Literary theme analysis, by a book like {foo}
Books about Duality
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories
by Robert Louis Stevenson
A collection of dark and mysterious tales exploring duality and morality.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , by Robert Louis Stevenson , is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Picture of Dorian Gray
by Oscar Wilde
A Faustian tale of a man who trades his soul for eternal youth and beauty.
The Picture of Dorian Gray begins on a beautiful summer day in Victorian England, where Lord Henry Wotton, an opinionated man, is observing the sensitive artist Basil Hallward painting the portrait ... (Wikipedia)
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 Gunslinger
by Stephen King
A quest for redemption, a gunslinger battles an enigmatic Man in Black across a dangerous wasteland.
As Roland travels across the desert in search of the man in black, whom he knows as Walter, he encounters a farmer named Brown and Zoltan, Brown's crow. Roland spends the night there and recalls his ... (Wikipedia)
Songs of Innocence and of Experience
by William Blake
A poetic collection exploring the duality of human nature, innocence and experience.
Songs of Innocence and of Experience, is an collection of poems by William Blake., Note:, For a complete Table of Contents of the included poems, see the 'Questions' section below. This book appeared ... (Goodreads)
Kafka on the Shore
by Haruki Murakami
A surreal journey of self-discovery, exploring the boundaries between the real and surreal.
Comprising two distinct but interrelated plots, the narrative runs back and forth between both plots, taking up each plotline in alternating chapters. The odd-numbered chapters tell the 15-year-old ... (Wikipedia)
Elric of Melniboné
by Michael Moorcock
Hero's journey to reclaim his kingdom, encountering powerful allies and foes along the way.
Elric of Melniboné is a requisite title in the hard fantasy canon, a book no fantasy fan should leave unread. Author Michael Moorcock, already a major player in science fiction, cemented his position ... (Goodreads)
Faust, First Part
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A timeless story of a man's struggle between the forces of good and evil.
Goethe’s masterpiece and perhaps the greatest work in German literature, Faust has made the legendary German alchemist one of the central myths of the Western world. Here indeed is a monumental ... (Goodreads)
The Waste Land
by T.S. Eliot
A modernist poem exploring the social and psychological fragmentation of modern society.
The Waste Land, first published in 1922, is often regarded as T.S. Eliot's masterpiece, as well as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central work of modernist poetry. The ... (Goodreads)
1Q84
by Haruki Murakami
A surreal journey of two people entangled in a mysterious dual-world conspiracy.
The events of 1Q84 take place in Tokyo during a fictionalized year of 1984, with the first volume set between April and June, the second between July and September, and the third between October and ... (Wikipedia)
1Q84: Book Three
by Haruki Murakami
A surreal journey of two characters intertwined in a strange alternate reality.
The events of 1Q84 take place in Tokyo during a fictionalized year of 1984, with the first volume set between April and June, the second between July and September, and the third between October and ... (Wikipedia)
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
by Haruki Murakami
A surreal exploration of two separate yet interwoven realities.
The story is split between parallel narratives. The odd-numbered chapters take place in the 'Hard-Boiled Wonderland', although the phrase is not used anywhere in the text, only in page headers. The ... (Wikipedia)
Narcissus and Goldmund
by Hermann Hesse
An exploration of the spiritual journey of two men, contrasting their different paths.
Narcissus and Goldmund tells the story of two medieval men whose characters are diametrically opposite: Narcissus, an ascetic monk firm in his religious commitment, and Goldmund, a romantic youth ... (Goodreads)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
by Robert Louis Stevenson
A man's internal struggle between good and evil forces, as he attempts to reconcile his dual personalities.
Gabriel John Utterson and his cousin Richard Enfield reach the door of a large house on their weekly walk. Enfield tells Utterson that months ago, he saw a sinister-looking man named Edward Hyde ... (Wikipedia)
Bartleby the Scrivener
by Herman Melville
A story of a mysterious scrivener whose refusal to comply with workplace demands leads to tragedy.
The narrator is an unnamed Manhattan lawyer, aged around his late 50s, with a business in legal documents. He already employs two scriveners , Nippers and Turkey, to copy legal documents by hand, but ... (Wikipedia)
The Door
by Magda Szabó
A mysterious doorkeeper guards the door between two worlds, changing the lives of two women.
The novel begins with Magda, the narrator, recounting the recurring dream that haunts her in her old age. As Magda explains, after waking up from this dream, she is forced to face the fact that "I ... (Wikipedia)
Star Wars: Darth Vader, Vol. 1: Vader
by Kieron Gillen
The story of a fallen Jedi and his rise to power as the Dark Lord of the Sith.
