Quiz Bowl Literature

War and Remembrance, Herman Wouk

A sequel of The Winds of War. The Winds of War covers the period 1939 to 1941, and this novel continues the story of the extended Henry family and the Jastrow family starting on 15 December 1941 and ending on 6 August 1945.

An American Tragedy, Theodore Dreiser

Based on the notorious murder of Grace Brown in 1906 and the trial of her lover.

The Last Tycoon, F.Scott Fitzgerald

Considered a roman a clef, a novel about real life events that is overlaid by fiction. Lead character is Monroe Stahr, modeled after Irving Thalberg. The story follows Stahr's rise to power in Hollywood and his conflicts with Pat Brady, who is based on Louis B. Mayer.

Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Ernest Gaines

Depicts the struggles of African Americans as seen through the eyes of Jane Pittman. She tells the major events of her life from the time she was a young slave girl in the American South at the end of the Civil War.

Charlotte's Web, EB White

Tells the story of a livestock pig named Wilbur and his friendship with a barn spider named Charlotte. When Wilbur is in danger of being slaughtered by the farmer, Charlotte writes messages praising Wilbur (such as "Some Pig") in her web in order to persuade the farmer to let him live

Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton

A cautionary tale about genetic engineering. Presents the collapse of an amusement park showcasing genetically recreated dinosaurs. Illustrates chaos theory and its real world implications.

Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry

Focuses on the relationship among several retired Texas Rangers and their adventures driving a cattle herd from Texas to Montana. Set in the closing years of the Old West. Won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

You Can't Go Home Again, Thomas Wolfe

George Webber has written a successful novel about his family and hometown. When he returns to that town, he is shaken by the outrage and hatred that greets him. George Webber begins a search for his own identity, which takes him to NY, Paris, and Berlin.

The Caine Mutiny, Herman Wouk

Grew out of the author's personal experiences aboard 2 destroyer-minesweepers in the Pacific Theater in WWII. Deals with the moral and ethical decisions made at sea by ship captain. Mutiny is legalistic, not violent, and takes place during Typhoon Cobra in December 1944. Climax is the court-martial that results.United States Literature While in New York, the protagonist in this novel rooms with an algebra teacher named Edwin Keggs and has an affair with May Wynn, whose real name turns out to be Mary Minotti. He then goes out to Hawaii and works with Tom Keefer under William De Vriess. This protagonist, Willie Keith, eventually rebels against Captain Queeg.

Riders of the Purple Sage, Zane Grey

Has been called the most popular western novel of all time. About Bern Venters, Jane Withersteen, and Jim Lassiter, who in various ways struggle with persecution from the local Mormon community, led by Bishop Dyer and Elder Tull, in Cottonwoods, Utah.

The Human Comedy, William Saroyan

Homer Macauley is a 14-year-old boy growing up fatherless in the San Joaquin Valley of California during WWII. His oldest brother, is off fighting the war, and Homer feels he needs to be the man of the family. To make money, he takes an evening job as a telegraph boy.

The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison

In Lorain, Ohio, 9 year olf Claudia MacTeer and her 10 year old sister Frieda live with their parents, a tenant named Mr. Henry, and Pecola Breedlove, a temporary foster child whose house was burned down by her father. Pecola is quiet and grew up with little money and constantly fighting parents. In order to beautify herself and stop bullying in her neighborhood, Pecola wishes for blue eyes.

Breakfast at Tiffany's, Truman Capote

In autumn 1943, the unnamed narrator befriends Holly Golightly; the 2 are tenants in a brownstone apartment in Manhattan's Upper East Side. Holly has no job and lives by socializing with wealthy men, who give her money and expensive presents. Holly likes to shock people with carefully selected tidbits from her personal life or her outspoken viewpoints on various topics.

The Zoo Story, Edward Albee

Set near Central Park. Stars Peter and Jerry. A character in this play is insultingly told that he is a vegetable, and a slightly near-sighted one at that. Another character in this play says that he was "queer, queer, queer" during an early affair with a Greek park superintendent's son. Fifty years after this play's premiere, its author wrote a prequel called Homelife. Near this play's conclusion, the protagonist shouts that God is an African-American drag queen in a kimono, after delivering a long monologue about his attempts to befriend, then poison his landlady's dog. In this play, a tickle fight escalates into an actual fight over a bench, culminating with one man impaling himself on a knife.

The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The author was a French aristocrat, writer, and aviator. This author's works were banned by the Vichy Regime. Follows a young prince who visit various planets in space, including Earth.

Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jules Verne

Main character is Professor Otto lidenbrock, an eccentric German scientist who believes there are volcanic tubes that reach to the Earth's center. He, his nephew Axel, and their Icelandic guide Hans rappel into Iceland's celebrated inactive volcano Snæfellsjökull. Eventually, the 3 explorers are spewed back to the surface of Stromboli in S Italy.

Around the World in 80 Days, Jules Verne

Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employed French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a 20000 pound wager set by his friends at the Reform Club.

The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway

Portrays American and British expatriates who travel from Paris to the Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls and the bullfight. Basis was this author's trip to Spain in 1925. Roman a clef: the characters are based on real people in the author's circle, and the action is based on real event. Glorifies the Lost Generation, a term coined by Gertrude Stein and refers to the social generational cohort that came of age during WW1. The graceful bullfighter Romero has an affair with the lead female character of this work, which follows a group of expatriate Americans who travel from Paris to Spain. Mike Campbell, Bill Gordon, and Robert Cohn and the aforementioned Brett Ashley are among those described by impotent narrator Jake Barnes.

Tar Baby, Toni Morrison

Portrays a love affair between Jadine and Son, 2 Black Americans from different worlds. Jadine is a beautiful Sorbonne graduate and fashion model who has wealth and privilege from the Streets, a wealthy white family who employs Jadine's aunt and uncle as domestic servants. Son is impoverished and strong minded. He washes up at the Streets' estate on a Caribbean Island. Jadine and Son travel back home together to find somewhere to live, but they find out that their homes hate each other.

My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok

Protagonist is Asher Lev, a Hasidic Jewish boy in NYC. Asher is a loner with artistic inclinations. His art, however, causes conflicts with his family and other members of his community. The book follows Asher's maturity as both an artist and a Jew

The Fixer,Bernard Malamud

Provides a fictionalized version of the Beilis case. Menahem Mendel Beilis was a Jew unjustly imprisoned in Tsarist Russia. The "Beilis trial" of 1913 caused an international uproar and Beilis was acquitted by a jury. Won the US National Book for Fiction and the Pulitzer Prize.

A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

Set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. Tells the story of the French doctor Manette, his 18 year long imprisonment in the Bastille, and his release to live in London with his daughter Lucie. Set against the conditions that led up to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror.

Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon

Set primarily in Europe at the end of World War II, and centers on the design, production and dispatch of V-2 rockets by the German military. In particular, it features the quest undertaken by several characters to uncover the secret of a mysterious device named the "Schwarzgerät" ("black device"), slated to be installed in a rocket with the serial number "00000".

