Murderbot Diaries. It’s about a self-emancipated cyborg who tries to figure out who he is. Most are short novelas and the most recent 2 are novels. It deals a lot with understanding repressed emotions and reaching out to people when you’ve spent your whole life hiding.

It’s also fun to watch Murderbot beat corporate ass. Also he tries hard not to actually hurt people and his name is self-ascribed and self-deprecating.

Books let you walk in the shoes of ANYONE. I would argue allowing yourself to open up and find life lessons in any book is an exceedingly valuable life skill for anyone, regardless of age or gender.

Grab a book, any book. Read it. There will be life lessons hidden in it if you allow yourself to think deeply on it after.

Replay by Ken Grimwood.

A man dies in 1988 and wakes back up as himself in the 60s, but with current memories.

I think people can probably take different things from this book, but one thing I got out of it was an appreciation for the fact that I very likely wouldn’t have any of the things I treasure in life, had some of my tragedies not adjusted my course.

Even if you could go back and “do things right”, you’re a different person with all your future experiences. What if in trying to fix the past, you lost something you couldn’t live without?