The original Dark Lord of the Sith stars in his first ongoing series! Ever since Darth Vader's first on-screen appearance, he has become one of pop-culture's most popular villains. Now, follow Vader ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Grifters
by Jim Thompson
A suspenseful crime drama following the lives of three con artists and their morally ambiguous actions.
Roy Dillon is a 25-year-old con artist living in Los Angeles . At the start of the novel, he gets hit in the stomach with a baseball bat when a simple con goes wrong. He seems to be well but when ... (Wikipedia)
Darkly Dreaming Dexter
by Jeff Lindsay
An introspective serial killer navigates the dark side of morality, guided by his own code of justice.
The novel's protagonist , Dexter Morgan , works for the Miami-Dade Police Department as a forensic blood spatter analyst . In his spare time, Dexter is a serial killer who kills murderers, rapists, ... (Wikipedia)
Demian
by Hermann Hesse
A young man's spiritual journey towards self-discovery and enlightenment.
Emil Sinclair is a young boy raised in a middle class home, amidst what is described as a Scheinwelt , a play on words meaning "world of light" as well as "world of illusion". Sinclair's entire ... (Wikipedia)
The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare
by G.K. Chesterton
A man is recruited to a secret society, only to discover the sinister truth behind it.
In Edwardian-era London, Gabriel Syme is recruited at Scotland Yard to a secret anti- anarchist police corps. Lucian Gregory, an anarchistic poet, lives in the suburb of Saffron Park. Syme meets him ... (Wikipedia)
Tokyo Ghoul, Vol. 1
by Sui Ishida
A young man discovers he has become a ghoul, and must learn to survive in a strange new world.
Ghouls live among us, the same as normal people in every way—except their craving for human flesh. Ghouls live among us, the same as normal people in every way—except their craving for human flesh. ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Double
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A man's battle against his own doppelganger, exploring the depths of his psyche.
In Saint Petersburg , Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin works as a titular councillor (rank 9 in the Table of Ranks established by Peter the Great . , ), a low-level bureaucrat struggling to succeed. ... (Wikipedia)
The Luzhin Defense
by Vladimir Nabokov
A chess grandmaster battles his inner demons as he struggles to understand the game of life.
The plot concerns the title character, Aleksandr Ivanovich Luzhin. As a boy, he is considered unattractive, withdrawn, and an object of ridicule by his classmates. One day, when a guest comes to his ... (Wikipedia)
Swamp Thing, Vol. 1: Saga of the Swamp Thing
by Alan Moore
A creature of the swamp embarks on a quest for the truth about his existence.
Before WATCHMEN, Alan Moore made his debut in the U.S. comic book industry with the revitalization of the horror comic book THE SWAMP THING. His deconstruction of the classic monster stretched the ... (Goodreads)
The Sandman: The Dream Hunters
by Neil Gaiman
A meditation on dreams and storytelling, exploring the realms of nightmares, fantasy and imagination.
A fox spirit and a badger (, tanuki, ) wager that whichever of them drives a Buddhist monk from his temple, can claim the temple as its own. Both of them fail, and the badger flees in disgrace, ... (Wikipedia)
Batman: Hush, Vol. 1
by Jeph Loeb
Batman must face a mysterious enemy who knows his secrets and is manipulating him.
The story begins with Batman rescuing a boy kidnapped by Killer Croc when Catwoman steals the ransom money for the boy. As Batman swings through Gotham City in pursuit of her, his grapple is cut and ... (Wikipedia)
Batman: The Killing Joke
by Alan Moore
Dark tale of psychological warfare between Batman and the Joker.
Critically acclaimed author Alan Moore redefined graphic novel story-telling with, Watchmen, and, V for Vendetta,. In, Batman: The Killing Joke, he takes on the origin of comics' greatest ... (Barnes & Noble)
In a Dark, Dark Wood
by Ruth Ware
A woman discovers the secrets of her past while attending a weekend getaway with old friends.
In a dark, dark wood Nora hasn't seen Clare for ten years. Not since Nora walked out of school one day and never went back. There was a dark, dark house Until, out of the blue, an invitation to ... (Goodreads)
One, No One and One Hundred Thousand
by Luigi Pirandello
A man's exploration of identity, uncovering the illusions of the external world.