The Killer Angels, Michael Shaara

Tells the story of the 3 days of the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War, and the day leading up to it, as the troops of both the Union and the Confederacy move into battle around the town of Gettysburg. Told from the perspective of various protagonists, mainly James Longstreet and Robert Lee with the Confederates, and John Buford and Joshua L. Chamberlain with the Union.

Ironweed, William Kennedy

3rd book in Albany Cycle. Set during the Great Depression. Tells the story of Francis Phelan, an alcoholic vagrant originally from Albany, NY, who left his family after accidentally killing his infant son while he may have been drunk. Focuses on Francis' return to Albany, which is complicated by Phelan's hallucinations of the 3 people whom he killed in the past. Won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize.

Sounder,William Armstrong

African- American boy lives with his sharecropper family. His father gets arrested for stealing ham for a feast. The boy then goes on a quest to become literate by finding a teacher willing to teach him how to read Montaigne. The dog's name is the only name mentioned in the book

The Fall of the House of Usher, Poe

Begins with the unnamed narrator arriving at the house of Roderick, having received a letter from him in a distant part of the country complaining of an illness and asking for his help. Roderick's twin sister, Madeline, falls into cataleptic, deathlike trances. The narrator is impressed with Roderick and tries to cheer him up by reading with him and listening to musical compositions. Roderick sings "The Haunted Palace" and tells the narrator that he thinks the house is alive. Roderick's sister died, leading to Roderick's request to entomb her in the family tomb for 2 weeks. Madeline has rosy cheeks before death. During a storm, Roderick goes into the narrator's bedroom and see that the tarn surrounding the house glowed in the dark like Roderick's paintings. The narrator tries to calm Roderick down by reading The Mad Trist.

The Pickwick Papers(The Posthumous Papers of the Pick Club), Charles Dickens

Britain's first real publishing phenomenon. A sequence of loosely related adventures written for serialization in a periodical.

Northanger Abbey,Jane Austen

Catherine Morland's journey of understanding herself. During a walk in this novel, a man talks about the imprecision of the word "nicest" and teaches the protagonist about "picturesque" landscapes. A character in this novel is jokingly told that she will find a secret passageway to a gold and ebony cabinet containing a manuscript, only to find a linen inventory in a similar cabinet in her room. In this novel, a boorish man who forces the protagonist to miss a walk with two friends later gets revenge by claiming her family is poor. While staying in Bath with the Allens, the protagonist of this novel meets fellow "Udolpho" enthusiast Isabella Thorpe. Thorpes are not happy about Catherine's friendship with the Tilneys. The main character of this novel suspects that General Tilney is hiding his dead wife on his estate, an idea suggested by her reading of Gothic novels.

Oliver Twist(The Parish Boy's Progress), Charles Dickens

Centers on an orphan, born in a workhouse and sold into apprenticeship with an undertaker. After escaping, the protagonist travels to London, where he meets the Artful Dodger, a member of a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal Fagin.

Andersonville, MacKinlay Kantor

Concerns a Confederate prisoner of war camp during the American Civil War. Told from many points of view, including Henry Wirz, the camp commandant who was later executed. Features William Collins, a Union soldier and one of the leaders of the Raiders, a gang of thugs, mainly bounty jumpers who steal from their fellow prisoners and lead comfortable lives. Based on prisoner memoirs. Won Pulitzer Prize in 1956.

The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy

Depicts Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius as he seemingly goes rogue with his country's cutting-edge ballistic missile submarine Red October. Marks the first appearance of Jack Ryan, an analyst working for the CIA, as he must prove his theory that Ramius had intended to defect to the US. Loosely inspired by the mutiny on the Soviet frigate Strozhevoy in 1975.

Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand

Depicts a dystopian United States in which private businesses suffer under increasingly burdensome laws and regulations. Railroad executive Dagny Taggart and her lover, steel magnate Hank Rearden, struggle against "looters" who want to exploit their productivity. Dagny and Hank discover that a mysterious figure called John Galt is persuading other business leaders to abandon their companies and disappear as a strike of productive individuals against the looters. The novel ends with the strikers planning to build a new capitalist society based on Galt's philosophy of reason and individualism.

The Andromeda Strain, Michael Crichton

Documents the efforts of a team of scientists investigating the outbreak of a deadly extraterrestrial microorganism in NM. Aerial surveillance showed that everyone in Piedmont, Arizona, the town closest to the crashing of a military satellite, is dead. This leads to the duty officer to activate 'Wildfire', a protocol for scientists to contain threats. The townspeople either died mid-stride or went nuts and committed bizarre suicides. Only Peter Jackson and Jamie Ritter survived the microorganism. Dr.Hall is the only scientist authorized to disarm the automatic self-destruct mechanism.

Advise and Consent, Allen Drury

Explores the US Senate confirmation of controversial Secretary of State nominee Robert Leffingwell, who promotion is endangered due to growing evidence that the nominee was a member of the Communist Party. Won the Pulitzer Prize in 1960.

The Ambassadors, Henry James

Follows the trip of protagonist Lewis Lambert Strether to Europe in pursuit of Chad Newsome, his widowed fiancée's supposedly wayward son; he is to bring the young man back to the family business, but he encounters unexpected complications. The third-person narrative is told exclusively from Strether's point of view.

Tarzan of the Apes, Edgar Rice Burroughs

John Clayton II is born in the western coastal jungles of equatorial Africa and is then adopted by the she-ape Kala after his mother dies and his father dies to the king ape Kerchak. John is named "White Skin" in the ape language and raised in ignorance of his human heritage. Kala dies to a tribe of black Africans, leading to him to kill Kerchak and become the king of the apes. John then meets 19 year old Jane Porter, leading to him learning French with French naval officer Paul D'Arnot and English through communication.

The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway

Last major work of fiction by this author that was published during his lifetime. Tells the story of Santiago, an aging Cuban fisherman who struggles with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Cuba. Was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953.

A Wrinkle In Time,Madeleine L'Engle

Meg Murry, Charles Wallace Murry, and Calvin O'Keefe embark on a journey through space and time to save the Murrys' father and the world. First book in the author's Time Quintet. Won the Newbery Medal, the Sequoyah Book Award, the Lewis Carroll Self Award, and was runner up for the Hans Christian Andersen Award.

I am the Cheese, Robert Cormier

Open with Adam Farmer(Paul Delmonte) biking from his home in Monument, Massachusetts(based on the author's home town of Leominster, Massachusetts). Alternates with transcripts of tapes between a subject, Adam receiving psychotherapy and Brint, the subject's interrogator. Adam's father was a newspaper reporter enrolled in the Witness Protection Program, which results in Adam's parents being killed in a car crash. Paul is regularly interrogated on the collision, resulting in him embarking on a delusional bike ride because he is unable to handle his realizations. The title is the last verse from The Farmer In The Dell.

Dandelion Wine, Ray Bradbury

Set in the summer of 1928 in Green Town, Illinois, which is based on the author's childhood home of Waukegan, Illinois. Follows a 12-year-old boy named Douglas Spaulding, who is appreciating his life and embracing the summer with his brother Tom and his grandfather. He gets new sneakers by convincing Mr. Sanderson about their importance, making him be transported back to his own childhood. Due to the massive amount of loss in his life, Douglas believes that he must die, causing him to eventually realize that change is a part of life with the help of 2 bottles of pure winter air from Mr. Jonas, the junkman.

