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Books about Culture
Persepolis, Volume 1
by Marjane Satrapi
A graphic novel narrative of a young girl's coming of age during the Iranian Revolution.
Note: The summary of the English editions of the novel is divided into two sections, one for each book. Persepolis 1 begins by introducing Marji, the ten-year-old protagonist. Set in 1980, the novel ... (Wikipedia)
Around the World in Eighty Days
by Jules Verne
An epic journey of adventure and exploration, pushing the boundaries of the known world.
The story starts in London on Wednesday, 2 October 1872. Phileas Fogg is a rich British gentleman living a solitary life. Despite his wealth, Fogg lives a modest life with habits carried out with ... (Wikipedia)
Midnight's Children
by Salman Rushdie
A magical tale of India's history told through the story of a boy born at the stroke of midnight.
Saleem Sinai is born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the very moment of India’s independence. Greeted by fireworks displays, cheering crowds, and Prime Minister Nehru himself, Saleem ... (Goodreads)
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
by J.D. Vance
An exploration of the struggles of working-class Americans, and the power of family and culture to shape one's life.
Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. The disintegration of this group, a process that has been slowly occurring now for ... (Goodreads)
The Dan Brown Illustrated Box Set: Exclusive To Amazon.co.uk
by Dan Brown
A thrilling mystery adventure revolving around secret societies, conspiracies and puzzles.
Enter the labyrinthine world of internationally bestselling author Dan Brown with his first two spellbinding thrillers featuring Robert Langdon: Angels and Demons When a groundbreaking scientist is ... (Goodreads)
Everything Is Illuminated
by Jonathan Safran Foer
A young man's journey to trace his family's past, uncovering the secrets of the Holocaust.
Jonathan Safran Foer (the author), a young American Jew, who is vegetarian and an avid collector of his family's heritage, journeys to Ukraine in search of Augustine, the woman who saved his ... (Wikipedia)
What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures
by Malcolm Gladwell
Collection of essays about the surprising connections between seemingly unrelated topics.
What is the difference between choking and panicking? Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard but only one variety of ketchup? What do football players teach us about how to hire teachers? What ... (Goodreads)
The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
A gripping tale of friendship and redemption set against the backdrop of the tumultuous Afghan political landscape.
Amir, a well-to-do Pashtun boy, and Hassan, a Hazara boy who is the son of Ali, Amir's father's servant, spend their days kite fighting in the hitherto peaceful city of Kabul. Flying kites was a way ... (Wikipedia)
A Thousand Splendid Suns
by Khaled Hosseini
Two women's stories of resilience in the face of war and oppressive patriarchy in Afghanistan.
On the outskirts of Herat , a girl named Mariam lives with her embittered and estranged mother, Nana. Mariam's father, Jalil, is a businessman who owns a cinema and lives in Herat with his three ... (Wikipedia)
Homegoing
by Yaa Gyasi
Spanning centuries, the intertwining stories of two African sisters, their descendants, and the legacy of slavery.
Effia is raised by her mother, Baaba, who is cruel to her. Nevertheless she works hard to please her mother. Known as a beauty, Effia is intended to be married to the future chief of her village, but ... (Wikipedia)
A Confederacy of Dunces
by John Kennedy Toole
A satirical tale of an eccentric slacker's misadventures in New Orleans.
Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found, here, "A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles ... (Goodreads)
Girl with a Pearl Earring
by Tracy Chevalier
A young girl's journey as a painting subject, her relationship with the artist and the world around her.
Sixteen-year-old Griet has to leave her family home in Delft in 1664 after her father is blinded in an accident. As a tile-painter, her father is a member of the artists’ guild , so employment is ... (Wikipedia)
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
by Trevor Noah
Memoir of a young boy’s struggle to survive in a dangerous and divided apartheid South Africa.
The memoir of one man’s coming-of-age, set during the twilight of apartheid and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed. Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of ... (Goodreads)
Between the World and Me
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
A letter to his son, exploring the realities of racism in America.
