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Books about Hypocrisy
Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus
by Kyle Idleman
An examination of discipleship, presenting a challenge to live a fully devoted Christian life.
Are you a follower of Jesus? Don't answer too quickly. In fact, you may want to read this book before you answer at all. Consider it a 'Define the Relationship' conversation to determine exactly ... (Goodreads)
The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith
by Timothy J. Keller
Examining the parable of the prodigal son to understand grace, faith, and the Christian message.
The, New York Times, bestselling author of, The Prodigal Prophet, uncovers the essential message of Jesus, locked inside his most familiar parable. Newsweek called renowned minister Timothy Keller "a ... (Barnes & Noble)
Stone Mattress: Nine Tales
by Margaret Atwood
Nine stories exploring human relationships and the complexities of modern life.
A collection of highly imaginative short pieces that speak to our times with deadly accuracy. A recently widowed fantasy writer is guided through a stormy winter evening by the voice of her late ... (Goodreads)
Emma
by Jane Austen
A young woman's journey to find love and independence in the midst of social expectations.
Emma Woodhouse's friend and former governess , Miss Taylor, has just married Mr. Weston. Having introduced them, Emma takes credit for their marriage and decides that she likes matchmaking . After ... (Wikipedia)
Babbitt
by Sinclair Lewis
A satirical exploration of the conformist culture of 1920s America.
Lewis has been both criticized and congratulated for his unorthodox writing style in Babbitt . One reviewer said "There is no plot whatever... Babbitt simply grows two years older as the tale ... (Wikipedia)
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
by Jeanette Winterson
A memoir of a woman's search for love and identity, and her struggles with mental illness.
"Magnificent . . . A tour de force of literature and love."—,Vogue,",Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?, is raucous. It hums with a dark refulgence from its first pages. . . . Singular and ... (Barnes & Noble)
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)
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)
Nana
by Émile Zola
Tragic story of a young woman's life, and the devastating consequences of her actions.
Nana tells the story of Nana Coupeau's rise from streetwalker to high-class prostitute during the last three years of the French Second Empire . Nana first appeared near the end of Zola's earlier ... (Wikipedia)
Parable of the Talents
by Octavia E. Butler
A post-apocalyptic tale of survival, exploring themes of faith and power.
Parable of the Talents is told from the points of view of Lauren Oya Olamina and her daughter Larkin Olamina/Asha Vere. The novel consists of journal entries by Lauren and passages by Asha Vere. Four ... (Wikipedia)
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
by Tennessee Williams
A family struggling to confront hidden resentments and repressions that lurk beneath the surface.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is the story of a Southern family in crisis, especially the husband Brick and wife Margaret (usually called Maggie or "Maggie the Cat"), and their interaction with Brick's ... (Wikipedia)
The Importance of Being Earnest
by Oscar Wilde
A lighthearted comedy of manners, full of witty dialogue and satirizing Victorian society.
Oscar Wilde's madcap farce about mistaken identities, secret engagements, and lovers entanglements still delights readers more than a century after its 1895 publication and premiere performance. The ... (Goodreads)
Lady Windermere's Fan
by Oscar Wilde
A comedic tale of scandal, gossip, and hypocrisy set in high society.
The play opens in the morning room of the Windermeres' residence in London. It is tea time and Lady Windermere—who is preparing for her coming of age birthday ball that evening—has a visit from a ... (Wikipedia)
The Complete Stories
by Flannery O'Connor
A collection of stories that explore aspects of the human condition through surreal and darkly comedic lenses.
This is the original cover edition of, ISBN: 0374515360, (ISBN13: 9780374515362 Winner of the National Book Award The publication of this extraordinary volume firmly established Flannery O'Connor's ... (Goodreads)
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)
Bel-Ami
by Guy de Maupassant
A man rises to power by manipulating the powerful people around him.
The story chronicles the rise to power of journalist Georges Duroy from a poor ex-NCO to one of the most successful men in Paris – most of which he achieves by means of a series of powerful, ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Crucible
by Arthur Miller
A group of teenage girls face accusations of witchcraft in a puritanical society.
"I believe that the reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history," Arthur Miller wrote of his classic play about the witch-hunts and ... (Goodreads)
In the Woods
by Tana French
A murder investigation reveals an unsolved childhood mystery.
