Literary theme analysis, by a book like {foo}
Books about Despair
It's Kind of a Funny Story
by Ned Vizzini
A young man's struggle with mental illness, finding his path to recovery.
Craig Gilner, the narrator, is 15 years old and lives with his family in a middle-class Brooklyn neighborhood. He attends the prestigious Executive Pre-Professional High School, having studied ... (Wikipedia)
Wintergirls
by Laurie Halse Anderson
A teenage girl struggles with anorexia and the lingering trauma of her best friend's death.
Lia Overbrook, an 18-year-old girl, just found out that her ex-best friend Cassie has died. Cassie had called Lia 33 times the night of her death. However, Lia never answered the phone. Cassie was ... (Wikipedia)
The Road
by Cormac McCarthy
A father and son journey through a post-apocalyptic landscape, facing the harsh realities of survival.
A father and his young son journey on foot across the post-apocalyptic ash-covered United States some years after an extinction event . The boy's mother, pregnant with him at the time of the ... (Wikipedia)
The Oedipus Cycle: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone
by Sophocles
Ancient tragedy of a family's fall from grace due to a fateful prophecy.
English versions of Sophocles’ three great tragedies based on the myth of Oedipus, translated for a modern audience by two gifted poets. Index. ... (Barnes & Noble)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
by J.K. Rowling
Final installment of the Harry Potter series, as Harry attempts to defeat the Dark Lord.
Throughout the six previous novels in the series , the main character Harry Potter has struggled with the difficulties of adolescence along with being famous as the only person ever to survive the ... (Wikipedia)
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
by Jung Chang
A family memoir spanning decades of Chinese history, exploring the power of resilience.
The story of three generations in twentieth-century China that blends the intimacy of memoir and the panoramic sweep of eyewitness history—a bestselling classic in thirty languages with more than ten ... (Goodreads)
Slaughterhouse-Five
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
A man's struggle to make sense of the horrors of war and the chaotic nature of life.
The story is told in a non-linear order, and events become clear through flashbacks and time travel experiences from the unreliable narrator , who begins the novel by writing "All of this happened, ... (Wikipedia)
The Bell Jar
by Sylvia Plath
Confronting the identity and mental health struggles of a young woman in a patriarchal society.
In 1953, Esther Greenwood, a young woman from the suburbs of Boston , gains a summer internship at a prominent magazine in New York City , under editor Jay Cee; however, Esther is neither stimulated ... (Wikipedia)
Hamlet
by William Shakespeare
A prince's struggle with grief, revenge, and morality in the face of a corrupt court.
The protagonist of Hamlet is Prince Hamlet of Denmark, son of the recently deceased King Hamlet , and nephew of King Claudius , his father's brother and successor. Claudius hastily married King ... (Wikipedia)
The Forever War
by Joe Haldeman
A soldier's story of the horror of war and its consequences in the far future.
The monumental Hugo and Nebula award winning SF classic— Featuring a new introduction by John Scalzi,The Earth's leaders have drawn a line in the interstellar sand—despite the fact that the fierce ... (Barnes & Noble)
1984
by George Orwell
A cautionary tale of a society taken over by a totalitarian regime, where freedom of thought is suppressed.
In the year 1984, civilization has been damaged by war, civil conflict, and revolution. Airstrip One (formerly known as Great Britain) is a province of Oceania , one of the three totalitarian ... (Wikipedia)
Night
by Elie Wiesel
A harrowing chronicle of a Jewish family during the Holocaust and their struggle for survival.
Born in the town of Sighet, Transylvania, Elie Wiesel was a teenager when he and his family were taken from their home in 1944 to Auschwitz concentration camp, and then to Buchenwald. Night is the ... (Goodreads)
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption
by Laura Hillenbrand
An extraordinary tale of struggle and survival, showing the power of resilience in the face of adversity.
On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean ... (Goodreads)
Mockingjay
by Suzanne Collins
A teenage girl's struggle for survival in a post-apocalyptic world, with the fate of her people in her hands.