The House of the Seven Gables, Hawthorne

Several characters in this novel all die in a great oak chair beneath a portrait of a prominent ancestor. Minor characters in this novel include Ned Higgins, who eats gingerbread cookies, and the ghost Alice, who died of shame after being hypnotized in an attempt to locate deeds to Indian land. The patriarch of the central family in this novel was cursed by the wizard Matthew Maule. Jaffrey is the uncle of Hepzibah and Clifford, and the youngest member of the central family, Phoebe, marries a daguerreotypist named Holgrave.

Winesberg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small-Town Life, Sherwood Anderson

Short story cycle. Structured around the life of protagonist George Willard, from the time he was a child to his growing independence and ultimate abandonment as a young man. Setting is based loosely on the author's memories of Clyde, Ohio.

The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Ernest Hemingway

Story opens with a paragraph about the western summit of a mountain, the "House of God", and how there is a frozen carcass of a leopard near the summit. Includes Harry, a writer dying of gangrene, and Helen who are both stranded in the camp because a bearing in their truck's engine burnt out.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea: A World Tour Underwater, Jules Verne

The US Government assembles an expedition in NYC to find and destroy a mysterious sea monster which might be a gigantic narwhal. Professor Pierre Aronnax, a French marine biologist and the story's narrator, accompanies Canadian whaler and master harpooner Ned Land and Aronnax's faithful manservant Conseil. The expedition leaves Manhattan's 34th St.Pier aboard the US Navy frigate Abraham Lincoln, then travels south around Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean. The frigate attacks the monster, forcing the 3 protagonists into the sea and having to climb onto the monster, which they find out is a futuristic submarine, the Nautilus. They then get captured and introduced to the manufacturer and commander, Captain Nemo. Nemo says that they can't leave, having Ned Land hunger to escape. The Nautilus is attacked by a warship from a mysterious nation that has caused Nemo such suffering, forcing Nemo to ram the ship below her waterline and send her to the bottom, making Nemo sink into a deep depression. Aronnax and Ned find a place to escape, and they succeed after conquering the Maelstrom.

Tuck Everlasting,Natalie Babbitt

Winnie Foster meets Jesse Tuck, who tells her that drinking from a spring grants eternal life. A man in a yellow suit, who first approached Winnie and Jesse at the spring, steals the Tucks' horse and informs everyone about Winnie's whereabouts in the Tuck household. The man in the yellow suit attempted to sell the spring water to the public and force Winnie to drink it. Jesse gives Winnie a bottle of the spring water to drink, but she pours it on a toad.

The Accidental Tourist, Anne Tyler

Won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1985 and the Ambassador Book Award in 1986. Set in Baltimore, revolves around Macon Leary, a writer of travel guides whose son was killed in a shooting at a fast-food restaurant. He became incapacitated due to a fall and is forced to return to his family home with his sister Rose and brothers Porter and Charles. When Macon's publisher, Julian, comes to visit, Julian is attracted to Rose and they marry. Macon hires Muriel Pritchett, a quirky young woman with a sickly son, to train his dog and finds him drifting into a relationship. Over time, Macon becomes attached to Muriel and Alexander and moves in.

Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler

One character in this work recalls eating tree bark and skinning cats to survive, while being transferred across the Franco-Belgian border repeatedly. That figure in this work is a dockworker who hangs himself after being forced to militarily supply a country against whom he led a shipping boycott. This novel, in which Little Loewy appears, refers to the first person singular as a "grammatical fiction". After the arrest of Ivanov, the interrogation of the protagonist is taken over by Gletkin, who accuses the protagonist of plotting against Number One. Conversations pass between the protagonist and his neighbor in cell 402 by tapping the wall. Ends with the execution of Rubashov in the name of Communism. Minor characters in this work include the porter Vassilij, who has a red scar on his neck from the Civil War. One character tells this novel's protagonist "Bravo! The wolves devour each other" shortly before asking him "When did you last sleep with a woman?". This novel, which is divided into three sections called "hearings", is the middle part of a trilogy that begins with The Gladiators and ends with Arrival and Departure.

Satyricon liber, Petronius

One character in this work tells a story about seeing an old woman who is kept in a jar and answers"I would die" to every question. Another character in this work is ordered to be flogged due to hissexual impotence; that character prays at a temple for the cure to his impotence, and then kills asacred goose to the horror of the temple's guardian. In this work's beginning, the sophist Agamemnon debates the protagonist, who quits his job to go on a journey with the servant Giton. In thiswork, Lichas dies in a storm after being told a story about a widow who gave away her husband's corpse byEumolpus. The characters in this work attend a feast thrown by Trimalchio.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

One famous scene in this novel features the tactic of allowing the enemy to fire upon empty straw boats in the dark to acquire arrows, and another involves feigning nonchalance upon an enemy's approach to protect an empty fort. Three men make the Oath of the Peach Garden and proceed to win a great victory at Red Cliffs. Beginning with the Yellow Turban Rebellion and ending with the victory of the Jin Dynasty, this novel features characters such as Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and Cao Cao

Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro

One of the final scenes in this novel gives details about the Morningdale Scandal, while much earlier the narrator describes the Tokens Controversy. Homosexuals in the novel are given the name "Umbrellas", and when the narrator gets caught going through a dirty magazine, she's looking at women's faces. Miss Lucy is found crying in Room 14 at one point, though earlier she indicated it wasn't crucial for students to get their work accepted to Madam Claude's gallery. The narrator admits to holding to an incorrect assumption about a woman told she couldn't have babies who ended up having them, while interpreting the title song as a youth. That protagonist, a long-time friend of Ruth, becomes a Carer, while her lover Tommy becomes a donor.

Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, Stephen Crane

Opens with Jimmie, a young boy trying by himself to fight a gang of boys from an opposing neighborhood. He is saved by Pete and comes home to his sister, his toddling brother, Tommie, his brutal and drunken father, and mother, Mary Johnson. Jimmie hardens into a sneering, aggressive, cynical youth as Tommie and his father die. He gets a job as a teamster as his sister begins to work in a shirt factory. His sister begins to date Pete because she believes he will help her escape the life she leads. Jimmie and Mary accuse his sister of "Goin to deh devil", kicking her out of the tenement. Nellie convinces Pete to leave Jimmie's sister, leaving her abandoned. She tries to return home, but she is rejected and scorned by the entire tenement. Pete is seen drinking in a saloon with 6 fashionable women and passes out, whereupon Nellie takes his money. Jimmie tells his mother that his sister is dead, where his mother exclaims ironically that "I'll forgive her!"