Twenty-two years prior to the novel's events, twelve year-old Adam and his two best friends failed to come home after playing in the familiar woods bordering their Irish housing estate . The Gardaí ... (Wikipedia)
The Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
A woman's journey of redemption and perseverance, in a world of religious hypocrisy and judgment.
In Puritan Boston, Massachusetts, a crowd gathers to witness the punishment of Hester Prynne, a young woman who has given birth to a baby of unknown parentage. Her sentence required her to stand on ... (Wikipedia)
The Idiot
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A man's struggle to find his place in society, and the moral dilemmas he faces.
Prince Myshkin, a young man in his mid-twenties and a descendant of one of the oldest Russian lines of nobility, is on a train to Saint Petersburg on a cold November morning. He is returning to ... (Wikipedia)
Wise Blood
by Flannery O'Connor
A darkly comic Southern Gothic tale of faith and sin, and a man's struggle to find redemption.
Recently discharged from service in World War II and surviving on a government pension for unspecified battle wounds, Hazel Motes returns to his family home in Tennessee to find it abandoned. Leaving ... (Wikipedia)
Plum Island
by Nelson DeMille
A mysterious investigation into a series of strange, unexplained events on a remote island.
In 1997, NYPD detective John Corey is on the back porch of his uncle's waterfront home on the North Fork of Long Island recovering from three gunshot wounds while working in his town of Manhattan, ... (Wikipedia)
Père Goriot
by Honoré de Balzac
A tale of ambition, greed, and human relationships in 19th century Paris.
The novel opens with an extended description of the Maison Vauquer, a boarding house in Paris' rue Neuve-Sainte-Geneviève covered with vines, owned by the widow Madame Vauquer. The residents include ... (Wikipedia)
Bloodline
by Claudia Gray
A thrilling sci-fi adventure in which a young girl fights for her freedom and her family.
Now in her late 40s, Senator Leia Organa is frustrated by the stagnation of the New Republic 's Galactic Senate, which is troubled by inaction thanks to the rivalry of opposing factions. The ... (Wikipedia)
The Custom of the Country
by Edith Wharton
A woman's rise to the top of high society, exploring the cut-throat world of New York.
The Spraggs, a family of midwesterners from the fictional city of Apex who have made money through somewhat shady financial dealings, arrive in New York City at the prompting of their beautiful, ... (Wikipedia)
Mansfield Park
by Jane Austen
Social satire exploring morality and class in 19th century England.
Fanny Price, at age ten, is sent from her impoverished home in Portsmouth to live as one of the family at Mansfield Park, the Northamptonshire country estate of her uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram. There ... (Wikipedia)
The Casual Vacancy
by J.K. Rowling
A small town is split by a heated local election, sparking social tensions and hidden secrets.
A BIG NOVEL ABOUT A SMALL TOWN ... When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ... (Goodreads)
Henry IV, Part 2
by William Shakespeare
The dying king's struggle to reconcile with his son and secure his kingdom's future.
The stirring continuation of the themes begun in Henry IV, Part One again pits a rebellion within the State and that master of misrule, Falstaff, against the maturing of Prince Hal. Alternating ... (Goodreads)
L'Assommoir
by Émile Zola
An exploration of poverty and alcoholism in the Parisian working class.
The novel is principally the story of Gervaise Macquart, who is featured briefly in the first novel in the series,, La Fortune des Rougon, , running away to Paris with her shiftless lover Lantier to ... (Wikipedia)
Peyton Place
by Grace Metalious
A small-town scandal unravels, exposing secrets of the inhabitants.
First published in 1956, Peyton Place uncovers the passions, lies and cruelties that simmer beneath the surface of a postcard-perfect town. At the centre of the novel are three women, each with a ... (Goodreads)
The Cuckoo's Calling
by Robert Galbraith
Detective story of a mysterious death and a search for the truth.
Disabled Afghan War veteran and struggling private investigator Cormoran Strike is approached by John Bristow, the adoptive brother of Strike's childhood schoolmate Charlie. Bristow believes his ... (Wikipedia)
Heart of Darkness and Selected Short Fiction
by Joseph Conrad
A searing exploration of colonialism, told through the lens of a journey up the Congo River.
Heart of Darkness and Selected Short Fiction , by Joseph Conrad, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Emperor's New Clothes
by Hans Christian Andersen
A ruler's vanity leads to his own downfall and the truth being revealed.