“This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American ... (Goodreads)
Cutting for Stone
by Abraham Verghese
A sweeping journey of two twin brothers and their search for identity, belonging and family.
The story is told by the protagonist, Marion Stone. He and his conjoined twin Shiva are born at Mission Hospital (called "Missing" in accordance with the local pronunciation), Addis Ababa , in ... (Wikipedia)
Outliers: The Story of Success
by Malcolm Gladwell
Examining the keys to success, exploring the cultural, family, and psychological factors that drive achievement.
Learn what sets high achievers apart – from Bill Gates to the Beatles -- in this #1 bestseller from "a singular talent" (,New York Times Book Review,). In this stunning book, Malcolm Gladwell takes ... (Goodreads)
The God of Small Things
by Arundhati Roy
A moving story of two siblings growing up in India, exploring love, politics, and class.
The year is 1969. In the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India, a skyblue Plymouth with chrome tailfins is stranded on the highway amid a Marxist workers' demonstration. Inside the car ... (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)
Exit West
by Mohsin Hamid
Reflection on displacement and immigration as two refugees traverse the world in search of a new life.
Nadia and Saeed meet when they are working students in an unnamed city. Saeed is more conservative and still lives at home, as custom generally requires, but the more independent Nadia has chosen to ... (Wikipedia)
The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
by Neal Stephenson
A young girl's journey of learning and self-discovery, aided by advanced technology.
The protagonist in the story is Nell, a thete (or person without a tribe; equivalent to the lowest working class) living in the Leased Territories, a lowland slum built on the artificial, diamondoid ... (Wikipedia)
Chronicle of a Death Foretold
by Gabriel García Márquez
A murder mystery narrated by the townspeople and tracing the events leading up to the crime.
The non-linear story, told by an anonymous narrator, begins with the morning of Santiago Nasar's death. The reader learns that Santiago lives with his mother, Placida Linero; the cook, Victoria ... (Wikipedia)
Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows
by Balli Kaur Jaswal
An unlikely group of women come together to embrace their freedom and explore their sexuality.
Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club Pick A lively, sexy, and thought-provoking East-meets-West story about community, friendship, and women’s lives at all ages—a spicy and alluring mix of, Together Tea, ... (Barnes & Noble)
Dune Messiah
by Frank Herbert
Epic tale of a galactic ruler's struggle to protect his empire from destruction.
Twelve years after the events described in, Dune, (1965), Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides rules as Emperor. By accepting the role of messiah to the Fremen , Paul had unleashed a jihad which conquered most ... (Wikipedia)
Travels with Charley: In Search of America
by John Steinbeck
A road trip across America, exploring the culture and landscape of the country.
A quest across America, from the northernmost tip of Maine to California’s Monterey Peninsula To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the ... (Goodreads)
The Story of Art
by E.H. Gombrich
Comprehensive overview of art history, from prehistoric to modern times.
The Story of Art, one of the most famous and popular books on art ever written, has been a world bestseller for over four decades. Attracted by the simplicity and clarity of his writing, readers of ... (Goodreads)
The Sympathizer
by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Vietnam War refugee returns to his homeland and struggles to reconcile conflicting loyalties.
It is April 1975, and Saigon is in chaos. At his villa, a general of the South Vietnamese army is drinking whiskey and, with the help of his trusted captain, drawing up a list of those who will be ... (Goodreads)
Gone with the Wind
by Margaret Mitchell
A sweeping portrait of love, loss, and survival in the American Civil War.
Gone with the Wind takes place in the state of Georgia during the American Civil War (1861–1865) and the Reconstruction Era (1865–1877). The novel opens on the eve of a rebellion in which seven ... (Wikipedia)
Shogun
by James Clavell
A thrilling historical adventure of a European in feudal Japan, navigating political intrigue and forbidden love.
John Blackthorne, an English pilot, serving on the Dutch warship Erasmus , is the first Englishman to reach Japan. England (and Holland) seek to disrupt Portuguese-Catholic relations with Japan and ... (Wikipedia)
The Bonesetter's Daughter
by Amy Tan
A Chinese-American woman rediscovers her heritage, uncovering her family's deep past.