A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole

Picaresque novel (depicts the adventures of a roguish, but "appealing hero", of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corrupt society). Title refers to an epigram from Jonathan Swift's essay, Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting. Central character is Ignatius J. Reilly, an educated but slothful 30-year-old man living with his mother in the Uptown neighborhood of early 1960s New Orleans who, in his quest for employment, has various adventures with French Quarter characters. Its protagonist corresponds with Myrna Minkoff, adores the Consolation of Philosophy, fails to lead a revolution at the Levy Pants Factory, complains about his "valve," and sells hot dogs, many of which he eats. A character in this novel who is obsessed with her massaging exercise board tries to give a makeover to the aged Miss Trixie. Another character suspects the police of being communists, especially a police officer who is forced to hide in a bathroom stall wearing ridiculous outfits until he arrests someone. In this novel, Lana Lee runs a bar and tries to start a strip club act where Darlene is undressed by her pet parrot. This novel was published after its author's mother badgered Walker Percy into reading it. The author authored the novel in 1963 during the last few months in Puerto Rico.

The Adventures of Augie March, Saul Bellow

Picaresque novel(depicts the adventures of a rougish, but "appealing hero", of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corrupt society). Describes the protagonist's growth from childhood to a fairly stable maturity. The protagonist, with his brother Simon and the mentally abnormal George, have no father and are brought up by their mother who is losing her eyesight and a tyrannical grandmother-like boarder in very humble circumstances in Chicago. The protagonist's life is self made and partly comes from chance. He flies to Mexico with Thea who tries to catch lizards with an eagle. Thea attempts to convince the protagonist to join her. He works as a general assistance to the slightly corrupt Einhorn, helping in a dog training parlor, working for his brother at a coal-tip, and working for the Congress of Industrial Organizations until joining the merchant navy. The protagonist first has a casual affair with Sophie, a Greek hotel maid, then was swept off by Thea, and then met up with Stella, another woman he drove that made Thea break up with him, and marrying her. During the war, his ship is sunk and suffers a difficult episode with a man who turns out to be a lunatic.

All the King's Men, Robert Penn Warren

Portrays the dramatic and theatrical political rise and governship of Willie Stark, a cynical, socially liberal socialist in the American South during the 1930s. Narrated by Jack Burden, a political reporter who comes to work as Governor Stark's right-hand man. Evolved from a verse play named Proud Flesh. In this novel, one character is offered beer multiple times, but insists on drinking orange soda. Another character in this novel recounts Phebe's accidental discovery of a wedding ring, confirming Annabelle Trice's complicity in her husband's suicide. A spirit medium named Littlepaugh provides evidence that one character had accepted a bribe for the benefit of a power company, information that is gathered by this novel's narrator because that character supports MacMurfree. That man, not the "Scholarly Attorney," turns out to be the father of this novel's narrator. This novel's narrator counts his unfinished historical study of his ancestor Cass Mastern as part of a "Great Sleep," and picks up an old man out west leading to his theory of the "Great Twitch." After learning of his sister Anne's affair, Adam Stanton assassinates the governor. The narrator's father commits suicide when blackmailed about a bribe from American Electric Power Company, and the cover-up of that bribe allows the narrator to blackmail a famous surgeon into heading a hospital. The hospital deal is called off after Tom breaks his neck playing football, and the revelation that Anne has been sleeping with Willy causes Adam Stanton to plan an assassination. Title is drawn from Humpty Dumpty. Won the Pulitzer Prize in 1947

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Tom Wolfe

Presents an as-if-firsthand account of the experiences of Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters, who traveled across the country in a colorfully painted school bus, the destination of which was always Furthur, as indicated on its sign, but also exemplified by the general ethos of the Pranksters themselves. Kesey and the Pranksters became famous for their use of LSD and other psychedelic drugs in hopes of achieving intersubjectivity. The book chronicles the Acid Tests (parties in which LSD-laced Kool-Aid was used to obtain a communal trip), the group's encounters with (in)famous figures of the time, including famous authors, Hells Angels, and the Grateful Dead, and it also describes Kesey's exile to Mexico and his arrests.

The Golden Bowl, Henry James

Prince Amerigo, an impoverished but charismatic Italian nobleman, is in London to marry Maggie Verver, only child of the widower Adam Verver, the wealthy American financier and art collector. While there, he encounters Charlotte Stant, another young American and a former mistress from his days in Rome. Maggie didn't know that Charlotte and Amerigo didn't marry because she was not wealthy. Charlotte and Amerigo go shopping to find a wedding present for Maggie and find an antique gilded crystal bowl, which Amerigo declines because it might have a flaw. Maggie is afraid her father is lonely now, so she persuades him to propose to Charlotte and they marry. Amerigo and Charlotte are thrown together and have an adulterous affair. Maggie suspects the pair and goes to the same curiosity shop and buys the gilded bowl they rejected. The shopkeeper visits Maggie at her house because he regrets the high price, and he tells Maggie of the pair's shopping trip and their intimate conversation. Maggie confronts Amerigo and persuades her father to return to America with his wife without telling him about Amerigo and Charlotte's affair.

Sense and Sensibility,Jane Austen

Published "By a Lady". Tells the story of the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne. The Dashwood sisters must move with their widowed mother from Norland Park. The Dashwood women rent Barton Cottage on the property of Sir John Middleton. Set in SW England, London, and Sussex. Mr Willoughby prevents Marianne's possible engagement, leading to her sorrow. Marianne is diagnosed with putrid fever (typhus). In this novel, Mrs. Smith disowns one character for abandoning Eliza Williams, and that character is later compelled to marry Sophia Grey to keep his wealthy lifestyle. Sir John Middleton loans a family his cottage in Devonshire after they are forced out by Fanny, and the central characters are visited by Lucy Steele. A character living in Barton Park is abandoned by John Willoughby in this novel, but that character, Marianne, eventually marries Colonel Brandon and her sister Elinor marries Edward Ferrars. In this novel, a busybody old lady listens to a conversation through a door, and mistakenly thinks that two characters have gotten engaged, when in fact that man was giving a rectory to the lady's friend. One character in this novel abandons a trip to Whitwell at the last minute, to visit a girl thought to be his illegitimate daughter, but who is actually the daughter of his sister-in-law, with whom he was in love. Charlotte Palmer enjoys joking about the rudeness of her husband in this novel, in which Eliza Williams is impregnated by the scoundrel John Willoughby.

The Conservationist, Nadine Gordimer

Quotes from a work of Henry Callaway are placed between the chapters in this novel. The protagonist puzzles over the placement of some chestnut trees and takes a redeye flight on which he sexually assaults a passive Portuguese girl. This work's protagonist has trouble understanding his gay son Terry, whose fashion sweaters he gives to his employees, including Jacobus. The title character discusses the poet Roy Campbell with his lover, Antonia, who leaves the country after being detained by the police. A flood disinters the body of a "city slicker" buried on the farm by police, terrifying the protagonist, the industrialist Mehring.

Old Yeller, Fred Gipson

Received a Newbery Honor in 1957. Starts when Travis Coates works to take care of his family ranch in Salt Licks, Texas. Travis finds a dog staying at the ranch and adopts him. The dog saves the family on many occasions, leading to Travis and the dog being good friends. The dog is bitten when saving his family from a rabid wolf, leading to Travis having to kill the dog.

Look Homeward, Angel:A Story of the Buried Life, Thomas Wolfe

Recounts Eugene's father's early life, but primarily covers the span of time from Eugene's birth in 1900 to his definitive departure from home at the age of 19. The setting is a fictionalization of his home town of Asheville, North Carolina, called Altamont, Catawba in the novel. Eugene Gant is believed to be a depiction of the author himself.