Two swindlers arrive at the capital city of an emperor who spends lavishly on clothing at the expense of state matters. Posing as weavers, they offer to supply him with magnificent clothes that are ... (Wikipedia)
Black and Blue
by Anna Quindlen
A woman's journey of self-discovery, as she escapes an abusive marriage and reclaims her life.
For eighteen years, Fran Benedetto kept her secret. And hid her bruises. And stayed with Bobby because she wanted her son to have a father. And because, in spite of everything, she loved him. Then ... (Wikipedia)
A Drink Before the War
by Dennis Lehane
Private detectives investigate a kidnapping case, uncovering dark secrets of the city.
Boston private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro receive a job from three state politicians, Sterling Mulkern, Jim Vurnan and Brian Paulson, to recover documents from a former cleaning ... (Wikipedia)
Vanity Fair
by William Makepeace Thackeray
A story of social climbing and ambition, set against the backdrop of 19th century England.
A novel that chronicles the lives of two women who could not be more different: Becky Sharp, an orphan whose only resources are her vast ambitions, her native wit, and her loose morals; and her ... (Goodreads)
Measure for Measure
by William Shakespeare
A dark comedy about justice, morality, and the search for truth.
Measure for Measure is among the most passionately discussed of Shakespeare’s plays. In it, a duke temporarily removes himself from governing his city-state, deputizing a member of his ... (Goodreads)
A Delicate Truth
by John le Carré
A covert counter-terrorist operation goes wrong, leading to a cover-up that threatens to expose the truth.
In 2008, Toby Bell, the Private Secretary to junior Foreign Office minister Fergus Quinn, becomes suspicious of his superior's behavior following a meeting with businessman Jay Crispin—founder of the ... (Wikipedia)
Barchester Towers
by Anthony Trollope
Social satire of Victorian England, exploring hypocrisy and ambition in a small cathedral town.
Barchester Towers concerns the leading clergy of the cathedral city of Barchester. The much loved bishop having died, all expectations are that his son, Archdeacon Grantly, will succeed him. Owing to ... (Wikipedia)
An Enemy of the People
by Henrik Ibsen
A doctor confronts a public scandal, challenging expectations of morality and justice.
In An Enemy of the People , Ibsen places his main characters, Dr. Thomas Stockman, in the role of an enlightened and persecuted minority of one confronting an ignorant, powerful majority. When the ... (Goodreads)
A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories
by Flannery O'Connor
A collection of short stories exploring the human condition, from the comic to the grotesque.
This now classic book revealed Flannery O'Connor as one of the most original and provocative writers to emerge from the South. Her apocalyptic vision of life is expressed through grotesque, often ... (Goodreads)
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
by Ursula K. Le Guin
The inhabitants of a utopian society must decide if the cost of their ideal is too high.
The only chronological element of the work is that it begins by describing the first day of summer in Omelas, a shimmering city of unbelievable happiness and delight. In Omelas, the summer solstice ... (Wikipedia)
The Preacher
by Camilla Läckberg
A gripping crime novel about a young detective investigating a series of murders in a small Swedish town.
Almost every subplot focuses on a parent-child relationship: central we have three generations of misogynist father/son in which violations of young girls is almost enshrined; ramifications occur ... (Wikipedia)
Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
by Sam Quinones
Exposé of the opioid crisis in America, from its origins to its devastating effects.
In fascinating detail, Sam Quinones chronicles how, over the past 15 years, enterprising sugar cane farmers in a small county on the west coast of Mexico created a unique distribution system that ... (Goodreads)
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
by Edward Albee
A darkly comedic exploration of a troubled couple's tumultuous marriage.
George and Martha engage in dangerous emotional games. George is an associate professor of history and Martha is the daughter of the president of the college where George teaches. After they return ... (Wikipedia)
Hard Times
by Charles Dickens
A grim tale of a Victorian industrial city, highlighting its struggles of poverty, injustice and strife.
"My satire is against those who see figures and averages, and nothing else," proclaimed Charles Dickens in explaining the theme of this classic novel. Published in 1854, the story concerns one Thomas ... (Goodreads)
Messenger of Truth
by Jacqueline Winspear
An investigator is hired to solve a mysterious murder, uncovering a web of secrets and lies.