Vitangelo Moscarda discovers by way of a completely irrelevant question that his wife poses to him that everyone he knows, everyone he has ever met, has constructed a Vitangelo, persona, in their own ... (Wikipedia)
The Dark Half
by Stephen King
A writer's dark doppelganger takes over his life and wreaks deadly chaos.
Thad Beaumont is an author and recovering alcoholic who lives in the town of Ludlow , Maine . Thad's own books – cerebral literary fiction – are not very successful. However, under the pen name ... (Wikipedia)
Batman: The Black Mirror
by Scott Snyder
Dark and complex exploration of the Batman mythos, the darkness within Bruce Wayne, and the power of his legacy.
The plot tells the story of Dick Grayson continued adventures as Batman as Bruce Wayne continues his work for Batman Incorporated . Dick must battle against several villains, one of whom is selling ... (Wikipedia)
The Foot Book: Dr. Seuss's Wacky Book of Opposites
by Dr. Seuss
Exploration of opposites in a whimsical and humorous way.
A Dr. Seuss classic turns 50! Since 1968, this super-simple, simply brilliant Bright and Early Book about feet has been helping beginning beginner readers step into the world of reading by ... (Barnes & Noble)
Women in Love
by D.H. Lawrence
Two sisters explore their innermost desires as they search for true love and self-fulfillment.
Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen are sisters living in The Midlands in England in the 1910s. Ursula is a schoolteacher, Gudrun a painter. They meet two men who live nearby, school inspector Rupert Birkin ... (Wikipedia)
Killing Commendatore
by Haruki Murakami
A painter's surreal journey of self-discovery as he confronts his past, present and future.
The protagonist is an unnamed portrait painter whose wife leaves him at the start of the book. Devastated, he quits portrait painting and goes on a long road trip. In the middle of his road trip he ... (Wikipedia)
The Killer Inside Me
by Jim Thompson
A suspenseful psychological thriller about a small-town sheriff with a dark, violent side.
The story is told through the eyes of its protagonist, Lou Ford, a 29-year-old deputy sheriff in a small Texas town. Ford appears to be a regular, small-town cop leading an unremarkable existence; ... (Wikipedia)
The Harlequin
by Laurell K. Hamilton
A supernatural thriller about two powerful immortals, facing a shared destiny and ultimate showdown.
The events of The Harlequin take place one week after the events of Danse Macabre The Harlequin shows Anita and Jean Claude coping with a threat from Vampire Council enforcers. Desperate, Anita calls ... (Wikipedia)
The Post-Birthday World
by Lionel Shriver
A woman's choice between two men, and its consequences, explored in two parallel universes.
In this eagerly awaited new novel, Lionel Shriver, the Orange Prize-winning author of the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin, delivers an imaginative and entertaining look at the ... (Goodreads)
Juxtaposition
by Piers Anthony
A fantasy adventure novel of two parallel worlds, struggling against a common enemy.
In this brilliantly satisfying conclusion to the epic adventure begun in, Split Infinity, and continued in, Blue Adept,, Piers Anthony again proves himself a consummate master of both science fiction ... (Goodreads)
The Ruby Circle
by Richelle Mead
The final installment of the Bloodlines series, bringing the vampire/human conflict to a thrilling conclusion.
THEY WILL BE TESTED Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets - and human lives. ... (Goodreads)
Death Note, Vol. 12: Finis
by Tsugumi Ohba
Light Yagami faces a final showdown with Kira, as the battle between justice and evil reaches its climax.
The battle ends here! ... (Goodreads)
Lady Oracle
by Margaret Atwood
A woman's journey of self-discovery, exploring her identity and place in the world.
The novel's protagonist , Joan Foster, is a romance novelist who has spent her life running away from difficult situations. The novel alternates between flashbacks from the past and scenes from the ... (Wikipedia)
Mirror Dance
by Lois McMaster Bujold
A genetically-engineered clone confronts his identity and struggles to overcome destiny.
Mark, Miles Vorkosigan 's clone , masquerades as him and dupes his mercenary force, the Dendarii, into undertaking a mission to free clones held "prisoner" on Jackson's Whole, an anything-goes ... (Wikipedia)
Unearthly
by Cynthia Hand
A young woman discovers she is a half-angel and must choose between the mortal and angelic worlds.
In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees... Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and ... (Goodreads)
Sweet Evil
by Wendy Higgins
A young girl discovers her supernatural powers and struggles to find her place in a dangerous world.
Fans of Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series will be drawn to Wendy Higgins's sexy, thrilling Sweet Evil series. What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad ... (Barnes & Noble)
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