Ben Hur:A Tale of the Christ, Lew Wallace

Recounts the adventures of Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish prince from Jerusalem, who is enslaved by the Romans at the beginning of the first century and becomes a charioteer and a Christian. Running in parallel with Judah's narrative is the unfolding story of Jesus, from the same region and around the same age. The novel reflects themes of betrayal, conviction, and redemption, with a revenge plot that leads to a story of love and compassion.

The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas

Recounts the adventures of d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, hoping to join the Musketeers of the Guard. He isn't able to join the elite corps immediately because his letter of introduction to Monsieur de Treville, the commander of the Musketeers. He finds Athos, Porthos, and Aramis to become involved in state and court affairs. d'Artagnan was based on Charles de Batz-Castelmore d'Artagnan. The protagonist of this novel continuously chases after a man from Meung. A character in this novel trained his servant Grimaud to never speak and hanged his wife after discovering she was a criminal because of the brand on her left shoulder. In the first half of this novel, a diamond brooch is given to the Duke of Buckingham. The protagonist of this novel insults a man's sash and schedules three duels in one day. The handmaid of the Queen of France, Constance, is killed by Milady de Winter near the end of this novel. One character in this work seduces Felton, her Puritan jailer, inciting him to assassinate the prime minister, and that same character steals some diamond studs. The protagonist of this work hires the servant Planchet and falls in love with a servant of Anne of Austria, Constance Bonacieux. A man in a red cloak reveals the nature of one character's crimes and why she bears the fleur-de-lis, Milady de Winter.

The Prince of Tides, Pat Conroy

Revolves around traumatic events that affected former football player Tom Wingo's relationship with his immediate family. As Tom grapples with his twin sister's attempted suicide and the absence of his charismatic older brother Luke, the story outlines life in the south and the events that threaten to tear Tom's family apart.

Humboldt's Gift, Saul Bellow

Roman a clef, real life events that is overlaid with a facade of fiction, about Bellow's friendship with the poet Delmore Schwartz. Explores the changing relationship of art and power in a materialist America. Addressed by the contrasting careers of Von Humboldt Fleisher and Charlie Citrine. Fleisher years to lift American society through art, but dies a failure. Charlie Citrine makes a lot of money through his writing, especially from a Broadway play and a movie about Von Trenck, modeled after Fleisher. Rinaldo Cantabile, a wannabe Chicago gangster, tries to bully Citrine into being friends. Won the 1976 Pulitzer Prize and contributed to the author's Nobel Prize win the same year.j

The Marble Faun:Or, The Romance of Monte Beni(Transformation), Nathaniel Hawthorne

Romance that focuses on Miriam, Hilda, Kenyon, and Donatello. Miriam is a painter that is pursued by a mysterious, threatening man who is her "evil genius" through life. Compared to Eve, Beatrice Cenci, Judith, and Cleopatra. Hilda is an innocent copyist that is compared to the Virgin Mary because of her simple, unbendable moral principles. Kenyon is a sculptor who represents rationalist humanism and like Hilda. Donatello, the Count of Monte Beni, is often compared to Adam and is in love with Miriam

Go Tell It on the Mountain, James Baldwin

Semi-autobiographical novel that tells the story of the fourteenth birthday of John Grimes in Harlem, 1935. The first section follows John's thoughts, the second mostly his aunt's, the third his father's, the fourth his mother's, and the fifth again mostly John's. The novel is steeped in the language of the King James Bible, and the Bible is a constant presence in the characters' lives. John doesn't understand why his father hates him, reserving his love for John's younger brother Roy instead. He is torn between his desire to win his father's love and his hatred for his father. Before the night is over, John will undergo a religious transformation, experiencing salvation on the "threshing-floor" of his family's storefront Harlem church. Yet this will not earn him his father's love. What John does not know, but the reader does, is that the man he thinks is his father—Gabriel—is, in fact, his stepfather; unbeknownst to John, Gabriel's resentment of him has nothing to do with himself and everything to do with Gabriel's own concealed past.

Beloved, Toni Morrison

Set after the American Civil War. Inspired by the life of Margaret Garner, an African American who escaped slavery in Kentucky in late January 1856 by crossing the Ohio River to Ohio. Captured, she killed her child rather than have her taken back into slavery. Paul D travels to Cincinnati in his search for Baby Suggs and the mother of Denver. Won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988.

A Separate Peace, John Knowles

Set against the backdrop of WWII. Told from the perspective of Gene Forrester. Gene returns to his old prep school Devon 15 years after he graduated to visit a flight of marble stairs and a big tree by the river from which he caused his friend Phineas(Finny) to fall. Devon was said to replicate the author's alma mater, Phillips Exeter Academy. Phineas has an idea to create a "Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session" during the "gypsy summer" of 1942, where Finny creates an initiation where people jump from a tree into the Devon River. Gene shook a branch of a tree, causing Finny to fall and shatter his leg. This ends the one-sided rivalry they have(Gene out-smarts Finny cause he thinks Finny is more athletic). The rest of the story illustrates Gene's attempts to come to grips with who he is. Brinker Hadley sets up a show trial and accuses Gene of attempted murder of Finny. Finny leaves and falls down the flight of stairs, breaking his leg again. Finny realizes that the accident was impulsive and they forgive each other. Finny dies during surgery due to Fat Embolism syndrome. Based on his earlier short story "Phineas", it was this author's first published novel and became his best-known work.

Kidnapped, Robert Louis Stevenson

Set around real 18th-century Scottish events, notably the "Appin murder", which occurred in the aftermath of the Jacobite rising of 1745. Political situation of the time is porttrayed from multiple viewpoints, and the Scottish Highlanders are treated sympathetically.

The Chocolate War, Robert Cormier

Set at a fictional Catholic high school, Trinity. Depicts a secret student organization's manipulation of the student body, which descends into cruel and ugly mob mentality against a non-conforming student, Jerry Renault. Jerry's only friend is Roland Goubert, The Goober. Trinity's vice-principal, Brother Leon, commits Trinity to selling double the previous year's amount of chocolate during an annual fundraising event, leading to him enlisting the support of Archie Costello, the leader of the Vigils, the school's secret society of student pranksters. Archie first commands Jerry to refuse to sell any chocolate for 10 days, which is prolonged after Jerry reads "Do I dare disturb the universe" from "The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock" by TS Eliot. Jerry's boycott is seen as heroic, but the Vigils are tasked to set up Jerry as an enemy to harass.

Catch-22, Joseph Heller

Set during World War II, from 1942 to 1944. It mainly follows the life of antihero Captain John Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bombardier. Most of the events in the book occur while the fictional 256th US Army Air Squadron is based on the island of Pianosa, in the Mediterranean Sea west of Italy, though it also covers episodes from basic training at Lowry Field in Colorado and Air Corps training at Santa Ana Army Air Base in California. Milo Minderbinder creates a profitable syndicate and Yossarian serves as a B-25 bomber in the 256th squadron. The first 11 chapters broadly follows the story fragmented between characters, but in a single chronological time in 1944. The next 9 chapters flashes back to focus primarily on the "Great Big Siege of Bologna" before once again jumping to the chronological present of 1944 in the third part(21-25). The fourth(26-28) flashes back to the origins and growth of Milo's syndicate, with the fifth part (28-32) returning again to the narrative present and maintaining the tone of the previous 4. 32 onwards remains in the story's present, but takes a darker turn. Horror begins with the attack on the undefended Italian mountain village.

