Powered by a book like {foo}
Recommendations based on The Giving Treeby Shel Silverstein
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
The Missing Piece Meets the Big O
by Shel Silverstein
A story of an incomplete circle in search of its missing piece, learning the joy of contentment.
The story centers on a circular shape-like creature that is missing a wedge-shaped piece of itself. It doesn't like this, and sets out to find its missing piece, singing: Oh, I'm lookin' for my ... (Wikipedia)
A Light in the Attic
by Shel Silverstein
A whimsical collection of poems, stories and drawings exploring life, love and the power of imagination.
Last night while I lay thinking here, Some Whatifs crawled inside my ear, And pranced and partied all night long, And sang their same old Whatif song:, Whatif I flunk that test?,Whatif green hair ... (Goodreads)
The Missing Piece
by Shel Silverstein
A circle searches for its missing piece, encountering different shapes along the way. It eventually finds its missing piece, but realizes it was happier alone.
The story centers on a circular shape-like creature that is missing a wedge-shaped piece of itself. It doesn't like this, and sets out to find its missing piece, singing: Oh, I'm lookin' for my ... (Wikipedia)
Daddy-Long-Legs
by Jean Webster
A young girl's coming-of-age story, learning to navigate the world of adulthood.
Jerusha Abbott was brought up at the John Grier Home, an old-fashioned orphanage . The children were completely dependent on charity and had to wear other people's cast-off clothes. Jerusha's unusual ... (Wikipedia)
Where the Red Fern Grows
by Wilson Rawls
A young boy embarks on an adventure with his beloved hunting dogs, learning valuable life lessons.
An old man named Billy Colman rescues a redbone hound under attack by neighborhood dogs. He takes it home with him so that its wounds can heal. In light of this event, he has a flashback to when he ... (Wikipedia)
Franny and Zooey
by J.D. Salinger
A brother and sister's journey towards finding spiritual understanding and inner peace.
The short story concerns Franny's weekend date with her collegiate boyfriend, Lane Coutell. Lane takes her to a fashionable lunch room, where Franny quickly becomes exasperated when he only appears ... (Wikipedia)
Blindness
by José Saramago
A society is plunged into chaos when everyone suddenly loses their sight.
Blindness is the story of an unexplained mass epidemic of blindness afflicting nearly everyone in an unnamed city, and the social breakdown that swiftly follows. The novel follows the misfortune of a ... (Wikipedia)
Letter to a Child Never Born
by Oriana Fallaci
A woman reflects on her life and contemplates the implications of motherhood.
Published by Rizzoli in 1975, Letter to a Child Never Born was quickly translated and sold in twenty-seven countries worldwide, becoming an extraordinary success. It is the tragic monologue of a ... (Goodreads)
The Gadfly
by Ethel Lilian Voynich
A young man’s struggle to find his place in the world against his oppressive society.
The Gadfly is a novel by Ethel Lilian Voynich, published in 1897, set in 1840s Italy under the dominance of Austria, a time of tumultuous revolt and uprisings. The story centers on the life of the ... (Goodreads)
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
by Dave Eggers
An autobiographical account of a young man dealing with grief and responsibility.
'When you read his extraordinary memoir you don't laugh, then cry, then laugh again; you somehow experience these emotions all at once.' "Well, this was when Bill was sighing a lot. He had decided ... (Goodreads)
Interpreter of Maladies
by Jhumpa Lahiri
Collection of stories exploring the struggles of Indian-American immigrants in the US.
A married couple, Shukumar and Shoba, live as strangers in their house until an electrical outage brings them together when all of sudden "they [are] able to talk to each other again" in the four ... (Wikipedia)
The Clown
by Heinrich Böll
A young man's reflective journey through post-war Germany, exploring the consequences of war.
Hans Schnier is the "Clown" of the novel's title. He is twenty-seven years old from a very wealthy family. At the beginning of the story he arrives in Bonn, Germany. As a clown, he had to travel ... (Wikipedia)
Désirée
by Annemarie Selinko
A young woman's journey to find her place in a world of conflicting expectations and social expectations.
The stunning, massively bestselling story of Napoleon's first fiancé, First published in 1953, this riveting true-life tale comes to life in diary form, giving readers an inside glimpse at the young ... (Goodreads)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
by Milan Kundera
A story of love and loss in a politically turbulent Czechoslovakia.
In The Unbearable Lightness of Being , Milan Kundera tells the story of a young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing and one of his mistresses and ... (Goodreads)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
by Junot Díaz
An exploration of love, identity, and the power of fate in a family's struggles and triumphs.