After the events of, Catching Fire, , Katniss Everdeen, her mother, her sister Primrose Everdeen, mentor Haymitch Abernathy, and her friends Finnick Odair and Gale Hawthorne, along with the survivors ... (Wikipedia)
All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque
A soldier's harrowing experience of the horrors of war.
The book tells the story of Paul Bäumer, who belongs to a group of German soldiers on the Western Front during World War I . The patriotic speeches of his teacher Kantorek had led the whole class to ... (Wikipedia)
King Lear
by William Shakespeare
An aging king's descent into madness reveals the consequences of pride and vanity.
Shakespeare’s King Lear challenges us with the magnitude, intensity, and sheer duration of the pain that it represents. Its figures harden their hearts, engage in violence, or try to alleviate the ... (Goodreads)
Beartown
by Fredrik Backman
A small-town hockey team and its community grapple with the consequences of a traumatic event.
Peter Andersson, in his forties, is the general manager of the ice hockey club in Beartown, a small town located somewhere in Sweden. Peter grew up in Beartown and was a junior hockey star. He went ... (Wikipedia)
Crime and Punishment
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A young man's struggle between morality and passion, exploring the depths of human nature.
Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a former law student, lives in extreme poverty in a tiny, rented room in Saint Petersburg. Isolated and antisocial, he has abandoned all attempts to support himself, ... (Wikipedia)
Macbeth
by William Shakespeare
A nobleman's ambition leads to a dark and bloody descent into tragedy.
Three witches resolve to meet Macbeth after the battle. Victory is reported to King Duncan. Duncan is impressed by reports of Macbeth's conduct so transfers the rebellious Thane of Cawdor's title to ... (Wikipedia)
The Bad Beginning
by Lemony Snicket
Three orphans must use their wits to survive a cruel and unusual guardian.
Dear Reader, I'm sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant. It tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children. Even though they are charming and ... (Goodreads)
A Little Life
by Hanya Yanagihara
A powerful tale of four friends navigating life's hardships and the devastating effects of trauma.
The novel follows the lives of four friends in New York City from college through to middle-age. It focuses particularly on Jude, a lawyer with a mysterious past, ambiguous ethnicity, and unexplained ... (Wikipedia)
Walking Disaster
by Jamie McGuire
A young man's journey to overcome his inner demons and find redemption.
Continuarea mult așteptată a bestsellerului, Fericirea începe azi,, Află ce este în mintea bărbaților!, Travis Maddox a învățat două lucruri de la mama sa înainte ca aceasta să moară: Iubește mult. ... (Barnes & Noble)
Howl and Other Poems
by Allen Ginsberg
A collection of poems exploring themes of individualism and modern culture.
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)
Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair
by Pablo Neruda
Collection of poems exploring love, heartache, and the complexities of relationships.
When it appeared in 1924, this work launched into the international spotlight a young and unknown poet whose writings would ignite a generation. W. S. Merwin's incomparable translation faces the ... (Goodreads)
Monster
by Walter Dean Myers
A young man's journey through the criminal justice system, and his struggle to find redemption.
The novel begins with 16-year-old Steve Harmon writing in his diary awaiting for his trial for murder . Musing on his short time in prison so far, he decides to record this upcoming experience in the ... (Wikipedia)
The Silver Chair
by C.S. Lewis
A journey through an enchanted land, revealing the power of courage and faith.
Eustace Scrubb , now a reformed character following the events of, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, , encounters his classmate and new friend Jill Pole at their school, Experiment House , where they ... (Wikipedia)
The Last Battle
by C.S. Lewis
Epic conclusion to the Chronicles of Narnia, with a battle between good and evil.
In the north of Narnia, a clever and greedy ape named Shift persuades a well-meaning but simple-minded donkey called Puzzle to dress in a lion's skin (an echo from Aesop's story of The Ass in the ... (Wikipedia)
The Enchantress Returns
by Chris Colfer
A magical adventure to restore a kingdom, with the help of an unlikely hero.
After decades of hiding, the evil Enchantress who cursed Sleeping Beauty is back with a vengeance. Alex and Conner Bailey have not been back to the magical Land of Stories since their adventures in ... (Goodreads)
Seveneves
by Neal Stephenson
Humanity's struggle for survival after an apocalyptic event threatens to extinguish life on Earth.
