Best Book Recommendations for Each Enneagram Type

Kyung Cho’s debts are catching up to him. While his parents live on the other side of town in the most exclusive neighborhood, Kyung can hardly stand to talk to (let alone ask for help from) the family that afforded him every advantage but was never kind to him. But things are forced to change when his parents move in after an unexpected act of violence against them. As tensions mount, Kyung asks himself: How can he ever be a good husband, father, and son when he never knew affection as a child? Twos, whose basic desire is to feel loved, will empathize with these incredibly human characters as they struggle to achieve validation in their own ways.

The world is filled with systems of oppression, continually perpetuating fear of diverging from the norm. The Body is Not an Apology fights back against those systems with radical self-love to heal the wounds inflicted on us by society’s expectations. This self-love can be incredibly difficult for someone who prioritizes others over themselves. In asking us to reconnect with the origins of our mind and body, Taylor reminds Twos that being generous towards oneself is not an indulgence, but a necessity.  

Wanting to distinguish themselves from others, Threes can be known to throw themselves into their work. Candice, a millennial woman who recently started a job in publishing, is so entranced with her routine that she hardly notices the plague taking over New York. Despite what’s going on around her, she continues to go into work to fulfill her contract and get the raise she was promised. When she realizes her boss isn’t coming back anytime soon, she leaves New York with a group of survivors as they travel to the Facility, the place where they’ll have everything they need to start anew. Severance serves as a reminder that meaning can be found outside of the grind for success.

Threes’ basic desire is to feel valuable and worthwhile, something that often shows up in the form of workaholism and competitiveness. This book, co-written by the author of Come As You Are, provides a science-based plan to help women create a more joyful life by minimizing stress and managing emotions—in a way that isn’t condescending. 

Type Fours fear having no identity or personal significance. In Sweetbitter, we follow 22-year-old Tess as she arrives in New York City, landing a job as a “backwaiter” in a celebrated Manhattan restaurant. She learns to navigate her chaotic new life through love, lust, cocaine, wine, and decadent new foods. Danler paints a heartbreaking and insightful picture of what it means to be young, fragile, and full of hope in the NYC restaurant scene. The brilliant and evocative writing, the atmospheric moodiness, and the search for self will resonate with Fours’ emotional honesty and appreciation for authenticity. 

Fours may withhold themselves at times when feeling particularly vulnerable or “too much.” In Untamed, Glennon Doyle gives permission to return to our truest selves—the ones that existed before society told us how we should exist in the world. In doing this, she shares the story of how she met her now-wife, seeing her across the room at a conference and hearing the words “there she is.” Finally hearing the voice that had been silenced by decades of cultural conditioning, Doyle vowed never to abandon herself again. 

While I’ve started with her first book here, Fives will be delighted by any book written by Mary Roach, with her entertaining and in-depth studies of popular science topics. Her books evoke the feeling of going down a good Wikipedia rabbit hole. In Stiff, Roach explores what happens to our bodies after death. She covers topics you didn’t even know you were curious about, such as body-snatching, cadavers as crash test dummies, and new alternatives to burial or cremation. 

As a Five myself, it only made sense to choose my favorite book as one of my recommendations. This story is so enjoyable to me (and I imagine would be to most Fives) because it really appeals to the imaginative and curious parts of our mind. The novel follows Rosemary Harper as she joins the crew of the Wayfarer, an aging spaceship with a diverse crew. Shortly after joining, the crew accepts a dangerous but lucrative job tunneling wormholes through space to a faraway planet. As they embark on their mission, they will face mishaps and thrilling adventures alike. 

Britt-Marie is known to those who encounter her as a judgmental busybody stuck in her ways. When she walks out on her husband, she realizes she must fend for herself for the first time in her life. Ending up as the caretaker of a recreation center in a small town, Britt-Marie becomes entangled in the lives of her new community, and people might finally realize that Britt-Marie has more imagination and heart than anyone ever believed. Sixes, known as security-oriented types, will find comfort in seeing Britt-Marie making a meaningful life for herself, despite losing all forms of security and support.

If you’ve read anything by Brené Brown, you know that reading her books is like receiving a warm hug—especially for Sixes, who often feel self-doubt. In this novel, Dr. Brown tackles the ways shame manifests itself in our lives, in ways both big and small. Pulling from conversations she’s had with hundreds of women and therapists, she’s able to shine a light on shaming influences in our culture and then provides comfort by explaining the ways in which we’re really not so different from each other. Furthermore, Dr. Brown doesn’t just show the reader that it isn’t “just you,” she empowers her readers to turn shame into genuine acceptance of ourselves and others. 

When protagonist January holes up at her late father’s beach-front cabin to write her next romantic novel, she’s unpleasantly surprised to find that her new neighbor Gus just so happens to be an acclaimed author of literary fiction. One evening, as Gus insists on driving January home from a boozy book club meeting, they decide to take on a challenge to end their mutual writer’s block: he will spend the summer writing a romance while she pens the next Great American Novel. As we follow along on the unknown adventures they create for each other, Sevens will appreciate January’s newfound ability to enjoy spontaneity and prioritize her happiness above all else. 

On the eve of his 30th birthday, Jedidiah “Jed” Jenkins quit his dream job and spent 16 months cycling from Oregon to Patagonia. In this deeply personal memoir, Jed shares his adventures by profiling the interesting people and scenic places he encountered along the way. He also shares with the reader his own internal dilemma that sparked the trip in the first place. His pursuit to answer the question: “What makes a life worth living?” will speak to Sevens sense of adventure and desire to find fulfillment. 

This American classic depicts the fictional life of Janie Crawford, a mixed-race southerner growing up at the turn of the 20th century. It follows her as she searches for true love, fails to find it in her first two marriages, and finally, as it tragically eludes her in her third marriage. The novel chronicles Janie as she develops her own identity, despite the challenges of being both a person of color and a woman during a time where both were treated with contempt. Eights will identify with her growth and her unwavering belief that she deserves (and can attain) a better life.

I can’t help but recommend a second book by Brené Brown because honestly, everyone could benefit from her insights. According to the Enneagram, Eights’ basic desire is to be in control of their own life. This desire is only exasperated by society’s expectations of what a “good life” should look like. We begin to ask, “Why isn’t everyone else working harder and living up to my expectations? What will people think if I fail or give up? When can I stop proving myself?” Dr. Brown pulls from decades of experience studying shame to show us how we can engage with the world from a place of worthiness and compassion, rather than perfection and control.

When Lillian gets a letter from her former college roommate, Madison, asking for help with her two stepchildren, Lillian couldn’t possibly imagine what was to come. There’s one important detail she learns about her new caretaking gig: the children spontaneously combust when agitated. Over the course of a summer, Lillian and the two kids slowly begin to trust each other and form an unlikely relationship, one that will put Nines’ desire for harmony in their environment on a twisty rollercoaster. 

In a memoir full of dark humor, Sara Alterman’s world is turned on its head when she discovers that her dad is a campy sex writer who has sold millions of books. The books had remained a secret all her childhood until her dad was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease, at which point he announced that he was reviving his writing career. And he wanted Sara’s help. In sharing this experience, Sara begins to see her father as a whole person, outside the context of parenthood, straying from Nines’ natural tendency to turn away from tension, and instead embracing the strangeness in life.