Maisie Dobbs investigates the mysterious death of a controversial artist—and World War I veteran—in the fourth entry in the bestselling series London, 1931. The night before an exhibition of his ... (Barnes & Noble)
Lies & the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair & Balanced Look at the Right
by Al Franken
Satirical look at the right, exposing their lies and hypocrisies.
Al Franken, one of our savviest satirists ( People ), has been studying the rhetoric of the Right. He has listened to their cries of slander, bias, and even treason. He has examined the Bush ... (Goodreads)
The Innocence of Father Brown
by G.K. Chesterton
Father Brown solves a series of mysterious crimes using his keen insight and intuition.
Chesterton portrays Father Brown as a short, stumpy Roman Catholic priest, with shapeless clothes and a large umbrella, and an uncanny insight into human evil. "How in Tartarus," cried Flambeau, "did ... (Goodreads)
The Third Victim
by Lisa Gardner
A gripping crime thriller following an FBI agent as she investigates a series of murders.
The past isn't over.... An unspeakable act has ripped apart the idyllic town of Bakersville, Oregon, and its once-peaceful residents are demanding quick justice. But though a boy has confessed to the ... (Goodreads)
Ramayana
by Vālmīki
Epic tale of Prince Rama's quest to rescue his wife from the demon king. Explores themes of duty, honor, love, and sacrifice.
Ramayana is one of the greatest epics of Hindu Religion.The author captures the pathos and beauty of Valmiki's magic in inimatable manner.Written in homely style,the work is striking in originality ... (Goodreads)
The Promise
by Robert Crais
An ex-cop is hired to track down a missing woman, uncovering an unexpected network of lies and secrets.
Elvis Cole and Joe Pike are joined by Suspect heroes LAPD K-9 Officer Scott James and his German shepherd, Maggie, in the new heart-stopping thriller from #1 New York Times-bestselling author Robert ... (Goodreads)
A Serpent's Tooth
by Craig Johnson
A small-town sheriff investigates a mysterious murder in the Wyoming foothills.
The inspiration for A&E's, Longmire, finds himself in the crosshairs in the ninth book of the, New York Times, bestselling series The success of Craig Johnson’s Walt Longmire series that began with ... (Goodreads)
Martin Chuzzlewit
by Charles Dickens
A satirical tale of a young man's trials and tribulations of greed, deception, and redemption.
Martin Chuzzlewit has been raised by his grandfather and namesake. Years before Martin senior took the precaution of raising an orphaned girl, Mary Graham, to be his companion and nursemaid, with the ... (Wikipedia)
The Testament
by John Grisham
A billionaire's will creates a legal battle between his descendants and the townspeople who have been displaced.
In a plush Virginia office, a rich, angry old man is furiously rewriting his will. With his death just hours away, Troy Phelan wants to send a message to his children, his ex-wives, and his minions, ... (Goodreads)
A Modest Proposal and Other Satirical Works
by Jonathan Swift
A collection of satirical essays on the state of England and Ireland in the 1700s.
The originality, concentrated power and ‘fierce indignation’ of his satirical writing have earned Jonathan Swift a reputation as the greatest prose satirist in English literature. Gulliver’s Travels ... (Goodreads)
Damned
by Chuck Palahniuk
A powerful satire of American culture, as a young woman confronts the absurdities of society.
The novel opens with 13-year-old Madison "Maddy" Spencer waking in Hell , unsure of the details surrounding her death. She believes she died of a marijuana overdose while her celebrity parents were ... (Wikipedia)
Main Street
by Sinclair Lewis
A small-town woman's quest for freedom and self-expression in a repressive society.
With Commentary by E. M. Forster, Dorothy Parker, H. L. Mencken, Lewis Mumford, Rebecca West, Sherwood Anderson, Malcolm Cowley, Alfred Kazin, Constance Rourke, and Mark Schorer. Main Street , the ... (Goodreads)
Brighton Rock
by Graham Greene
A young gang leader's struggle for power, morality, and redemption in the criminal underworld.
Charles "Fred" Hale comes to Brighton on assignment to distribute cards anonymously for a newspaper competition (a variant of " Lobby Lud "; in this case, the name of the person to be spotted is ... (Wikipedia)
Day of the Oprichnik
by Vladimir Sorokin
A dystopian novel set in a futuristic Russia where the Oprichniks, a group of state-sponsored thugs, terrorize the population.
The novel begins with protagonist Andrei Komiaga dreaming of a white stallion, a recurrent symbol of freedom that progressively slips away from the Oprichnik (the real Oprichniks of the 16th century ... (Wikipedia)
Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer
by Joseph Conrad
Exploration of the darkness of human nature and the corruption of power.
Heart Of Darkness . The story of the civilized, enlightened Mr. Kurtz who embarks on a harrowing "night journey" into the savage heart of Africa, only to find his dark and evil soul. The Secret ... (Goodreads)
Mother Night
by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
A tale of moral ambiguity, exploring the consequences of deception and the power of words.
“Vonnegut is George Orwell, Dr. Caligari and Flash Gordon compounded into one writer . . . a zany but moral mad scientist.”—,Time,, Mother Night is a daring challenge to our moral sense. American ... (Barnes & Noble)
What Was She Thinking? [Notes on a Scandal]
by Zoë Heller
An intriguing tale of a manipulative teacher and a forbidden affair, told through a colleague's perspective.
Barbara, a veteran history teacher at a comprehensive school in London , is a lonely, unmarried woman in her early sixties, and she is eager to find a close friend. However, she reveals that she has ... (Wikipedia)
Stupid White Men
by Michael Moore
A sarcastic, incisive critique of contemporary American society and politics.
Now with more than three million copies sold, Oscar-winning filmmaker and political activist Michael Moore's bestseller, Stupid White Men, tells you everything you need to know about how the great ... (Goodreads)
Less Than Zero
by Bret Easton Ellis
A young man returns to his hometown of Los Angeles and becomes disillusioned with the empty and hedonistic lifestyle of his wealthy friends.
The novel follows the life of Clay, a rich, young college student who has returned to his hometown of Los Angeles , California for winter break circa 1984. Through first-person narration , Clay ... (Wikipedia)
Tartuffe
by Molière
A comedic satire about a religious hypocrite who attempts to manipulate a family for his own gain.
Orgon's family is up in arms because Orgon and his mother have fallen under the influence of Tartuffe, a pious fraud (and a vagrant prior to Orgon's help). Tartuffe pretends to be pious and to speak ... (Wikipedia)
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
by Yukio Mishima
A young Buddhist monk's descent into obsession and tragedy, in a search for beauty and perfection.
The protagonist, Mizoguchi, is the son of a consumptive Buddhist priest who lives and works on the remote Cape Nariu on the north coast of Honshū . As a child, the narrator lives with his uncle at ... (Wikipedia)
A Handful of Dust
by Evelyn Waugh
A satirical novel about the decline of British aristocracy and the emptiness of modern life.
Tony Last is a country gentleman, living with his wife Brenda and his eight-year-old son John Andrew in his ancestral home, Hetton Abbey. The house is a Victorian pseudo-Gothic pastiche described as ... (Wikipedia)
Mistakes Were Made
by Carol Tavris
Examining the psychological process of self-justification, and the implications of our behavior.
Why do people dodge responsibility when things fall apart? Why the parade of public figures unable to own up when they screw up? Why the endless marital quarrels over who is right? Why can we see ... (Goodreads)
Unterleuten
by Juli Zeh
Der große Gesellschaftsroman von Juli Zeh Manchmal kann die Idylle auch die Hölle sein. Wie das Dorf "Unterleuten" irgendwo in Brandenburg. Wer nur einen flüchtigen Blick auf das Dorf wirft, ist ... (Goodreads)
Praise of Folly
by Erasmus
Satirical exploration of the follies of humankind.
In Praise of Folly, , also translated as, The Praise of Folly, ( Latin : Stultitiae Laus or Moriae Encomium ; Greek title: Μωρίας ἐγκώμιον ( Morias egkomion ); Dutch title: Lof der Zotheid ), is an ... (Wikipedia)
A Confession
by Leo Tolstoy
A spiritual journey of self-discovery, examining religious faith and moral responsibility.
A Confession – an essay by Leo Tolstoy on his religious thoughts -- shows the great author in process of looking for answers to profound questions that trouble all who take them on: "What will come ... (Goodreads)
The Bonfire of the Vanities
by Tom Wolfe
An ambitious Wall Street banker's moral downfall in New York City.
The story centers on Sherman McCoy, a successful New York City bond trader . His $3 million Park Avenue co-op , combined with his aristocratic wife's extravagances and other expenses required to keep ... (Wikipedia)
The Way We Live Now
by Anthony Trollope
A satirical tale of greed and corruption, set in the world of high society.
Augustus Melmotte is a financier with a mysterious past. He is rumoured to have Jewish origins, and to be connected to some failed businesses in Vienna. When he moves his business and his family to ... (Wikipedia)
The Kind Worth Killing
by Peter Swanson
A dark psychological thriller involving a murderous plan and a deadly game of cat and mouse.
A devious tale of psychological suspense so irresistible that it prompts Entertainment Weekly to ask, “Is The Kind Worth Killing the next Gone Girl ?” From one of the hottest new thriller writers, ... (Barnes & Noble)
Dom Casmurro
by Machado de Assis
A man's descent into paranoia and suspicion after his wife's suspected infidelity.
Dom Casmurro é a alcunha de Bento Santiago, que, velho e só, desvela as suas memórias. Uma promessa da mãe, traça-lhe o destino como padre, mas Bento Santiago apaixonado, abandona o seminário. Estuda ... (Goodreads)
The Pledge
by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
A detective makes a promise to a mother to find her daughter's killer, but the case takes a dark turn.
Dürrenmatt uses a first-person narrative to insert himself into a frame story as a writer of detective fiction . However, the primary narrator is actually a character named Dr. H., a retired police ... (Wikipedia)
Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance
by Noam Chomsky
Examination of US foreign policy, arguing for the need to confront corporate power and militarism.
An immediate national bestseller, Hegemony or Survival demonstrates how, for more than half a century the United States has been pursuing a grand imperial strategy with the aim of staking out the ... (Goodreads)
Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs
by Johann Hari
Investigative look into the history and consequences of drug prohibition.
New York Times Bestseller It is now one hundred years since drugs were first banned in the United States. On the eve of this centenary, journalist Johann Hari set off on an epic three-year, ... (Goodreads)
I am Charlotte Simmons
by Tom Wolfe
A young woman's experience navigating the social and academic pressures of college life.
I am Charlotte Simmons is the story of college student Charlotte Simmons's first semester-and-a-half at the prestigious Dupont University. A high school graduate from a poverty-stricken rural town, ... (Wikipedia)
Exile and the Kingdom
by Albert Camus
Six short stories exploring the human condition through the lens of morality and justice.
These six stories, written at the height of Camus' artistic powers, all depict people at decisive, revelatory moments in their lives. Translated from the French by Justin O'Brien. The six works ... (Goodreads)
The Warden
by Anthony Trollope
A moral story of a struggling clergyman and the corruption of church institutions.
The Warden centers on Mr. Harding, a clergyman of great personal integrity who is nevertheless in possession of an income from a charity far in excess of the sum devoted to the purposes of the ... (Goodreads)
The Holiness of God
by R.C. Sproul
An exploration of the infinite holiness of God, and its implications for humanity.
Central to God's character is the quality of holiness. Yet, even so, most people are hard-pressed to define what God's holiness precisely is. Many preachers today avoid the topic altogether because ... (Goodreads)
Keep the Aspidistra Flying
by George Orwell
A struggling poet's quest to remain independent and stay true to himself in a society obsessed with money.
Gordon Comstock has 'declared war' on what he sees as an 'overarching dependence' on money by leaving a promising job as a copywriter for an advertising company called 'New Albion '—at which he shows ... (Wikipedia)
Les Infortunes de La Vertu
by Marquis de Sade
A woman's descent into depravity, through a series of misfortunes in a society full of immorality and cruelty.
The plot concerns Justine, a 12-year-old maiden ("As for Justine, aged as we have remarked, twelve") who sets off to make her way in France. It follows her until age 26 in her quest for virtue. She ... (Wikipedia)
The Girl Before
by Rena Olsen
A young woman's life is shattered when she discovers her parents have been involved in a child trafficking ring.
In this powerful psychological suspense debut, when a woman’s life is shattered, she is faced with a devastating question: What if everything she thought was normal and good and true . . . wasn’t? ... (Goodreads)
All Men Are Mortal
by Simone de Beauvoir
A man who cannot die meets a woman who is struggling with the inevitability of death, leading to a philosophical exploration of mortality.
Regina is a young theatrical actress. Her career seems to be promising and her reputation becomes wider with every tour and performance. But she is not content. The sparks of attention in the eyes of ... (Wikipedia)
Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid
by Denis Leary
A humorous take on American culture, politics, and society, with a focus on self-deprecating humor and satire.
A hilarious blast of scathing irreverence from the award-winning actor and comedian . "A pissed off Leary is the best Leary," says one critic of the writer and comic. In Why We Suck , Dr. Denis Leary ... (Goodreads)
The Dinner
by Herman Koch
A tense family dinner that unravels a series of secrets and lies.
The story is narrated by Paul Lohman, a former history teacher. He and his wife Claire meet at a fancy restaurant in Amsterdam with his elder brother Serge, a prominent politician and contender for ... (Wikipedia)
The Miser
by Molière
A wealthy miser's refusal to share his fortune, leading to an unexpected change of heart.
Harpagon est un vieillard odieux et avare. Avare jusqu'au ridicule, puisqu'il fait comparaître en justice le chat d'un de ses voisins pour lui avoir mangé le reste d'un gigot ! Avare jusqu'au sordide ... (Goodreads)
The Misanthrope
by Molière
A comedic satire of the French social and political elite, exposing their hypocrisies and vices.
The Misanthrope or Le Misanthrope ou l’Atrabilaire amoureux is a comedy of manners in five acts and in verse. It is one of the best of Molière's plays — and one of the greatest of all comedies — ... (Goodreads)
Cakes and Ale
by W. Somerset Maugham
A satirical novel about the life of a successful writer, his scandalous past, and the literary world of the early 20th century.
The story is told by a first-person narrator and well-to-do author, William Ashenden, who, at the beginning of the novel is suddenly and unexpectedly contacted by Alroy Kear, a busybody literary ... (Wikipedia)
Unless
by Carol Shields
A writer's life is upended when her daughter drops out of college and becomes a panhandler. A story of love, loss, and self-discovery.
Reta Winters, 44-year-old successful author of light summertime fiction, has always considered herself happy, even blessed. That is, until her oldest daughter Norah mysteriously drops out of college ... (Goodreads)
Double Whammy
by Carl Hiaasen
A wild ride of comedy and suspense as a detective uncovers a sinister plot.
One early August morning in Harney County, Florida , the body of Robert Clinch is found floating in a lake shortly after taking his boat out to go bass fishing. Private investigator R.J. Decker is ... (Wikipedia)
An Inspector Calls
by J.B. Priestley
Inspector calls to investigate a wealthy family's involvement in a young woman's death.
The action of the play occurs in an English industrial city, where a young girl commits suicide and an eminently respectable British family is subject to a routine inquiry in connection with the ... (Goodreads)
Broken Promise
by Linwood Barclay
After his wife's death, David Harwood returns to his hometown and uncovers dark secrets that threaten his family.
From, New York Times, bestselling author Linwood Barclay comes an explosive novel set in the peaceful small town of Promise Falls, where secrets can always be buried—but never forgotten…, After his ... (Goodreads)
Absolute Friends
by John le Carré
Two friends, one British and one German, navigate the complexities of post-Cold War Europe and become embroiled in a dangerous conspiracy.
The book tells the story of Ted Mundy, the Pakistan -born son of a British army officer, who as a student becomes proficient in the German language. He joins a 1960s-era student protest group in West ... (Wikipedia)
Imperial Bedrooms
by Bret Easton Ellis
A dark and twisted tale of a group of Hollywood friends whose lives are intertwined with sex, drugs, and violence.
The action of Imperial Bedrooms depicts Clay, who, after four months in New York, returns to Los Angeles to assist in the casting of his new film. There, he meets up with his old friends who were ... (Wikipedia)
Consequences
by Aleatha Romig
A woman wakes up with no memory of the past two years, and must uncover the truth about her life and relationships.
Every action has consequences. Waking in an unfamiliar bedroom in a luxurious mansion, Claire Nichols is terrified to discover that a chance encounter led her into the cruel hands of her abductor, ... (Goodreads)
Adam și Eva
by Liviu Rebreanu
„Pretextul romanului Adam şi Eva e o scenă trăită prin septembrie 1918 la Iaşi. Pe strada Lăpuşneanu, pe o răpăială de ploaie, am întâlnit o femeie cu umbrelă. Din depărtare m-au uimit ochii ei ... (Goodreads)
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