In the near future, an unknown agent causes the Moon to shatter. As the pieces begin to collide with one another, astronomer and science popularizer "Doc" Dubois Harris calculates that Moon fragments ... (Wikipedia)
The Aeneid
by Virgil
Epic tale of Aeneas and the founding of Rome, a fateful journey through the gods.
The Aeneid – thrilling, terrifying and poignant in equal measure – has inspired centuries of artists, writers and musicians. Virgil’s epic tale tells the story of Aeneas, a Trojan hero, who flees his ... (Goodreads)
Between Shades of Gray
by Ruta Sepetys
A young girl's story of survival and resilience in the face of oppression during World War II.
Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family ... (Goodreads)
Days Gone Bye
by Robert Kirkman
Small-town sheriff's journey to survive a zombie-filled apocalyptic world.
The world we knew is gone. The world of commerce and frivolous necessity has been replaced by a world of survival and responsibility. An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe, ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Lorax
by Dr. Seuss
A story of environmental stewardship and warning of the consequences of greed.
A young unnamed boy living in a polluted area visits a strange isolated man called the Once-ler on the Street of the Lifted Lorax. The boy pays the Once-ler fifteen cents, a nail, and the shell of a ... (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)
The Butterfly Garden
by Dot Hutchison
A young woman's struggle to escape captivity after being imprisoned in a garden of butterflies.
An Amazon Charts bestseller., Near an isolated mansion lies a beautiful garden. In this garden grow luscious flowers, shady trees…and a collection of precious “butterflies”—young women who have been ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Lost Boy
by Dave Pelzer
A heart-wrenching story of a boy's survival of extreme childhood abuse and neglect.
The book continues after the ending of the previous book,, A Child Called "It", with David Pelzer, 9 years old, running away from his home in Daly City, California . He ends up in a bar, getting ... (Wikipedia)
A Child Called "It"
by Dave Pelzer
True story of a child's unbearable suffering at the hands of an abusive parent.
Also see: Alternate Cover Editions for this ISBN [ACE], ACE #1, This book chronicles the unforgettable account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. It is the story of ... (Goodreads)
Twelve Years a Slave
by Solomon Northup
A man's journey of survival and resilience after being kidnapped and sold into slavery in the antebellum South.
Twelve Years a Slave, sub-title: Narrative of Solomon Northup, citizen of New-York, kidnapped in Washington city in 1841, and rescued in 1853, from a cotton plantation near the Red River in ... (Goodreads)
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
A single day in a Soviet prison camp, detailing the hardships and struggle of the inmates.
Ivan Denisovich Shukhov has been sentenced to a camp in the Soviet gulag system. He was accused of becoming a spy after being captured briefly by the Germans as a prisoner of war during World War II ... (Wikipedia)
Fall of Giants
by Ken Follett
Epic historical fiction recounting the tumultuous events of World War I and its aftermath.
The novel begins with the thirteen-year-old Billy Williams, nicknamed 'Billy With Jesus', going to work his first day in the coal mine underneath the fictional Welsh town of Aberowen in 1911. Three ... (Wikipedia)
Redeeming Love
by Francine Rivers
A woman's journey of transformation and redemption through the power of love.
The story starts off in New England, 1835. Sarah, a beautiful young girl, meets her father, Alex Stafford, for the first time. Six-year-old Sarah learns that she is the product of Stafford's ... (Wikipedia)
Elantris
by Brandon Sanderson
Epic fantasy tale of a cursed city and its inhabitants’ struggles to restore its former glory.
Elantris was once a place of magic, and the immortal Elantrians were gods in the eyes of people, with the divine ability to create and heal with a mere wave of a hand. Anyone in Arelon had the ... (Wikipedia)
For Whom the Bell Tolls
by Ernest Hemingway
A soldier's story of courage and survival in the Spanish Civil War.
