10 Breakup Books To Read While Healing A Broken Heart

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Everyone reacts to breakups differently. Some quickly find their feet as newly single people while others enter an extended period of sorrow. 

But however quickly they recover, everyone deserves some help in these kinds of emotional journeys. Some people turn to their friends, a few embrace new hobbies, and others might turn to reading breakup books for support. 

Popular Breakup Books

Here are a few books to help you get through the post-breakup blues.

1. Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed

For more than a decade, Cheryl Strayed has given out advice to people through her online column, Dear Sugar. This is a compilation of her best work—deep, emphatic, and often brutally honest with their message.

2. When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron

Painful emotions can be debilitating but can also lead to realizations of strength, courage, and wisdom. Drawing on her Buddhist roots and personal experiences, Pema Chodron offers you gentle, but straight-to-the-chase advice on how to not shut down and move forward with your life.

3. Attached by Amir Levine and Rachel Heller

Sometimes science can offer the perspective you need to finally heal your heart. And when it comes to love, it says that your need for close relationships is deeply embedded in your genes.

So it’s not your fault you feel bad during a breakup, though healing from it is another thing. Here,  Levine and Heller guide you to discovering your attachment style, your partner’s, and how to navigate the complexities in between.

4. How to Date Men When You Hate Men by Blythe Roberson

If other methods fail, there’s always comedy to fall back to. At least, that’s what works for writer and comedian Blythe Roberson. Observational humor meets brutal honesty as she teaches you how to take things less seriously while also contemplating the dating culture you currently face.

5. Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton

Journalist and former columnist Dolly Alderton has seen many triumphs and tragedies in her life. In her memoir, she talks about navigating friendship, love, and loss. And that past the journey of bad dates, on and off friendships, and heartbreaks, you realize that you are enough.

6. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

Lori Gottlieb, a therapist, has her world torn to pieces and finds herself on the opposite side of the chair. Now the patient, she realizes the many questions her clients seek answers for might now be the ones she brings to her own therapist’s table.

Through wit and humor, she explores the viewpoints of both doctor and patient, the intricacies of human interactions, and the importance of therapy during a life-shattering change. 

7. How to Love by Thich Nhat Hanh

Spiritual teacher and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh distills one of humanity’s strongest emotions into easily understood passages that tackle need, intimacy, and mindfulness.

Here, he talks about how loving another can only be done when you truly love yourself. And that when you do feel love, it makes you more connected to the world as a whole. Comprehensive and simple, this is a guide towards expanding your capacity for love and understanding it in a better way.

8. You Can Heal Your Heart by Louise Hay and David Kessler

When a relationship leaves you brokenhearted, different thoughts and emotions can lead you to different paths of healing. Hay and David come together to discuss these reactions and how they can help you develop greater self-awareness, compassion, and courage.

Hay’s expertise in self-empowerment and David’s extensive experience working with people in grief lend this book a unique perspective on love and heartbreak. They teach you that, yes, experiencing loss is hard but there is always a path to healing.

9. Whole Again by Jackson MacKenzie

Sometimes hearts get broken because of toxic relationships. These are the cases where lying, cheating, manipulation, and other forms of abuse define the relationship.

They’re one of the hardest to recover from, involving unlearning unhealthy behavior, recovering from trauma, and getting your self-confidence back. In this book, Jackson MacKenzie offers you factual, pragmatic, and verified advice about healing from abuse and rediscovering yourself.

10. Self-Compassion by Kristin Neff

People tend to be harsh on themselves, often to an unfair degree. It’s the same with breakups, with you often blaming yourself for the pain you’re currently feeling.

Kristin Neff, Ph.D., talks about leaving your insecurities behind and moving on to a better you. She talks about the theories behind self-compassion, real-life examples of people living better lives after practicing self-compassion, and exercises you can follow when dealing with emotionally draining situations. 

Dealing with A Breakup

A breakup is a challenging situation that takes time to heal from. Worse, the emotional and spiritual toll it takes makes it harder for you to function and move on. 

Some people deny their situation and refuse to grieve, others become reckless in trying to quickly replace what they’ve lost, and still, a few blame themselves for every bad thing. It’s almost like a fugue state of living that, without help, can set you on dangerous paths.

However, healing is always a possibility. Take time to grieve, seek support from trusted people, set new goals, and meditate. The pain you’re feeling is real and can be harnessed into making yourself better, stronger, and happier. 

What books did you read while dealing with a breakup? Share them in the comments below!

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