Ruth is a self-sufficient woman who makes her living as a ghostwriter for self-help books . She lives with her boyfriend, Art Kamen, and acts as a stepmother to Art's two teenage daughters, Dory and ... (Wikipedia)
At Home: A Short History of Private Life
by Bill Bryson
An exploration of the extraordinary and often overlooked history of the home.
“Houses aren’t refuges from history. They are where history ends up.” Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has ... (Goodreads)
Just One Day
by Gayle Forman
A young girl's story of self-discovery through a journey across Europe.
A breathtaking journey toward self-discovery and true love, from the author of If I Stay. When sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at ... (Goodreads)
White Teeth
by Zadie Smith
A multi-generational saga exploring identity, race, and culture in modern-day London.
On New Year's Day 1975, Archie Jones, a 47-year-old Englishman whose disturbed Italian wife has just walked out on him, is attempting to take his own life by gassing himself in his car when a chance ... (Wikipedia)
The Orphan Master's Son
by Adam Johnson
A man's struggle to survive in a totalitarian North Korean regime and his journey to freedom.
Part 1 details Jun Do's upbringing in a state orphanage and his service to the state, including as a kidnapper of Japanese citizens , and later as a signal operator stationed on a fishing boat. Due ... (Wikipedia)
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
by Lisa See
A woman's search for identity in the face of cultural expectations and familial secrets.
In their remote mountain village, Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. For the Akha people, ensconced in ritual and routine, life goes on as it has for ... (Goodreads)
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
by David Mitchell
An epic tale of love and adventure set in an 18th century Japanese trading port.
The novel begins in the summer of 1799 at the Dutch East India Company trading post Dejima in the harbor of Nagasaki . It tells the story of a Dutch trader's love for a Japanese midwife who is ... (Wikipedia)
My Life in France
by Julia Child
A memoir of Julia Child's life in Paris, cooking and exploring French cuisine.
The bestselling story of Julia's years in France–and the basis for Julie & Julia , starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams--in her own words. Although she would later singlehandedly create a new approach ... (Goodreads)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
by Lisa See
Story of two women in 19th-century China, exploring the power of female friendship.
In rural Hunan province called Puwei (nicknamed the Common Beauty Village), a county in China, Lily is destined to become a, laotong, pair with Snow Flower, a girl of the same age from Tongkou (the ... (Wikipedia)
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)
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
by Marjane Satrapi
Autobiographical account of a young girl's experience of the Iranian Revolution.
Note: The summary of the English editions of the novel is divided into two sections, one for each book. Persepolis 1 begins by introducing Marji, the ten-year-old protagonist. Set in 1980, the novel ... (Wikipedia)
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
by Jared Diamond
Tracing the origins of human civilizations through the lens of geography, technology, and biology.
"Diamond has written a book of remarkable scope ... one of the most important and readable works on the human past published in recent years." Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a national bestseller: ... (Goodreads)
A Moveable Feast
by Ernest Hemingway
A memoir of Hemingway's life in 1920s Paris, exploring its rich bohemian culture.
Hemingway's memories of his life as an unknown writer living in Paris in the twenties are deeply personal, warmly affectionate, and full of wit. Looking back not only at his own much younger self, ... (Goodreads)
I Am America
by Stephen Colbert
Humorous exploration of American culture, politics and history.
Congratulations –just by opening the cover of this book you became 25% more patriotic. From Stephen Colbert, the host of television's highest-rated punditry show The Colbert Report , comes the book ... (Goodreads)
1,000 Places to See Before You Die
by Patricia Schultz
An inspiring journey to explore the beauty of the world, discover hidden gems and make memories.
Around the World, continent by continent, here is the best the world has to offer: 1,000 places guaranteed to give travelers the shivers. Sacred ruins, grand hotels, wildlife preserves, hilltop ... (Goodreads)
Pachinko
by Lee Min-jin
A saga spanning four generations of a Korean family living in Japan, struggling to survive and thrive amidst prejudice and poverty.