The novel graphically describes the brutality of the Spanish Civil War. It is told primarily through the thoughts and experiences of the protagonist, Robert Jordan. It draws on Hemingway's own ... (Wikipedia)
Doctor Zhivago
by Boris Pasternak
A love story set against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution, exploring the tragedy of a nation in upheaval.
The plot of Doctor Zhivago is long and intricate. It can be difficult to follow for two reasons. First, Pasternak employs many characters, who interact with each other throughout the book in ... (Wikipedia)
Man's Search for Meaning
by Viktor E. Frankl
Holocaust survivor's exploration of resilience, suffering and how to find meaning in life.
Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Based on his own experience and the ... (Goodreads)
Notes from Underground
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A portrait of the struggles of a troubled man, exploring his inner turmoil.
The novel is divided into two parts. Serving as an introduction into the mind of the narrator, the first part of Notes from Underground is split into nine chapters: The narrator observes that utopian ... (Wikipedia)
The Nightingale
by Kristin Hannah
Two sisters in Nazi-occupied France struggle to survive and find strength in the face of their oppressors.
In love we find out who we want to be.,In war we find out who we are.,FRANCE, 1939 In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says good-bye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. ... (Goodreads)
Kindred
by Octavia E. Butler
A modern woman is thrown back in time, forced to confront the harsh realities of slavery.
Kindred scholars have noted that the novel's chapter headings suggest something "elemental, apocalyptic, archetypal about the events in the narrative," thus giving the impression that the main ... (Wikipedia)
The Long Walk
by Richard Bachman
Fourteen boys face a grueling test of endurance and willpower as they compete in a life-or-death march.
One hundred teenage boys join an annual walking contest called "The Long Walk" or just "The Walk". Each contestant, called a "Walker", must maintain a speed of at least four miles per hour; if he ... (Wikipedia)
Hopeless
by Colleen Hoover
A young girl's journey to find hope and strength in the midst of life's darkest moments.
From the #1, New York Times, bestselling author of, All Your Perfects, comes the beginning of Sky and Dean’s passionate love story—where well-kept secrets threaten to opens wounds of a dark past. ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Heart's Invisible Furies
by John Boyne
A man's life journey spanning seven decades and three continents, searching for love and acceptance.
Cyril Avery is not a real Avery or at least that’s what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn’t a real Avery, then who is he? Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast ... (Goodreads)
Shakespeare's Sonnets
by William Shakespeare
A collection of poems exploring love, life, mortality, and beauty.
The Arden Shakespeare has long been acclaimed as the established scholarly edition of Shakespeare's work. Now being totally reedited for the third time, Arden editions offer the very best in ... (Goodreads)
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
by Isabel Wilkerson
An exploration of the life-changing journeys of the millions of African-Americans who migrated from the South to the North, Midwest, and West from 1915 to 1970.
In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black ... (Goodreads)
If I Stay
by Gayle Forman
Young girl must decide between life and death after a devastating car accident.
On a snowy day in Portland, Oregon , Mia, her mother, her father, and her little brother, Teddy, decide to go for a morning drive. The snow causes their car to swerve into another lane where a car ... (Wikipedia)
The Raven
by Edgar Allan Poe
A man is visited by a mysterious raven, leading him on a journey of grief and reflection.
In Gustave Doré, one of the most prolific and successful book illustrators of the late 19h century, Edgar Allan Poe's renowned poem The Raven found perhaps its most perfect artistic interpreter. ... (Goodreads)
Burned
by Ellen Hopkins
A young girl's struggle to survive physical and emotional abuse in her family.
Pattyn is seventeen years old and is the oldest of seven girls in a Mormon household. Her father is an alcoholic who beats her mother, believing a wife must succumb to her husband's actions. Her ... (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)
Othello
by William Shakespeare
A tale of jealousy, manipulation, and tragedy, as one man's descent into madness leads to disastrous consequences.
In Othello, Shakespeare creates a powerful drama of a marriage that begins with fascination (between the exotic Moor Othello and the Venetian lady Desdemona), with elopement, and with intense mutual ... (Goodreads)
We Need to Talk About Kevin
by Lionel Shriver
A mother's struggle to come to terms with the monstrous acts of her disturbed son.
