1 Lonely Hunter Heart

While loneliness has haunted humans ever since the beginning of time, there's perhaps no generation harder hit by feelings of isolation than Millennials. Careers, commutes, and the post -college drift can make it tough for anyone to keep in contact with friends and family, and for us in particular,studies show a staggering 30% of Millennials struggle with meaningful companionship.

There's no quick-and-easy cure for our lack of connection, but when it comes to breaking free from isolation, there's few books more helpful than Carson McCullers' classic The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.

Set in a small Southern town, we follow the intersecting paths of an eccentric cast of characters, drawn together by chance and kept apart by their own shortcomings. As we switch between the perspectives of a principled physician, a precocious teen, a drunken rabble-rouser, and a long-suffering proprietor, we're given an inside look at the ways humans clash and connect. With elegant prose and piercing insight, McCullers' narrative forces us to confront ourselves and ask some truly tough questions. When do we put our pride above our happiness? What keeps us from really expressing the things we most care about?

profoundly human story has a lot to teach us today about the ways we treat each other and ourselves as we wind our way through the world.