Cannery Row, John Steinbeck

Set during the Great Depression in Monterey, California, on a street lined with sardine canneries. Revolves around the people living there: Lee Chong, the local grocer, Doc, a marine biologist, and Mack, the leader of a group of derelict people. Mack and his friends are trying to do something nice for their friend Doc, who is good without asking for a reward. Mack tries to throw him a thank- you party. Unfortunately, it doesn't work and Doc's lab, home, and mood is ruined. Mack and the boys decide to throw another party, but make it work.

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

Set during the Great Depression. Begins just after Tom Joad is paroled from McAlester prison, where he had been incarcerated after being convicted of homicide. When hitchhiking back home near Sallisaw, Oklahoma, Tom meets his former preacher Jim Casy. They find out that the family went to Uncle John Joad's home because the banks evicted all of the farmers, but he refuses to leave the area. Muley Graves tells them of this news because he refuses to leave the area. The family has no choice but to go to California because the family defaulted on their bank loans because their crops were destroyed by the Dust Bowl. When the family arrives to California, they witness terrible conditions with exploitation and a lack of jobs. Because of this, Casy becomes a labor organizer and tries to recruit for a labor unions. Won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and was cited prominently when the author was awarded the Nobel prize in 1962.

Ivanhoe: A Romance, Sir Walter Scott

Set in 12th-century England with colorful descriptions of a tournament, outlaws, a witch trial, and divisions between Jews and Christians. Represented a shift by the author from fairly realisitc novels set in Scotland in the recent past to a fanciful depiction of medieval England. At one point in this novel the protagonist is put in the charge of an old hag named Ulrica, who helps him escape Torquilstone by starting a fire. He takes the disguise of the Disinherited Knight at a tournament in Ashby, which he wins with the help of the Black Sluggard. Sir Bois-Guilbert runs off with Rebecca and charges her with witchcraft, a charge that is dropped upon his defeat by the title character. King Richard then retakes the throne, and the title character is reconciled with his father, Cedric the Saxon, and his ward. In this novel, Maurice de Bracy captures Cedric of Rotherwood and his ward, and Brian de Bois-Guilbert dies of his "contending passions" when he must fight a man defending the daughter of Isaac of York. The Black Knight reveals that he is King Richard at the end of this novel, and Rebecca visits Lady Rowena after her marriage to the title Saxon, Wilfred.

Gone with the Wind, Margret Mitchell

Set in Clayton County and Atlanta, both in Georgia, during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era. Depicts the struggles of young Scarlett O'Hara, the spoiled daughter of a well-to-do plantation owner, who must use every means to get out of poverty following the March to the Sea. Several of the main characters in this novel disagree over whether Ellen should help Emmie Slattery with her child's baptism. Ellen's husband Gerald reunites Pork with his wife, and their child Prissy ends up being a bad helper of this novel's protagonist. This novel's protagonist marries Charles Hamilton, who dies at war, and Frank Kennedy, who is a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Even though this novel's protagonist loves Ashley Wilkes, she takes Rhett Butler as her third husband. Title taken from a poem written by Ernest Dowson. Received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937.

Emma,Jane Austen

Set in Highbury and the surrounding estates of Hartfield, Randalls, and Donwell Abbey. After introducing Miss Taylor to Mr.Weston, the main character decides she likes matchmaking, leading to her trying to find a match for Harriet Smith. One character in this novel is a parlor boarder who is talked out of marrying the farmer Robert, transferring her affections to a rector who is later rude to her at a ball. Another character had lived with Colonel Campbell but returns to her spinster aunt Miss Bates, and that character is revealed to have been engaged to the stepson of this novel's title character's former governess, Frank Churchill. After the marriage of Jane Fairfax, Robert Martin once again proposes to Harriet Smith.

The Sound and The Fury, William Faulkner

Set in Jefferson, Mississippi in the first 1/3 of the 20th century. Centers on the Compson family, former Southern aristocrats who are struggling to deal with the dissolution of their family and its reputation. Separated into 4 narratives. The first, April 7, 1928, is written from the perspective of Benjamin "Benjy" Compson, an intellectually disabled 33-year-old man. Characterized by a highly disjointed narrative style with frequent chronological leaps. The second, June 2, 1910, focuses on Quentin Compson, Benjy's older brother, and the events leading up to his suicide. In the third section, April 6, 1928, the author writes from the POV of Jason, Quentin's cynical younger brother. In the 4th section, April 8, 1928, the author focuses on Dilsey, one of the Compsons' black servants, and her relations with Jason and "Miss" Quentin Compson. Uses stream of consciousness

A Death in the Family, James Agee

Set in Knoxville, Tennessee. Based on the events that occurred to the author in 1915 when his father went out of town to see his own father, who had suffered a heart attack. During the return trip, the author's father was killed in a car accident. The novel shows how a loss affects the young widow, her 2 children, her atheist father, and the dead man's alcoholic brother. Pulitzer Prize winner in 1958.

The Awakening,Kate Chopin

Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf Coast at the end of the 19th century. Centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle between her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South. This novel has a notoriously short sixth chapter in which the protagonist begins "to realize her position in the universe as a human being" and whose style is echoed in its final chapter, repeating that a certain object's touch is "sensuous" and "encloses the body in its warm embrace." This novel also features the Farival twins who are renowned for their abilities on the piano. This novel opens with a parrot shouting "Allez-vous en". The protagonist of this novel cries in disgust when she sees her friend Adele Ratignolle giving birth, falls in love with Robert Lebrun, and soon after drowns herself in the Gulf of Mexico. Adele Ratignolle urges the protagonist to care for her children above all else. Another character in this novel, the piano playing Mademoiselle Reitz helps the protagonist sort of her feelings for another character, who has left Grand Isle for Mexico. The main character of this novel borrows a book by the Brothers Goncourt from a woman who makes her black servants do her sewing because she believes it is unhealthy. That character had eloped from her strict Kentucky family to marry a man who gets angry when she ignores Reception Day. The protagonist rejects Mademoiselle Reisz's attempt to temper family obligations with an artistic talent, and has affairs with Alcee Arobin and Robert LeBrun before walking into the sea.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo

Set in Paris in 1482 during the reign of Louis XI. Archdeacon Claude Frollo orders Quasimodo to kidnap the gypsy Esmeralda, but Quasimodo gets caught. Gringoire, who attempted to help Esmeralda but was knocked out by Quasimodo, is about to be hanged by beggars when Esmeralda saves him by agreeing to marry him for 4 years. Quasimodo is sentenced to be flogged and turned on the pillory for 2 hours, followed by another hour's public exposure. Esmeralda is arrested and charged with attempted murder of Phoebus, whom Frollo actually attempted to kill in jealousy. She is sentenced to death by hanging, but Quasimodo swings down by the bell rope of Notre Dame and carries her off to the cathedral, protecting her under the law of sanctuary. Frollo informs Gringoire that the Court of Parlement has voted to remove Esmeralda's right of sanctuary.