In the wake of a school massacre conducted by Kevin Khatchadourian, the 15-year-old son of Franklin Plaskett and Eva Khatchadourian, Eva begins writing letters to Franklin in November 2000. She ... (Wikipedia)
The Book of Negroes
by Lawrence Hill
A gripping tale of resilience and courage, tracing the life of a woman kidnapped in Africa and sold into slavery in North America.
The Book of Negroes (based on the novel Someone Knows My Name) will be BET's first miniseries. The star-studded production includes lead actress Aunjanue Ellis (Ray, The Help), Oscar winner Cuba ... (Goodreads)
The Memory Keeper's Daughter
by Kim Edwards
A doctor's decision to conceal his daughter's disability from his family leads to a lifetime of secrets and heartache.
In early March of 1964, Dr. David Henry is forced to deliver his wife Norah's twins with the help of a nurse, Caroline Gill. Their first child, a boy they name Paul, is born a healthy perfect child, ... (Wikipedia)
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
by Nathaniel Philbrick
True account of a whaling ship's disastrous voyage and the survivors' struggle for survival.
"With its huge, scarred head halfway out of the water and its tail beating the ocean into a white-water wake more than forty feet across, the whale approached the ship at twice its original speed - ... (Goodreads)
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe
A shipwrecked sailor's struggle to survive on an isolated island, and his eventual redemption.
Crusoe (the family name corrupted from the German name "Kreutznaer") set sail from Kingston upon Hull on a sea voyage in August 1651, against the wishes of his parents, who wanted him to pursue a ... (Wikipedia)
Peace Like a River
by Leif Enger
A young boy's journey of faith, hope, and courage in the midst of tragedy.
Once in a great while, we encounter a novel in our voluminous reading that begs to be read aloud. Leif Enger's debut, Peace Like a River , is one such work. His richly evocative novel, narrated by an ... (Goodreads)
P.S. I Love You
by Cecelia Ahern
A woman's journey of grief, recovery, and courage in the wake of her husband's death.
Holly and Gerry are a married couple who live in Dublin. They are deeply in love, but they fight occasionally. By winter that year, Gerry suddenly dies of a brain tumor and Holly realizes how much he ... (Wikipedia)
When Breath Becomes Air
by Paul Kalanithi
A doctor's poignant memoir about life, mortality and purpose in the face of terminal illness.
For readers of Atul Gawande, Andrew Solomon, and Anne Lamott, a profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir by a young neurosurgeon faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis who attempts to answer ... (Goodreads)
Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West
by Blaine Harden
True story of a man who escaped from a North Korean prison camp and his journey to freedom.
A, New York Times, bestseller, the shocking story of one of the few people born in a North Korean political prison to have escaped and survived. North Korea is isolated and hungry, bankrupt and ... (Goodreads)
Reasons to Stay Alive
by Matt Haig
A memoir exploring mental illness and its effects on the author's life.
Matt Haig’s accessible and life-affirming memoir of his struggle with depression, and how his triumph over the illness taught him to live. Like nearly one in five people, Matt Haig suffers from ... (Goodreads)
Life As We Knew It
by Susan Beth Pfeffer
A teenage girl's struggle to survive an apocalyptic disaster, relying on her resilience and resourcefulness.
Miranda’s disbelief turns to fear in a split second when a meteor knocks the moon closer to the earth. How should her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis wipe out the coasts, ... (Goodreads)
Have a Little Faith: a True Story
by Mitch Albom
A journey through faith, exploring the power of belief and the strength of community.
In, Have a Little Faith, Mitch Albom offers a beautifully written story of a remarkable eight-year journey between two worlds–two men, two faiths, two communities--that will inspire readers ... (Goodreads)
The Fall
by Albert Camus
A man's journey into alienation and despair, driven by a sense of absurdity in life.
The Fall, ( French :, La Chute, ) is a philosophical novel by Albert Camus . First published in 1956, it is his last complete work of fiction. Set in Amsterdam , The Fall consists of a series of ... (Wikipedia)
I Am Legend
by Richard Matheson
A man is the last survivor of a zombie-creating virus, struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.