The novel takes place over the course of three books: Book I Gohyang/Hometown, Book II Motherland, and Book III Pachinko. In 1883, in the little island fishing village of Yeongdo , which is a ferry ... (Wikipedia)
The Storyteller
by Jodi Picoult
A storyteller's quest to restore faith in the power of storytelling and to mend the wounds of her past.
25-year-old Sage Singer lives in the small town of Westerbrook, New Hampshire . , A couple of years before the story began, Sage and her mother were in a car accident while Sage was driving. Sage's ... (Wikipedia)
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
by Mohsin Hamid
A Pakistani man's journey of identity and belonging, in a post-9/11 world.
At a café table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful encounter… Changez is ... (Goodreads)
And the Mountains Echoed
by Khaled Hosseini
Interconnected stories of family and love, tracing the consequences of decisions made throughout life.
The novel opens in the year 1952. Saboor, an impoverished farmer from the fictional village of Shadbagh, decides to sell his three-year-old daughter Pari to a wealthy, childless couple in Kabul. ... (Wikipedia)
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith
by Jon Krakauer
An exploration of the fundamentalist Mormon faith, its history, and the power of religious extremism.
A Story of Violent Faith A multilayered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, savage violence, polygamy, and unyielding faith. This is vintage Krakauer, an utterly compelling work of ... (Goodreads)
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
by Barack Obama
An exploration of the Obama family history, tracing the threads of identity and race.
In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New ... (Goodreads)
Leonardo da Vinci
by Walter Isaacson
Biography of the world's greatest polymath, exploring his legacy of art and science.
The #1, New York Times, bestseller from Walter Isaacson brings Leonardo da Vinci to life in this exciting new biography that is “a study in creativity: how to define it, how to achieve it...Most ... (Barnes & Noble)
China Rich Girlfriend
by Kevin Kwan
A comedic look at the lifestyles of the wealthy in modern-day China.
In 2013, two years after the events of, Crazy Rich Asians, , Eddie meets a wealthy client of his European bank, Bao Shaoyen, a distraught mother who is anxious to hear about her troubled son who was ... (Wikipedia)
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
by Reza Aslan
An examination of Jesus' life, death and legacy within the context of 1st century Judea.
From the internationally bestselling author of No god but God comes a fascinating, provocative, and meticulously researched biography that challenges long-held assumptions about the man we know as ... (Goodreads)
Middlesex
by Jeffrey Eugenides
A multigenerational story of a hermaphrodite's journey to discovering his identity.
"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of l974. . . ... (Barnes & Noble)
Everything I Never Told You
by Celeste Ng
A family unravels its history as tragedy strikes, exploring the power of secrets and lies.
On May 3, 1977, Lydia Lee, the middle child of the Lee family, is missing. After several days, her body is dredged out of the town lake. Lydia's parents, James and Marilyn, are horrified by their ... (Wikipedia)
In a Sunburned Country
by Bill Bryson
Exploration of the unique and diverse land, people and animals of Australia.
A CLASSIC FROM THE, NEW YORK TIMES, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF, ONE SUMMER , Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door, memorable travel literature threatens to break out. His previous excursion along the ... (Goodreads)
Refugee
by Alan Gratz
Three children, three different times, all with a common goal of finding refuge.
A tour de force from acclaimed author Alan Gratz (,Prisoner B-3087,), this timely — and timeless — novel tells the powerful story of three different children seeking refuge. A, New York Times, ... (Barnes & Noble)
Burial Rites
by Hannah Kent
A woman awaits her execution in 19th-century Iceland, reliving her story of hardship, loss and faith.
Burial Rites tells the story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, a servant in northern Iceland who was condemned to death after the murder of two men, one of whom was her employer, and became the last woman put ... (Wikipedia)
Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea
by Chelsea Handler
Humorous memoir of self-discovery, navigating the ups and downs of life with wit and resilience.