2666, Roberto Bolano

Set in Santa Theresa, Mexico. A policeman in this novel begins a relationship with a woman who runs an insane asylum while investigating a man with "a bladder the size of a watermelon" who desecrates a number of churches. One character in this novel hangs a geometry textbook from a clothesline as a part of a Duchamp-inspired experiment. That man in this novel is the professor Amalfitano. In this novel's third section, a reporter for Black Dawn goes to Detroit to interview the barbecue enthusiast and former Black Panther Barry Seaman before he is sent to cover a boxing match in Mexico. A love triangle in this work develops among Liz Norton, Pelletier, and Espinoza, three literary critics who travel to Mexico, where they learn about the countless murders of young women while on their search for the reclusive author Benno von Archimboldi.

The Magnificent Ambersons, Booth Tarkington

Set in a largely fictionalized version of Indianapolis, and much of it was inspired by Woodruff Place. The titular family is the most prosperous and powerful in town at the turn of the century. The patriarch's grandson, is spoiled terrible by his mother Isabel. Growing up arrogant, sure of his own worth and position, and oblivious to other people's lives, George falls in love with Lucy Morgan, a young and sensible debutante. However, George is unaware of the long history between George's mother and Lucy's father. As the town urbanizes, George's family gets poorer and Lucy's family gets richer. George sabotages his widowed mother's growing affections for Lucy's father. Won the 1919 Pultizer Prize for fiction. 2nd novel in the Growth trilogy. Adapted for the film Pampered Youth.

Tobacco Road, Erskine Caldwell

Set in rural Georgia, several miles outside Augusta during the worst years of the Great Depression. Depicts a family of poor white tenant farmers, the Lesters, as some of the many small Southern cotton farmers made redundant by the industrialization of production and the migration into cities. Main character is Jeeter Lester, an ignorant and sinful man who is redeemed by his love of the land and his faith in the fertility and promise of the soil.

A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula Le Guin

Set in the archipelago, Earthsea, and centers around a young mage named Ged, born in a village on the island of Gont. He joins the school of wizardy, where his prickly nature drives him into conflict with another fellow. During a duel, Ged's spell releases a shadow creature that attacks him. The novel follows his journey to be free of the creature. Won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award in 1969 and was one of the final recipients of the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1979.

Light in August, William Faulkner

Set in the author's present day, the interwar period, the novel centers on two strangers, a pregnant white woman and a man who passes as white but who believes himself to be of mixed ethnicity. In a series of flashbacks, the story reveals how these two people are connected to another man who has deeply impacted both their lives. One character in this novel attempts to collect a thousand-dollar reward from the New Hampshire relatives of a slain woman by accusing his former bootlegging partner of the murder. This novel's protagonist shacks up with waitress Bobbie Allen after beating his foster father, Mr. McEachern, with a chair. This novel ends with Byron Bunch and Lena Grove searching for Joe Brown, whose real name is Lucas Burch. Another character in this novel, who was given up for adoption on the holiday that was made his last name, slits Joanna Burden's throat in Jefferson, Mississippi. Contains Joe Christmas

Dune, Frank Herbert

Set in the distant future amidst a feudal interstellar society in which various noble houses control planetary fiefs, it is the story of young Paul Atreides, whose family accepts the stewardship of the planet Arrakis. While the planet is an inhospitable and sparsely populated desert wasteland, it is the only source of melange, or "the spice", a drug that extends life and enhances mental abilities. Melange is also necessary for space navigation, which requires a kind of multidimensional awareness and foresight that only the drug provides. As melange can only be produced on Arrakis, control of the planet is thus a coveted and dangerous undertaking. The story explores the multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion, as the factions of the empire confront each other in a struggle for the control of Arrakis and its spice.

The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea, James Fenimore Cooper

Shows Natty at his old trick of guiding damsels through the dangerous woods and the siege at the blockhouse and the storm on Lake Ontario. Natty keeps his simple and honest nature at middle age, which is tested by his love for a nineteen year old young woman. Natty's romantic interest is sent to the arms of a younger suitor, restoring the hero to his home in the wilderness.

The Call of the Wild, Jack London

Story opens in 1897 with Buck, a powerful 140 lb St.Bernard-Scotch Collie mix, happily living in Santa Clara Valley as the pet of Judge Miller. Buck is shipped to Seattle because assistant gardener Manuel steals him and sells him to a stranger. Here, Buck learns the "law of the club and fang". After, Buck is sold to 2 French-Canadian dispatchers that take him to Alaska to be trained as a sled dog for the Klondike region of Canada. Buck's teammates teach him about sledding, leading to a rivalry between Spitz and Buck and Buck killing Spitz in a fight. The protagonist of this novel spends some time with the spoiled debutante Mercedes and her shallow and unprepared companions Hal and Charles. That protagonist is kidnapped by Manuel the gardener from Judge Miller's estate before working with Francois and Perrault delivering mail. Other characters in this novel include the prospector Jack Thornton, whose death at the hands of Yeehat Indians is avenged by the protagonist.

Hard Times(Hard Times-For These Times), Charles Dickens

Surveys English society and satirizes the social and economic conditions of the era. Set in Coketown, a generic Northern English mill-town. Shortest of these author's novels. The framing of a "hand" by a schoolteacher obsessed with facts serves as a major focus of this novel set in Coketown. The hand is earlier denied the right to a divorce by the man who he works for, despite his abusive wife and love for Rachel. Showing the hypocrisy of the middle classes, the boss later gets a divorce from his friend's daughter Louisa. Only novel by this author to not have scenes set in London. Was written because sales of his weekly periodical Household Words were low.

The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane

Takes place during the American Civil War. About a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle. Henry longs for a wound to counteract his cowardice. When his regiment faces the enemy, Henry acts as standard-bearer. Said to be based on the battle at Chancellorsville. This novel's protagonist searches for water for Jimmie Rogers and fights with Wilson over a flag. One man in this novel mistakes a traveling companion for Tom Jamison; another stumbles upon a dead soldier in a clearing after fleeing from a battle. That man travels with a Tattered Soldier and witnesses the death of his friend, Jim Conklin.

The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas

Takes place in France, Italy, and islands in the Mediterranean during the era of the Bourbon Restoration(following the first fall of Napoleon until the July Revolution of 1830) through the reign of Louis-Philippe of France. Begins just before the 100 days period. Centers on a man who is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from jail, acquires a fortune, and sets about exacting revenge on those responsible for his imprisonment. In this novel, the protagonist brings Benedetto, brought up by Caderousse, to Paris's social life and presents him as Prince Andrea Cavalconti. The protagonist of this novel makes friends with Franz d'Epinay and rescues Albert de Morcerf from the Italian Banditti, and saves Valentine de Villefort from her mother's schemes. The protagonist finally avenges his arrest as an alleged Bonapartist and finds Mercedes again. In this work, the main character's first alias is number 34, a reference to the main character's cell during captivity. Eventually, the main character creates several more aliases that have different meanings. The main character of this novel is the captain of a ship belonging to Pierre Morrel. The jealous Danglars and Fernand Mondego, who craves the beautiful Mercedes, cause him to be brought before Villefort, a royal prosecutor, who consigns him to the Chateau D'If to safeguard his own career. However, Edmond Dantes escapes the prison and creates an alias using a treasure revealed to him by a fellow prisoner.