Robert Neville appears to be the sole survivor of a pandemic that has killed most of the human population and turned the remainder into " vampires " that largely conform to their stereotypes in ... (Wikipedia)
Silas Marner
by George Eliot
A tale of redemption and a search for a lost love, set in a rural English village.
The novel is set in the early years of the 19th century. Silas Marner, a weaver, is a member of a small Calvinist congregation in Lantern Yard, a slum street in Northern England . He is falsely ... (Wikipedia)
Ruin and Rising
by Leigh Bardugo
A young woman's epic quest to save her world from dark forces.
▶, Alternative Cover Edition #1, The capital has fallen. The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne. Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the ... (Goodreads)
Go Ask Alice
by Beatrice Sparks
A teenage girl's diary chronicling her journey into drug addiction and eventual redemption.
In 1968, a 15-year-old girl begins keeping a diary, in which she records her thoughts and concerns about issues such as crushes, weight loss, sexuality, social acceptance, and relating to her ... (Wikipedia)
Kingdom Come
by Mark Waid
An exploration of a dystopian future, and the heroes who struggle to save it.
In this Elseworlds story, Superman and the Justice League abandon their roles as superheroes after the rise and strong public support of a superhero named Magog , who has no qualms about ... (Wikipedia)
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
by Katherine Boo
Explores the lives of the people living in Mumbai's slums and the harsh realities they face.
From Pulitzer Prize-winner Katherine Boo, a landmark work of narrative nonfiction that tells the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving toward a better life in one of the ... (Goodreads)
The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
by Edgar Allan Poe
A collection of dark and mysterious stories and verses, exploring the human psyche.
The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe , by Edgar Allan Poe , is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
by Carson McCullers
Exploring the lives of diverse characters in a small Southern town, unearthing secrets and desires.
The book begins with a focus on the relationship between two close friends, John Singer and Spiros Antonapoulos, deaf-mutes who have lived together for several years. Antonapoulos becomes mentally ... (Wikipedia)
Still Alice
by Lisa Genova
A woman's struggle to hold on to her identity in the face of a devastating diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's disease.
Still Alice is a compelling debut novel about a 50-year-old woman's sudden descent into early onset Alzheimer's disease, written by first-time author Lisa Genova, who holds a Ph. D in neuroscience ... (Goodreads)
Bird Box
by Josh Malerman
A family's fight for survival in a post-apocalyptic world, where creatures lurk in the shadows.
Something is out there, something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse of it, and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from. Five years after it ... (Goodreads)
Native Son
by Richard Wright
A young African American man's exploration of his identity, facing the harsh realities of systemic racism.
Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black ... (Goodreads)
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
by Barbara Demick
Exploration of the lives of North Koreans during the famine and repression of the 1990s.
Nothing to Envy follows the lives of six North Koreans over fifteen years—a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the unchallenged rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il, and the ... (Goodreads)
Left Behind
by Tim LaHaye
A post-apocalyptic world of chaos and destruction, as the Rapture takes away all the believers in Christ.
An airborne Boeing 747 is headed to London when, without any warning, passengers mysteriously disappear from their seats. Terror and chaos slowly spread not only through the plane but also worldwide ... (Goodreads)
Pollyanna
by Eleanor H. Porter
A young girl's journey of optimism and positivity, despite the struggles she faces.
The title character is Pollyanna Whittier, an eleven-year-old orphan , who goes to live in the fictional town of Beldingsville, Vermont , with her wealthy but stern and cold spinster Aunt Polly, who ... (Wikipedia)
World Without End
by Ken Follett
Epic tale of love and war, tracing the lives of two families over centuries.
The novel begins in the fictional city of Kingsbridge, England in the year 1327 . Four children - Merthin, Caris, Gwenda, and Merthin's brother Ralph - head into the woods on All Hallows Day . ... (Wikipedia)
A Million Little Pieces
by James Frey
An addict's story of recovery, as he struggles to overcome his demons.
