The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (my personal favorite. Some of the most beautiful writing and the way the story is told will be unlike anything else on the list)

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

The House Of Spirits by Isabel Allende (magic realism at its finest)

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl. (If you want to do a religious book without doing a religious books but more for general spiritual philosophy.) .

For Christianity I'd recommend anything by C.S. Lewis. Like, literally anything.

Night by Elie Wissel. (Which, IMHO, should be required reading for life.)