Valentine’s Day is coming up; the day in the calendar marked out to celebrate love and affection. But whether you’re in a relationship or not, it’s important to celebrate our love for ourselves as well. Aren’t we deserving of a thorough self-examination to find out what we excel in, what our strengths are and how to remedy our weaknesses? I got the idea from a friend that every woman should spend at least one Valentine’s Day celebrating herself (for that matter, we should probably do it at least once a month).

Disclaimer: Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus is NOT on the list.

So I’ve rounded up the top five books I think every woman can afford to flick through, for different kinds of women at different stages of their lives. In no particular order:

1) Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey

Okay, so I may have found out about this book from watching The Tyra Show, but it didn’t stop me from getting it. I love books for women that are written by men because, like most women have realised, who knows what on earth goes on in those little brains of theirs? This book is great if you’re ready to find out how men really see women and the expectations that follow, but even better because it teaches women how they should never lower their expectations, but sharpen them.

2) The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau

I love this book, because it gives men and women a look at how they might be letting their standards of happiness (through career choices especially) go stagnant and stale. He offers practical guidelines of how we can rewrite our own lives by carefully planning our goals.

3) Divanomics by Michelle McKinney Hammond

I won’t lie, I haven’t read this book yet, but having read another book by this lady, I’ve already ordered a copy off Amazon. The book discusses how to be a DIVA (Divine Inspiration for Victorious Attitude), from the author’s own experience of going from the high lifestyle to a sudden, frugal one. She teaches how to study our own spending lifestyle and, best yet, how to adjust our tastes and financial wants to best fit our capabilities.

4) Find Your Strongest Life: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham

The title says it all.

5) The Lady, Her Lover and Her Lord by T. D. Jakes

T.D. Jakes is a popular Christian pastor, and this book I got from a friend. It discusses the three most important relationships in a woman’s life: her relationship with God, her relationship with a man, and her relationship with herself. He writes extremely well and it isn’t seeped in religious jargon. Best of all, he focuses on all the fantastic elements of being a woman and the extent of our capabilities, why we should understand what all those mean in order to make a sound judgement on what kind of partner we will choose.