Oscar de León (nicknamed Oscar Wao, a bastardization of Oscar Wilde ) is an overweight Dominican growing up in Paterson, New Jersey. Oscar desperately wants to be successful with women but, from a ... (Wikipedia)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
by Betty Smith
A coming of age story set in Brooklyn, depicting a young girl's struggles and growth.
The novel is split into five "books", each covering a different period in the characters' lives. Book One opens in 1912 and introduces 11-year-old Francie Nolan, who lives in the Williamsburg ... (Wikipedia)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
by Eric Carle
A caterpillar's journey of growth and transformation to becoming a butterfly.
THE all-time classic story, from generation to generation, sold somewhere in the world every 30 seconds! Have you shared it with a child or grandchild in your life? One sunny Sunday, the caterpillar ... (Goodreads)
The Blind Owl
by Sadegh Hedayat
A surreal exploration of the human condition, touching on themes of despondency, futility, and nihilism.
Considered the most important work of modern Iranian literature, The Blind Owl is a haunting tale of loss and spiritual degradation. Replete with potent symbolism and terrifying surrealistic imagery, ... (Goodreads)
The Namesake
by Jhumpa Lahiri
A young Indian-American's journey of reconciling two different cultures and his own identity.
The story begins as Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli, a young Bengali couple, leave Calcutta , India, and settle in Central Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts . Ashoke is an engineering student at the ... (Wikipedia)
The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories
by Tim Burton
Collection of darkly humorous, twisted tales of peculiar and fantastical characters.
From breathtaking stop-action animation to bittersweet modern fairy tales, filmmaker Tim Burton has become known for his unique visual brilliance – witty and macabre at once. Now he gives birth to a ... (Goodreads)
Laughable Loves
by Milan Kundera
Collection of interconnected stories exploring the complexities of love, relationships and life.
Laughable Loves is a collection of stories that first appeared in print in Prague before 1968, but was then was subsequently banned. The seven stories are all concerned with love, or rather with the ... (Goodreads)
The House of the Spirits
by Isabel Allende
Epic family saga spanning generations, exploring the power of love and the impact of politics.
The story starts with the del Valle family, focusing upon the youngest and the oldest daughters of the family, Clara and Rosa. The youngest daughter, Clara del Valle, has paranormal powers and keeps ... (Wikipedia)
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
by Judi Barrett
A whimsical story of a town where food literally falls from the sky.
A grandfather reads a bedtime story, chronicling the lives of the citizens of an imaginary town called Chewandswallow, which is characterized by food raining from the sky. The sky provided the ... (Wikipedia)
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
by Patrick Süskind
A murder mystery set in 18th century France, exploring the depths of human obsession.
An acclaimed bestseller and international sensation, Patrick Suskind's classic novel provokes a terrifying examination of what happens when one man's indulgence in his greatest passion—his sense of ... (Goodreads)
Anne of Avonlea
by L.M. Montgomery
A young girl's coming-of-age in rural Prince Edward Island, full of adventures and misadventures.
Anne is about to start her first term teaching at the Avonlea school, although she will still continue her studies at home with Gilbert, who is teaching at the nearby White Sands School. The book ... (Wikipedia)
Nineteen Minutes
by Jodi Picoult
A small town is rocked by a school shooting, examining lives of those involved and the aftermath.
The story begins on March 6, 2007 in the small town of Sterling, New Hampshire , tracking the lives of a number of characters on an "ordinary day." The characters include Alex Cormier, a superior ... (Wikipedia)
The Brothers Karamazov
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A philosophical exploration of morality, faith, and family dynamics among a group of brothers.
The Brothers Karamazov is a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and an exploration of erotic rivalry in a series of triangular love affairs involving the “wicked and sentimental” Fyodor Pavlovich ... (Goodreads)
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Two teenage boys explore friendship, identity, and family, with unexpected results.
The book is divided into six sections. In each part we see the two main characters, Aristotle and Dante, discovering more about themselves, more Aristotle than Dante. 15-year-old Aristotle "Ari" ... (Wikipedia)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
by Dr. Seuss
A grumpy creature's attempt to ruin Christmas for an entire town.
The Grinch , a grouchy, cave-dwelling creature, hates Christmas ; his only companion is his unloved but loyal dog, Max. He resides on the snowy Mount Crumpit, located north of the town of Whoville, ... (Wikipedia)
Waiting for Godot
by Samuel Beckett
Two men wait for a mysterious figure who never arrives, reflecting on their lives and existence.
Two men, Vladimir and Estragon, have met near a leafless tree. Estragon spent the previous night lying in a ditch and receiving a beating from some unnamed assailants. The two men discuss a variety ... (Wikipedia)