When Chelsea Handler needs to get a few things off her chest, she appeals to a higher power - vodka. You would too if you found out that your boyfriend was having an affair with a Peekapoo or if you ... (Goodreads)
Unaccustomed Earth
by Jhumpa Lahiri
Collection of stories exploring the complexities of family, culture, and identity.
From the internationally best-selling, Pulitzer Prize–winning author, a superbly crafted new work of fiction: eight stories—longer and more emotionally complex than any she has yet written—that take ... (Goodreads)
Shantaram
by Gregory David Roberts
An Australian convict escapes to India and embarks on a journey of self-discovery.
In 1978, Roberts was sentenced to a 19-year imprisonment in Australia after being convicted of a series of armed robberies of building society branches, credit unions , and shops. In July 1980, he ... (Wikipedia)
Secret Daughter
by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
An Indian woman's journey to find her daughter and redeem her past.
Somer's life is everything she imagined it would be — she's newly married and has started her career as a physician in San Francisco — until she makes the devastating discovery she never will be able ... (Goodreads)
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
by Yuval Noah Harari
An exploration of human evolution from the Stone Age to the present day.
100,000 years ago, at least six human species inhabited the earth. Today there is just one. Us. Homo sapiens. How did our species succeed in the battle for dominance? Why did our foraging ancestors ... (Goodreads)
Just Kids
by Patti Smith
Chronicles of two young artists in New York City, finding friendship and inspiration in each other.
In Just Kids , Patti Smith's first book of prose, the legendary American artist offers a never-before-seen glimpse of her remarkable relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the epochal ... (Goodreads)
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
by Lynne Truss
A humorous look at the importance of punctuation and its effect on language.
In Eats, Shoots & Leaves , former editor Lynne Truss, gravely concerned about our current grammatical state, boldly defends proper punctuation. She proclaims, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and ... (Goodreads)
When You Are Engulfed in Flames
by David Sedaris
Humorous reflections on everyday life, navigating the absurdities of the human condition.
It's early autumn 1964. Two straight-A students head off to school, and when only one of them returns home Chesney Yelverton is coaxed from retirement and assigned to what proves to be the most ... (Goodreads)
The Left Hand of Darkness
by Ursula K. Le Guin
A diplomat's mission to a distant planet, exploring themes of gender and identity.
The protagonist of the novel is Genly Ai, a male Terran native, who is sent to invite the planet Gethen to join the Ekumen, a coalition of humanoid worlds. , Ai travels to the Gethen planetary system ... (Wikipedia)
Snow Falling on Cedars
by David Guterson
A murder trial in a small, coastal town reveals secrets of the past and its inhabitants.
Set on the fictional San Piedro Island in the northern Puget Sound region of the state of Washington coast in 1954, the plot revolves around a murder case in which Kabuo Miyamoto, a Japanese American ... (Wikipedia)
What Is the What
by Dave Eggers
A young African refugee's journey from Sudan to America, struggling to survive and keep his culture alive.
Achak is separated from his family during the Second Sudanese Civil War when the Arab militia, referred to as murahaleen (which is Arabic for the deported), wipes out his Dinka village, Marial Bai . ... (Wikipedia)
The Shoemaker's Wife
by Adriana Trigiani
Two Italian immigrants forge a love story amongst the struggles of making a life in America.
The majestic and haunting beauty of the Italian Alps is the setting of the first meeting of Enza, a practical beauty, and Ciro, a strapping mountain boy, who meet as teenagers, despite growing up in ... (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 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)
The Joy Luck Club
by Amy Tan
A story of four Chinese immigrant mothers and their daughters, exploring culture, family, identity and relationships.
The Joy Luck Club consists of sixteen interlocking stories about the lives of four Chinese immigrant mothers and their four American-born daughters. , In 1949, the four mothers meet at the First ... (Wikipedia)
A Gentleman in Moscow
by Amor Towles
A Russian aristocrat's life of imprisonment in a grand hotel, discovering the beauty of life in confinement.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Civility—a transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel With his breakout debut novel, ... (Goodreads)
Like Water for Chocolate
by Laura Esquivel
Magical tale of forbidden love, crossed by cultural and family traditions.
