20 books everyone should read in their 40s

• Great memoirs for middle age include "Eat Pray Love,""Wild," and "The Rainbow Comes and Goes."
• Books like "In Our Prime,""Shameless," and "Life Reimagined" show that there are plenty of adventures to be had in your 40s.
• Novels like "The Kite Runner,""The Time Traveler's Wife," and "Wonder" are meaningful at any age.

You're most likely to make a Nobel Prize-winning discovery at 40 — or at least do your most outstanding work, according to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research. But leaving your 30s can also be daunting.

Luckily, there are books to guide you along, from memoirs of middle age to classic novels that never get old.

Here are 20 books everyone should read in their 40s, in no particular order.

"Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert

Amazon's synopsis: "In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want—husband, country home, successful career—but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she was consumed by panic and confusion. This wise and rapturous book is the story of how she left behind all these outward marks of success, and set out to explore three different aspects of her nature, against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence."

Buy it here.

"The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini

Amazon's synopsis: "The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant, caught in the tragic sweep of history, 'The Kite Runner' transports readers to Afghanistan at a tense and crucial moment of change and destruction. A powerful story of friendship, it is also about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons — their love, their sacrifices, their lies."

Buy it here.

"In Our Prime: The Invention of Middle Age" by Patricia Cohen

Amazon's synopsis: "For the first time ever, the middle-aged make up the biggest, richest, and most influential segment of the country, yet the history of middle age has remained largely untold. This important and immensely readable book finally fills the gap. 'In Our Prime' is a biography of the idea of middle age from its invention in the late nineteenth century to its current place at the center of American society, where it shapes the way we view our families, our professional obligations, and our inner lives."

Buy it here.