Intense, unpredictable, and instantly engaging, this is a story of drug and alcohol abuse and rehabilitation as it has never been told before. It is also the introduction of a bold and talented ... (Goodreads)
Anne's House of Dreams
by L.M. Montgomery
A young couple's journey to build a life together, overcoming obstacles and finding joy.
The book begins with Anne and Gilbert's wedding, which takes place in the Green Gables orchard. After the wedding, they move to their first home together, which Anne calls their "house of dreams". ... (Wikipedia)
The Pianist
by Władysław Szpilman
A man's harrowing survival in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, and the resilience of the human spirit.
The last live broadcast on Polish Radio, on September 23, 1939, was Chopin's Nocturne in C# Minor, played by a young pianist named Wladyslaw Szpilman, until his playing was interrupted by German ... (Goodreads)
Don't Be Sad
by عائض القرني
رحلة نفسية يجريها شاب من الأحزان إلى الإبداع للكشف عن الحقائق السرية المخفية تحت السطح.
"خطّ المؤلف في هذه الصفحات علاجاً لمن عاش ضائقة أو ألمّ به حزن أو هم، أو طاف به طائف من مصيبة، أو أقضي مضجعه أرق، وشرد نومه قلق. وأينا يخلو من ذلك. هنا في طيات هذا الكتاب آيات وأبيات، صور وعبر، ... (Goodreads)
Clockwork Princess
by Cassandra Clare
A thrilling conclusion to the Infernal Devices series, with a final battle between good and evil.
Two months after the events of the previous book , Tessa Gray is in the midst of preparing for her wedding to Jem Carstairs. Gabriel Lightwood arrives at the Institute and requests help in taking ... (Wikipedia)
90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death and Life
by Don Piper
A pastor recounts his near-death experience, his time in Heaven and the healing of his soul.
As he is driving home from a minister's conference, Baptist minister Don Piper collides with a semi-truck that crosses into his lane. He is pronounced dead at the scene. For the next 90 minutes, ... (Goodreads)
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors
by Piers Paul Read
Story of a group of Uruguayan rugby players who survive a plane crash in the Andes and must fight to stay alive.
On October 12, 1972, a plane carrying a team of young rugby players crashed into the remote, snow-peaked Andes. Out of the forty-five original passengers and crew, only sixteen made it off the ... (Goodreads)
A Fall of Marigolds
by Susan Meissner
Two women separated by time and circumstance, brought together by a shared tragedy.
A beautiful scarf, passed down through the generations, connects two women who learn that the weight of the world is made bearable by the love we give away.... September 1911. On Ellis Island in New ... (Goodreads)
The Choice: Embrace the Possible
by Edith Eger
Overcoming trauma and embracing life through the power of the human spirit.
A, New York Times, Bestseller “I’ll be forever changed by Dr. Eger’s story…,The Choice, is a reminder of what courage looks like in the worst of times and that we all have the ability to pay ... (Barnes & Noble)
Monsters of Men
by Patrick Ness
Three armies clash in a violent war for the future of a planet, pushing humanity to the brink of extinction.
An army of Spackle, the indigenous population of the planet, marches on New Prentisstown from one direction, and the forces of The Answer from the other. Mayor Prentiss has been freed by Todd to help ... (Wikipedia)
The Deep End of the Ocean
by Jacquelyn Mitchard
A family coping with the loss of their son and their journey to reunite.
Wisconsin photographer and housewife Beth Cappadora leaves her youngest son, Ben, alone with his older brother for a brief moment in a crowded Chicago hotel lobby, while attending her high school ... (Wikipedia)
Enclave
by Ann Aguirre
A post-apocalyptic world of survival and war, as two unlikely young heroes fight for their freedom.
Ann Aguirre's thrilling young adult novel, Enclave, is the story of two young people in an apocalyptic world—facing dangers, and feelings, unlike any they've ever known. New York City has been ... (Barnes & Noble)
Passion
by Lauren Kate
A forbidden love story of angels and humans, struggling to reconcile the power of love with the cost of destiny.
Luce would die for Daniel. And she has. Over and over again. Throughout time, Luce and Daniel have found each other, only to be painfully torn apart: Luce dead, Daniel left broken and alone. But ... (Goodreads)
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