The book is divided into 12 sections named after the months of the year, starting in January and ending in December. Each section begins with a Mexican recipe . The chapters connect each dish to an ... (Wikipedia)
The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America
by Bill Bryson
A humorous journey through rural America, exploring its secrets and idiosyncrasies.
'I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to' And, as soon as Bill Bryson was old enough, he left. Des Moines couldn't hold him, but it did lure him back. After ten years in England, he returned to the ... (Goodreads)
The Chosen
by Chaim Potok
Story of two boys from different backgrounds learning to understand each other and their place in the world.
In 1944 Brooklyn, fifteen-year-old Reuven Malter prepares to play a baseball game: his own Modern Orthodox school against a team from an ultra-orthodox Hasidic yeshiva. It becomes apparent that the ... (Wikipedia)
A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines
by Anthony Bourdain
A globe-trotting exploration of exotic dishes and cultures, told with wit and humor.
From the star of, No Reservations, Anthony Bourdain's, New York Times-,bestselling chronicle of travelling the world in search the globe's greatest cuilnary adventures The only thing "gonzo ... (Goodreads)
The Power of One
by Bryce Courtenay
A young man's journey of self-discovery, overcoming the odds and finding strength in adversity.
The Power of One follows an English-speaking South African boy named Peekay from 1939 to 1951. The story begins when Peekay's mother has a nervous breakdown, and Peekay ends up being raised by a Zulu ... (Wikipedia)
How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe
by Thomas Cahill
Recounts the history of how Irish monks preserved civilization during the Middle Ages.
From the fall of Rome to the rise of Charlemagne - the "dark ages" - learning, scholarship, and culture disappeared from the European continent. The great heritage of western civilization - from the ... (Goodreads)
The Dovekeepers
by Alice Hoffman
Four women living in a fort in ancient Israel tell their stories of survival and faith.
According to the official trailer , Tagline: The trailer featured the tagline, "Their journey. Their passion. It all leads up to this. Take a stand." The adaptation garnered negative reviews: Keith ... (Wikipedia)
Roots: The Saga of an American Family
by Alex Haley
A multigenerational saga tracing the journey of an African American family in the U.S.
Roots tells the story of Kunta Kinte —a young man taken from the Gambia when he was seventeen and sold as a slave—and seven generations of his descendants in the United States. Kunta, a Mandinka ... (Wikipedia)
Purple Hibiscus
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A young girl's struggle to find her place in a family and society torn apart by political turmoil.
A previously published edition of ISBN 9781616202415 can be found, here., Fifteen-year-old Kambili and her older brother Jaja lead a privileged life in Enugu, Nigeria. They live in a beautiful house, ... (Goodreads)
Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose
by Tony Hsieh
A business leader's journey from success to significance, showing how to build a corporate culture of happiness.
You want to learn about the path that we took at Zappos to get to over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales in less than ten years. You want to learn about the path I took that eventually led me to ... (Goodreads)
A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story
by Linda Sue Park
A boy's story of courage and perseverance, as he faces the civil war in Sudan.
A Long Walk to Water begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about a girl in Sudan in 2008 and a boy in Sudan in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours’ ... (Goodreads)
Tikki Tikki Tembo
by Arlene Mosel
A humorous tale of a Chinese boy with an unusually long name and his heroic brother.
Tikki Tikki Tembo is set in ancient China and invents an ancient Chinese custom whereby parents honor their first-born sons with long, elaborate names that everyone is obliged to say completely – no ... (Wikipedia)
Quidditch Through the Ages
by J.K. Rowling
A detailed guide to the magical sport of Quidditch, its history and its rules.
The most checked-out book in the Hogwarts Library, and a volume no Quidditch player or Harry Potter fan should be without! If you have ever asked yourself where the Golden Snitch came from, how the ... (Goodreads)
The Art Book
by Phaidon Press
A comprehensive guide to 500 of the world's greatest works of art.
