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375 books
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131 voters
Poverty Books
Showing 1-50 of 10,934
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City (Hardcover)
by (shelved 320 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.47 — 113,286 ratings — published 2016
The Glass Castle (Paperback)
by (shelved 264 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.33 — 1,354,765 ratings — published 2005
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
by (shelved 213 times as poverty)
avg rating 3.65 — 195,359 ratings — published 2001
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity (Hardcover)
by (shelved 208 times as poverty)
avg rating 3.98 — 116,493 ratings — published 2012
Poverty, by America (Hardcover)
by (shelved 168 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.27 — 60,798 ratings — published 2023
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis (Hardcover)
by (shelved 166 times as poverty)
avg rating 3.84 — 501,777 ratings — published 2016
Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive (Hardcover)
by (shelved 124 times as poverty)
avg rating 3.86 — 112,789 ratings — published 2019
Demon Copperhead (Hardcover)
by (shelved 116 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.47 — 778,731 ratings — published 2022
Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt, #1)
by (shelved 114 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.15 — 657,009 ratings — published 1996
The Grapes of Wrath (Hardcover)
by (shelved 105 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.03 — 990,122 ratings — published 1939
Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty (Hardcover)
by (shelved 103 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.27 — 24,317 ratings — published 2011
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Paperback)
by (shelved 100 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.30 — 510,277 ratings — published 1943
Down and Out in Paris and London (Paperback)
by (shelved 90 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.09 — 100,624 ratings — published 1933
The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time (Paperback)
by (shelved 90 times as poverty)
avg rating 3.69 — 11,242 ratings — published 2005
Free Lunch (Hardcover)
by (shelved 82 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.36 — 10,921 ratings — published 2019
$2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America (Hardcover)
by (shelved 81 times as poverty)
avg rating 3.96 — 8,779 ratings — published 2015
The Benefits of Being an Octopus (Hardcover)
by (shelved 73 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.21 — 16,118 ratings — published 2018
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Hardcover)
by (shelved 69 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.06 — 284,412 ratings — published 2007
Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City (Hardcover)
by (shelved 68 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.70 — 19,175 ratings — published 2021
Maddi's Fridge (Hardcover)
by (shelved 61 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.53 — 1,928 ratings — published 2014
Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century (Paperback)
by (shelved 59 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.02 — 50,505 ratings — published 2017
When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor...and Yourself (Paperback)
by (shelved 59 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.20 — 14,010 ratings — published 2009
The Four Winds (Hardcover)
by (shelved 56 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.30 — 965,195 ratings — published 2021
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (Hardcover)
by (shelved 56 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.49 — 800,946 ratings — published 2016
Oliver Twist (Paperback)
by (shelved 56 times as poverty)
avg rating 3.88 — 426,430 ratings — published 1838
Where the Crawdads Sing (ebook)
by (shelved 55 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.37 — 3,589,544 ratings — published 2018
The Working Poor: Invisible in America (Paperback)
by (shelved 55 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.04 — 5,729 ratings — published 2004
Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty (Paperback)
by (shelved 55 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.12 — 10,395 ratings — published 1991
Last Stop on Market Street (Hardcover)
by (shelved 53 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.30 — 18,561 ratings — published 2015
Just Mercy (Paperback)
by (shelved 52 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.62 — 260,434 ratings — published 2014
Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth (Hardcover)
by (shelved 51 times as poverty)
avg rating 3.76 — 16,510 ratings — published 2018
There are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America (Unknown Binding)
by (shelved 51 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.30 — 16,069 ratings — published 1991
A Framework for Understanding Poverty (Paperback)
by (shelved 51 times as poverty)
avg rating 3.92 — 5,389 ratings — published 2001
Those Shoes (Hardcover)
by (shelved 50 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.45 — 4,053 ratings — published 2007
Crenshaw (Hardcover)
by (shelved 49 times as poverty)
avg rating 3.97 — 37,770 ratings — published 2015
Salvage the Bones (Hardcover)
by (shelved 49 times as poverty)
avg rating 3.96 — 73,153 ratings — published 2011
Front Desk (Front Desk #1)
by (shelved 48 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.36 — 45,222 ratings — published 2018
Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America (Hardcover)
by (shelved 48 times as poverty)
avg rating 3.58 — 6,071 ratings — published 2014
The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It (Hardcover)
by (shelved 46 times as poverty)
avg rating 3.85 — 7,988 ratings — published 2007
Educated (Hardcover)
by (shelved 45 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.47 — 1,842,747 ratings — published 2018
Trash (Hardcover)
by (shelved 42 times as poverty)
avg rating 3.58 — 15,061 ratings — published 2010
White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America (Hardcover)
by (shelved 41 times as poverty)
avg rating 3.77 — 25,011 ratings — published 2016
The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)
by (shelved 41 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.35 — 9,835,019 ratings — published 2008
Eleanor & Park (Hardcover)
by (shelved 40 times as poverty)
avg rating 3.92 — 1,254,866 ratings — published 2012
The Other America: Poverty in the United States (Paperback)
by (shelved 39 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.06 — 1,215 ratings — published 1962
Crime and Punishment (Paperback)
by (shelved 39 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.29 — 1,070,570 ratings — published 1866
The Hate U Give (Hardcover)
by (shelved 39 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.45 — 1,006,231 ratings — published 2017
Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World (Paperback)
by (shelved 38 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.20 — 88,549 ratings — published 2003
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty (Hardcover)
by (shelved 38 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.09 — 62,384 ratings — published 2012
The Life You Can Save: How to Do Your Part to End World Poverty (Paperback)
by (shelved 38 times as poverty)
avg rating 4.15 — 6,850 ratings — published 2009
“That same night, I wrote my first short story. It took me thirty minutes. It was a dark little tale about a man who found a magic cup and learned that if he wept into the cup, his tears turned into pearls. But even though he had always been poor, he was a happy man and rarely shed a tear. So he found ways to make himself sad so that his tears could make him rich. As the pearls piled up, so did his greed grow. The story ended with the man sitting on a mountain of pearls, knife in hand, weeping helplessly into the cup with his beloved wife's slain body in his arms.”
