The Hustle Legacy’s Discord has a number of threads to help our exclusive community’s journey of Becoming - gainz club, currently creating, soul space, and the reading room. The Discord is a dedicated space for creatives, entrepreneurs, and passionate wanderers who are committed to this Ecosystem to learn from, inspire, and interact with one another. Members are initiated in through a personal invite from me and are encouraged to share their experiences and build a virtual space of camaraderie.
Mana added value to this community from the second she became a part of it. When she discovered the reading room - a space dedicated to members talking about their adventures in reading - she took it upon herself to give all of us an extensive list of books to put on our TBR.
Her selection of stories spans from emotional coming-of-age novels, imagined societies, distant worlds, and haunting histories. What I loved most about her list was that each world offered reflection, depth, and the opportunity to see yourself in the fictional characters that live within the pages. Mana understood the assignment well: to bring all of us into a conversation about the dark depths of our minds.
Whether you want a story that sits with complicated feelings or a fictional world to disappear into, she gave you just the place to start:
For Stories That Sit With Difficult Feelings
Mana introduced these picks as “books for depressed girlies”, and that’s exactly what this is. We all go through low moments, and often feel incredibly lonely during those times. These books are a space to feel seen even in your isolation. I have to personally thank Mana for starting off her reading recs list with this category because it speaks to the true value a good fictional book can bring: diving into the depths of a dark mind feel almost like a warm hug when you’re living in your own darkness, as well.
Thank you, Mana, for giving us depressed girlies a place to escape to 💜📚
A note before reading: These selections include themes of suicide, self-harm, grief, and trauma. Check individual content notes when choosing what feels right for you.
Looking for Alaska — John Green
A coming-of-age novel about friendship, first love, and the questions left behind after loss. Set at a boarding school, it follows Miles Halter and the mystery of Alaska Young, as his search for a more adventurous life becomes something far more complicated.
Suicide Notes — Michael Thomas Ford
Following fifteen-year-old Jeff during a stay in a psychiatric hospital, this novel combines dark humor with an exploration of identity, vulnerability, and the experiences people struggle to put into words.
Girl in Pieces — Kathleen Glasgow
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis is trying to rebuild her life after devastating losses and experiences of self-harm. This is an emotionally intense story about survival, connection, and the uneven process of finding a way forward.
For Other Worlds, Romance, and Questions of Fate
Carve the Mark & The Fates Divide — Veronica Roth
For readers looking for an imagined universe with romance woven through conflict, Mana recommends this two-book sequence.
Carve the Mark introduces Cyra and Akos, whose lives become entangled despite the hostility between their people. Their story continues in The Fates Divide, exploring power, loyalty, and whether the future can be changed.
Read in this order:
Carve the Mark
The Fates Divide
For Dystopian Societies and Challenging the Rules
The Divergent Trilogy — Veronica Roth
What happens when the person you are doesn’t fit the categories your society has created?
In a world divided into factions, Tris Prior faces choices that draw her into a larger struggle over identity, belonging, and control. Mana recommends the complete three-novel sequence.
Read in this order:
Divergent
Insurgent
Allegiant
Brave New World — Aldous Huxley
A society built around stability and pleasure might sound appealing—until you look at what maintaining it requires.
Huxley’s dystopian novel imagines a world shaped by conditioning, consumption, and social control. It offers plenty to consider about freedom, conformity, and the cost of keeping everyone comfortable.
For Historical Settings With a Haunting Twist
The Poisoned House — Michael Ford
Set in Victorian London, this gothic ghost story follows a young servant in a household filled with unsettling secrets.
If your preferred escape involves an eerie atmosphere, a threatening house, and a mystery waiting beneath the surface, this is Mana’s pick for that corner of your reading list.
Honorable Mentions
Turtles All the Way Down — John Green
Mana also recommends this novel about Aza Holmes, a teenager navigating obsessive-compulsive disorder alongside friendship, romance, and a mystery involving a missing billionaire.
There’s a film adaptation starring Isabela Merced, too—and Mana’s verdict on her performance was enthusiastic: “slayeddd that role.”
For anyone who enjoys experiencing a story on both the page and the screen, this could be your next book-and-movie pairing.
What are You Adding to Your Reading List?
Mana’s list has a certain tone to it that makes you remember why you ever started loving reading in the first place. Personally, I want to read every book on this list. When I get to it is another story 😅
But, if I had to choose which book to add to my TBR first, it would have to be Turtles All the Way Down. I was obsessed with John Green as a young reader, and this is one I haven’t had the pleasure of reading, yet. Mana’s list has me craving his literary genius again.
(P.S. Looking for Alaska was hauntingly good - had me turning the page, wanting to learn more. 10/10 recommend. They also turned it into a limited series that got a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, so you know it’s a story worth the read and the watch. Another honorable mention by John Green: Paper Towns. They also turned that into a movie that I’m just now realizing I never got around to watching. We’ll have to change that.)
I’m curious which of these books you would add to your reading list. Have you read any of them already? What’s your verdict? And if there are any other books this list inspires you to share with the community, you know where to put them. Leave all of your thoughts in the comments below.
Follow me on social media and reach out if you want to become a part of The Hustle Legacy Discord community and give your own list of reading recs that could turn into an article like this one day. Until then, happy reading & shoutout to Mana for being amazing.