An A to Z guide to 500 great painters and sculptors from medieval to modern times, it debunks art historical classifications by throwing together brilliant examples of all periods, schools, visions ... (Goodreads)
Just My Type: A Book about Fonts
by Simon Garfield
Exploration of the fascinating history and variety of typefaces that have shaped our world.
What’s your type? Suddenly everyone’s obsessed with fonts. Whether you’re enraged by Ikea’s Verdanagate, want to know what the Beach Boys have in common with easy Jet or why it’s okay to like Comic ... (Goodreads)
Plain Truth
by Jodi Picoult
A young Amish woman faces the consequences of a difficult decision, navigating the boundaries of faith, justice, and freedom.
The novel recounts the story of how a dead infant found on an Amish farm rocks the entire community. As the police investigate the death, they discover that the baby was not stillborn , but instead ... (Wikipedia)
Consider the Lobster and Other Essays
by David Foster Wallace
Collection of essays exploring the human experience in a humorous, thoughtful and often absurd way.
Do lobsters feel pain? Did Franz Kafka have a funny bone? What is John Updike's deal, anyway? And what happens when adult video starlets meet their fans in person? David Foster Wallace answers these ... (Goodreads)
Color: A Natural History of the Palette
by Victoria Finlay
Exploration of the history, science, and cultural significance of color.
Discover the tantalizing true stories behind your favorite colors. For example: Cleopatra used saffron—a source of the color yellow—for seduction. Extracted from an Afghan mine, the blue ... (Goodreads)
Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo
by Hayden Herrera
The story of a passionate, revolutionary and pioneering Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo.
Hailed by readers and critics across the country, this engrossing biography of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo reveals a woman of extreme magnetism and originality, an artist whose sensual vibrancy came ... (Goodreads)
Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe
by Bill Bryson
A humorous and informative look at the many cultures, customs and curiosities of Europe.
Bill Bryson's first travel book, The Lost Continent , was unanimously acclaimed as one of the funniest books in years. In Neither Here nor There he brings his unique brand of humour to bear on Europe ... (Goodreads)
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
by Bill Bryson
A humorous recounting of a boy's childhood in the 1950s and his fantastical adventures.
Bryson was born on December 8, 1951. He spent his childhood growing up in Des Moines, Iowa , part of the baby-boom generation born in the post-war years. He describes his early life and his parents, ... (Wikipedia)
Hawaii
by James A. Michener
Epic saga of the history, culture and people of the Hawaiian Islands.
The novel tells the history of Hawaiian Islands from the creation of the isles to the time they became an American state, through the viewpoints of selected characters who represent their ethnic and ... (Wikipedia)
The Blind Side
by Michael Lewis
Story of an underprivileged African-American teen who is rescued and mentored by a wealthy white family.
The #1 New York Times Bestseller "Lewis has such a gift for storytelling…he writes as lucidly for sports fans as for those who read him for other reasons." —Janet Maslin, New York Times When we first ... (Barnes & Noble)
Love & Gelato
by Jenna Evans Welch
A young girl's summer journey to Italy, where she discovers treasured family secrets and a newfound appreciation for life.
A summer in Italy turns into a road trip across Tuscany in this sweeping, New York Times, bestseller filled with romance, mystery, and adventure. Lina is spending the summer in Tuscany, but she isn’t ... (Barnes & Noble)
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking
by Samin Nosrat
Guide to mastering the four elements of cooking for delicious, balanced meals.
A visionary new master class in cooking that distills decades of professional experience into just four simple elements, from the woman declared “America’s next great cooking teacher” by Alice ... (Goodreads)
The Birth of Venus
by Sarah Dunant
A passionate story of love and art set in 15th century Florence.
Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family’s Florentine palazzo. ... (Goodreads)
Stay with Me
by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
A sweeping tale of love, betrayal, and the power of family, set in Nigeria.
This celebrated, unforgettable first novel, shortlisted for the prestigious Women's Prize for Fiction and set in Nigeria, gives voice to both husband and wife as they tell the story of their ... (Goodreads)
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