― The Kite Runner
― The Kite Runner
“Close your eyes, Maxon."
"What?"
"Close your eyes.
Somewhere in this palace, there is a woman who will be your wife. This girl? Imagine that she depends on you. She needs you to cherish her and make her feel like the Selection didn't even happen. Like if you were dropped in your own out in the middle of the country to wander around door to door, she's still the one you would have found. She was always the one you would have picked. She needs you to provide for her and protect her. And if it came to a point where there was absolutely nothing to eat, and you couldn't even fall asleep at night because the sound of her stomach growling kept you awake—"
"Stop it!"
"Sorry."
"Is that really what it's like? Out there... does that happen? Are people hungry like that a lot?"
"Maxon, I..."
"Tell me the truth."
"Yes. That happens. I know of families where people give up their share for their children or siblings. I know of a boy who was whipped in the town square for stealing food. Sometimes you do crazy things when you are desperate."
"A boy? How old?"
"Nine."
"Have you ever been like that? Starving?...How bad?"
"Maxon, it will only upset you more."
"Probably, but I'm only starting to realize how much I don't know about my own country. Please."
"We've been pretty bad. Most time if it gets to where we have to choose, we keep the food and lose electricity. The worst was when it happened near Christmas one year. May didn't understand why we couldn't exchange gifts. As a general rule, there are never any leftovers at my house. Someone always wants more. I know the checks we've gotten over the last few weeks have really helped, and my family is really smart about money. I'm sure they have already tucked it away so it will stretch out for a long time. You've done so much for us, Maxon."
"Good God. When you said that you were only here for the food, you weren't kidding, were you?"
"Really, Maxon, we've been doing pretty well lately. I—"
"I'll see you at dinner.”
― The Selection
"What?"
"Close your eyes.
Somewhere in this palace, there is a woman who will be your wife. This girl? Imagine that she depends on you. She needs you to cherish her and make her feel like the Selection didn't even happen. Like if you were dropped in your own out in the middle of the country to wander around door to door, she's still the one you would have found. She was always the one you would have picked. She needs you to provide for her and protect her. And if it came to a point where there was absolutely nothing to eat, and you couldn't even fall asleep at night because the sound of her stomach growling kept you awake—"
"Stop it!"
"Sorry."
"Is that really what it's like? Out there... does that happen? Are people hungry like that a lot?"
"Maxon, I..."
"Tell me the truth."
"Yes. That happens. I know of families where people give up their share for their children or siblings. I know of a boy who was whipped in the town square for stealing food. Sometimes you do crazy things when you are desperate."
"A boy? How old?"
"Nine."
"Have you ever been like that? Starving?...How bad?"
"Maxon, it will only upset you more."
"Probably, but I'm only starting to realize how much I don't know about my own country. Please."
"We've been pretty bad. Most time if it gets to where we have to choose, we keep the food and lose electricity. The worst was when it happened near Christmas one year. May didn't understand why we couldn't exchange gifts. As a general rule, there are never any leftovers at my house. Someone always wants more. I know the checks we've gotten over the last few weeks have really helped, and my family is really smart about money. I'm sure they have already tucked it away so it will stretch out for a long time. You've done so much for us, Maxon."
"Good God. When you said that you were only here for the food, you weren't kidding, were you?"
"Really, Maxon, we've been doing pretty well lately. I—"
"I'll see you at dinner.”
― The Selection