Absalom! Absalom!, William Faulkner

Taking place before, during, and after the American Civil War, it is a story about three families of the American South, with a focus on the life of Thomas Sutpen. Near the end of this novel, a character's attempts to call an ambulance are thwarted when Clytie burns the manor house. One character in this novel begins an affair with the teenaged Milly shortly after his son Charles Bon is murdered in front of his manor's gates. The final sections of this novel involve the meeting of Miss Rosa Coldfield and the author's recurring character Quentin Compson, who learns the story of the central family. This novel opens when Thomas Sutpen buys land to build his plantation.

Rebecca, Daphne de Maurier

Talks about the dead wife of Maxim de Winter. It begins with the line "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." While riding in a car, the narrator of this novel dreams that her husband brushes a woman's hair into a thick snakelike rope and puts it around his neck. This novel is mainly set in a location lined by enormous blood-red rhododendrons. Near the end of this novel, its main characters visit Dr. Baker, who reveals that a woman who came to him was suffering from inoperable cancer, satisfying Colonel Julyan's investigation. Its narrator nearly commits suicide until rockets fire over a cove, announcing the discovery of a dead woman who cheated on her husband with Jack Favell. In a key scene, its narrator shocks the guests at a costume ball by wearing a dress specially ordered by Mrs. Danvers, who is devoted to the memory of the title character.

The Idiot, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Talks about the kind naive but Prince Myshkin. Characters in this novel include a consumptive boy who forgets to put a firing cap on his pistol after reading his "Essential Statement." That boy, Hippolite, dies after befriending Kolya the younger son of General Ivolkin. Other characters include Burdovsky who tries to scam the protagonist out of part of his inheritance. The protagonist of this novel has an epileptic fit after breaking an expensive vase at a party. Aglaya Yepanchin is abandoned by a Polish count in this novel, and Rogozhin offers Nastassya one hundred thousand rubles but ends up stabbing her.

My Antonia, Willa Cather

Tells the stories of Jim Burden, an orphaned boy from Virginia, and Antonia Shimerda, the elder daughter in a family of Bohemian immigrants, who are each brought as children to be pioneers in Nebraska towards the end of the 19th century. This novel's narrator lends a good horse-collar to another character and grows angry when Ambrosch returns a worn-out one. In this novel, a former worker at the Gardener Hotel makes a fortune in the Yukon, making possible a life in San Francisco for that woman, Tiny Soderball. The protagonist of this novel is moved by Marguerite and Armand's drama in the play Camille, which he sees with longtime acquaintance Lena Lingard, who urges him to visit a woman abandoned by Larry Donovan. After twenty years, this novel's narrator returns to Black Hawk to visit the eldest Shimerda daughter, who is now married to Anton Cuzak.

Native Son, Richard Wright

Tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, a black youth living in utter poverty in a poor area on Chicago's South Side in the 1930s. Bigger's lawyer, Boris Max, makes the case that there is no escape from this destiny for his client or any other black American since they are the necessary product of the society that formed them and told them since birth who exactly they were supposed to be. The protagonist of this novel helps to rob Blum's Delicatessen and writes a fake ransom note, which he signs "Red." Based on the trial of Robert Nixon, this novel is divided into three sections, "Fear," "Flight," and "Fate." It ends with Boris Max delivering a lengthy speech about institutional racism, which fails to prevent the protagonist from being sentenced to death for accidentally smothering Mary Dalton with a pillow.

The Beautiful and the Damned, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Tells the story of Anthony Patch in 1910s NY. Patch is a socialite and presumptive heir to a tycoon's fortune. The story touches on his complicated marriage to Gloria Gilbert, the couple's troubling experience with wealth and status, his brief service in the Army during WWI, and Anthony and Gloria's journey through alcoholism and partying. Once the infatuation fades, they begin to see their differences that do more harm than good.

Roots:The Saga of an American Family, Alex Haley

Tells the story of Kunta Kinte, an 18th-century African, captured as an adolescent, sold into slavery in Africa, transported to North America. The story tells his story and the lives of his descendants in the US. Disagreement exists as to whether this novel's author actually found the village setting of the beginning. Its primary character works for various positions under the Waller family until he decides to marry the cook, Bell, who bears the daughter, Kizzy, meaning "you sit down." Kizzy's story then becomes the central plot, and her lineage is then traced to the author.

Arrowsmith, Sinclair Lewis

Tells the story of Martin as he makes his way from a small town in the Midwest to the upper echelons of the scientific community. He becomes engaged to one woman, cheats on her with another woman, becomes engaged to the second woman and then finally invites both women to a lunch to settle the issue. He eventually insults his mentor, Max Gottlieb, and is suspended from medical school. He marries Leora with the intention of supporting her family by taking up private practice in Wheatsylvania, ND. Frustrated with private practice, he becomes a public health official in Iowa and likes the young daughter of the public health director. At a research institute in NY with Max Gottlieb, Martin discovered a phage that destroys bacteria, and experiences an outbreak of bubonic plague on a Caribbean island. His scientific principles demand that he shouldn't use the phage a lot on the island. However, after Leora and all the other people who came with him die of plague, he begins to treat everyone on the island with a phage. On the island, he also becomes romantically involved with a wealthy socialite whom he later marries. When he returns, he is offered the directorship of the entire institute, but he turns it down to move to the backwoods of Vermont as an entirely independent scientist. Leora, the wife of the titular character, dies from the plague on St. Hubert when she smokes a cigarette infested with germs. She had accompanied her husband Martin, the discoverer of the X Principle, on a medical research trip far from their previous homes in Wheatsylvania and Winnemac. Won the 1926 Pulitzer Prize, which the author declined.

For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway

Tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer attached to a Republican guerilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigned to blow up a bridge during an attack on the city of Segovia. On his mission, Jordan meets the rebel Anselmo, who brings him to the hidden guerilla camp and initially acts as an intermediary between Jordan and the other guerilla fighters. In the camp, Jordan encounters Maria, a young Spanish woman who was raped by Falangists whose parents were executed.

Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein

Tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human who comes to Earth in early adulthood after being born on Mars and raised by Martians, and explores his interaction with and eventual transformation of Terran culture. The title is a direct quotation from the King James Bible(taken from Exodus 2:22).

Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O'Dell

Tells the story of a 12-year-old girl named Karana stranded alone for years on an island off the California coast. Main character is Won-a-pa-lei who lives in Ghalas-at. One day, a ship of Russian fur hunters and Aleut people led by Captain Orlov persuade the natives to hunt sea otter in exchange for other goods. Karana stays on a island with her brother Ramo when the rest of a ship left the island for new land in the East. Based on the true story of Juana Maria, a Nicoleno Native American left alone for 18 years on San Nicolas Island during the 19th century. Newbey Medal in 1961.

Peter Pan(the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, