Literary theme analysis, by a book like {foo}
Books about Social Mobility
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë
A timeless tale of love and revenge, set against the backdrop of the English moors.
In 1801, Lockwood, the new tenant at Thrushcross Grange in Yorkshire , pays a visit to his landlord, Heathcliff , at his remote moorland farmhouse, Wuthering Heights. There he meets a reserved young ... (Wikipedia)
The Hired Girl
by Laura Amy Schlitz
A young girl's journey of self-empowerment and determination to seek a better life.
Today Miss Chandler gave me this beautiful book. I vow that I will never forget her kindness to me, and I will use this book as she told me to—that I will write in it with truth and refinement…But ... (Goodreads)
Mao's Last Dancer
by Li Cunxin
A poor farmer's son's journey of hardship and triumph, rising from poverty to become an acclaimed ballet dancer.
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER The extraordinary memoir of a peasant boy raised in rural Maoist China who was plucked from his village to study ballet and went on to become one of the greatest dancers ... (Goodreads)
Mother
by Maxim Gorky
A journey of self-discovery for a young man, as he learns the truth of his past.
In his novel, Gorky portrays the life of a woman who works in a Russian factory doing hard manual labour and combating poverty and hunger, among other hardships. Pelageya Nilovna Vlasova is the real ... (Wikipedia)
The Road from Coorain
by Jill Ker Conway
Autobiography of a young woman growing up in the Australian Outback.
Jill Ker Conway tells the story of her astonishing journey into adulthood—a journey that would ultimately span immense distances and encompass worlds, ideas, and ways of life that seem a century ... (Goodreads)
The Post-Office Girl
by Stefan Zweig
A young woman's life changes when she inherits a fortune and experiences the luxuries of high society. But it doesn't last forever.
Christine is an Austrian public servant in a post-office job in a poverty-stricken city near St. Pölten in Lower Austria . She is a blonde woman whose mother is sick and whose father had died during ... (Wikipedia)
Evelina
by Frances Burney
A young woman's journey of self-discovery, navigating the world of high society.
The novel opens with a distressed letter from Lady Howard to her longtime acquaintance, the Reverend Arthur Villars, in which she reports that Mme (Madame) Duval, the grandmother of Villars' ward , ... (Wikipedia)
The Pursuit of Happyness
by Chris Gardner
A man's inspiring story of overcoming poverty and adversity to achieve success.
, The astounding yet true rags-to-riches saga of a homeless father who raised and cared for his son on the mean streets of San Francisco and went on to become a crown prince of Wall Street, , , At ... (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)
My Beloved World
by Sonia Sotomayor
Autobiographical account of a Latina's path to the Supreme Court, overcoming personal and systemic obstacles.
The first Latinx (Puerto Rican) and third woman appointed to the US Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor has become an instant American icon. Now, with a candor and intimacy never undertaken by a sitting ... (Goodreads)
A Countess Below Stairs
by Eva Ibbotson
A young woman takes on the identity of a housemaid in a wealthy Russian household, discovering a new life and unexpected love.
After the Russian revolution turns her world topsy-turvy, Anna, a young Russian Countess, has no choice but to flee to England. Penniless, Anna hides her aristocratic background and takes a job as ... (Goodreads)
All Over But the Shoutin'
by Rick Bragg
Memoir of a young man's journey from poverty to achieving the American Dream.
The extraordinary gifts for evocation and insight and the stunning talent for storytelling that earned Rick Bragg a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 1996 are here brought to bear on the ... (Goodreads)
Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century
by Jessica Bruder
A chronicle of a new American subculture of nomadic older adults, coping with economic precarity.
An alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780393356311 can be found, here., The inspiration for Chloé Zhao's 2020 Golden Lion award-winning film starring Frances McDormand. From the beet fields of North ... (Goodreads)
Capital in the Twenty-First Century
by Thomas Piketty
An economic analysis of wealth and inequality in the modern era.
What are the grand dynamics that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital? Questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic ... (Goodreads)
Mistress of Rome
by Kate Quinn
The story of a slave girl and her rise to power in Ancient Rome.
The first in an unforgettable historical saga from the, New York Times, and, USA Today, bestselling author of, The Alice Network., First-century Rome: A ruthless emperor watches over all–and fixes ... (Goodreads)
Sister Carrie
by Theodore Dreiser
A young woman's journey of ambition, navigating the opportunities and pitfalls of urban life.
Late 1889. Dissatisfied with life in her rural Wisconsin home, 18-year-old Caroline "Sister Carrie" Meeber takes the train to Chicago , where her older sister Minnie, and Minnie's husband, Sven ... (Wikipedia)
Pygmalion / My Fair Lady
by George Bernard Shaw
A phonetics professor transforms a Cockney flower girl into a refined lady, but struggles with the consequences of his experiment.
George Orwell claimed that "The central plot of Shaw's play, Pygmalion , is lifted out of Peregrine Pickle [by Tobias Smollett ], and I believe that no one has ever pointed this out in print, which ... (Wikipedia)
The Overcoat
by Nikolai Gogol
A tale of a lowly bureaucrat's journey to reclaim his sense of self-worth.
The story narrates the life and death of titular councillor Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin (Russian: Акакий Акакиевич Башмачкин), an impoverished government clerk and copyist in the Russian capital of ... (Wikipedia)
Moll Flanders
by Daniel Defoe
A woman's story of survival and redemption, confronting the harsh realities of life in 18th century England.
Moll's mother is a convict in Newgate Prison in London who is given a reprieve by " pleading her belly ," a reference to the custom of staying the executions of pregnant criminals. Her mother is ... (Wikipedia)
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia
by Mohsin Hamid
A rags-to-riches story of a young man's journey to success in a changing world.
From the internationally bestselling author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist , the boldly imagined tale of a poor boy's quest for wealth and love. His first two novels established Mohsin Hamid as a ... (Goodreads)
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
by Winifred Watson
An unemployed governess embarks on a day of transformation in 1930s London.
Set in London just prior to World War II , the film is about a middle-aged, straitlaced vicar 's daughter and governess Guinevere Pettigrew ( Frances McDormand ), who has been fired from her fourth ... (Wikipedia)
Status Anxiety
by Alain de Botton
An exploration of the psychological repercussions of modern society's obsession with status.
Anyone who’s ever lost sleep over an unreturned phone call or the neighbor’s Lexus had better read Alain de Botton’s irresistibly clear-headed new book, immediately. For in its pages, a master ... (Goodreads)
A House for Mr Biswas
by V.S. Naipaul
A man's struggle to create a home and identity for himself in a colonial society.
Mohun Biswas has spent his 46 years of life striving for independence. Shuttled from one residence to another after the drowning of his father, he yearns for a place he can call home. He marries into ... (Goodreads)
The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates
by Wes Moore
Two men of the same name, with different life stories, highlighting the power of choices.
Two kids with the same name lived in the same decaying city. One went on to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated combat veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader. The other is serving a life ... (Goodreads)
Heaven and Hell
by John Jakes
A family saga set in late 19th century America, confronting the consequences of ambition and greed.
The last days of the Civil War bring no peace for the Main and Hazard families. As the Mains’ South smolders in the ruins of defeat, the Hazards’ North pushes blindly for relentless industrial ... (Goodreads)
The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone
by Richard G. Wilkinson
The book argues that more equal societies lead to better outcomes for everyone, including improved health, education, and social mobility.
A groundbreaking work on the root cause of our ills, which is changing the way politicians think. Why do we mistrust people more in the UK than in Japan? Why do Americans have higher rates of teenage ... (Goodreads)
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)
These Old Shades
by Georgette Heyer
Romance blooms between a cynical Duke and an impoverished French girl.
Fortune favours Justin Alastair, the uncanny and notorious Duke of Avon, casting in his way, one Paris night, the means to revenge himself on his enemy, the Comte de Saint-Vire. Avon literally ... (Wikipedia)
The Midwife's Apprentice
by Karen Cushman
A young girl's journey from poverty to independence as she learns the craft of midwifery.
In medieval Europe, a homeless orphan girl who has no name, and can recall being named Brat, attempts to nestle in a warm dung heap on a cold night. She wakes up to the taunts of village boys, and ... (Wikipedia)
Sheepfarmer's Daughter
by Elizabeth Moon
A young woman's quest to become a knight, facing obstacles of gender and class.
Paksenarrion — Paks for short — is somebody special. She knows it, even if nobody else does yet. No way will she follow her father's orders to marry the pig farmer down the road. She's off to join ... (Goodreads)
Belgravia
by Julian Fellowes
Intertwined stories of the wealthy and elite, whose lives become intertwined in a web of secrets and lies.
FROM THE CREATOR OF DOWNTON ABBEY The, New York Times, bestselling novel about scandalous secrets and star-crossed lovers On the evening of 15 June 1815, the great and the good of British society ... (Goodreads)
Lottery
by Patricia Wood
Perry, a mentally challenged man, wins the lottery and must navigate his newfound wealth and relationships.
Perry's IQ is only 76, but he's not stupid. His grandmother taught him everything he needs to know to survive: She taught him to write things down so he won't forget them. She taught him to play the ... (Goodreads)
Honolulu
by Alan Brennert
A powerful story of love and resilience, spanning the decades between Korea and Hawaii.
From the bestselling author of the "dazzling historical saga" (,The Washington Post,),, Moloka'i, comes the irresistible story of a young immigrant bride in a ramshackle town that becomes a great ... (Barnes & Noble)
If you enjoyed this, try uploading your goodreads reviews and seeing what recommendations we can come up with for you.