the simple joys of putting on a play for the neighborhood children or leaving little treasures for each other in a makeshift mailbox nailed to a tree near their home. Following the March sisters from childhood into adulthood, growing up with them within the pages of their story, you can also practice thankfulness, laugh and cry right along with them.

The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler

Sometimes practicing gratitude calls for a change in perspective. In The Art of Happiness, the Dalai Lama along with Dr. Howard C. Cutler offers ways to manage emotions like grief, anger and discouragement and provides guidelines for living a happier, fuller life that you can’t help but feel more grateful for after reading this book.

Devotions by Mary Oliver

If you’ve ever read a Mary Oliver poem, you know that she’s a master at creating a sense of connectedness throughout her work. She helps us be grateful to be alive by noticing a flock of wild geese or a grasshopper and connecting these images to the meaning of life. Devotions is a compilation of over 200 of Oliver’s poems that can help you unearth opportunities for gratitude in your day-to-day.

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

If you love being outside to camp, hike, garden, walk or maybe just sit on a bench with a nice view, consider picking up Walden by Henry David Thoreau. This 1854 text has stood the test of time. Thoreau wanted to experiment with living a simple life, famously saying, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately…”. Whether Walden makes you want to simplify your life or the text makes you thankful you don’t have to grow all of your own veggies in the woods, you’re likely to learn a little bit about gratitude in the process.

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

Sometimes you need a break from all of the adult fiction you’ve been reading and need to curl up with a good young adult (YA) book. In fact, a report commissioned by HarperCollins showed that 74% of YA readers were adults, and 28% of those adults were over the age of 28. While Adam Silvera’s They Both Die at the End isn’t exactly a cheery read, it will help you feel grateful for every morning you wake up to a new day. It’s easy to take for granted the time we get to spend with loved ones. You might shed a tear or two by the end of this book, but we hope that if you decide to give it a go, you’ll be left with a renewed sense of gratitude for the love in your life.

World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

In her collection of essays, Nezhukumatathil teaches her readers amazing facts about plants and animals, relating these facts back to her own lived experiences. This book will leave you in awe of the world around you and encourage you to find your own personal connections to nature. Nezhukumatathil’s work may help you remember and feel thankful for childhood evenings spend outside catching fireflies or moments spent with loved ones sitting under a specific type of tree that grew in your backyard.

The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living by Meik Wiking

According to the UN World Happiness Report, Denmark has been rated as the world’s second happiest country for six years in a row and the first happiest for those over the age of 60. But why are Danish people so happy? Meik Wiking’s The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living may help you answer that question. Even if we can’t all pack up and move to Denmark, we can certainly learn from Danish culture how to live a happier life, full of gratitude and appreciation.

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

In Cheryl Strayed’s memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, readers can follow her decision to hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), a 2,650 mile hiking trail that runs from Mexico to Canada—through California, Oregon and Washington—with very little experience and no training. While we don’t recommend embarking on an adventure like hiking the PCT with no training, we can learn from Strayed’s experiences as she works through personal loss and struggles with addiction on the trail. By the end of her hike, Strayed gains a sense of gratitude for life that she was losing before her journey.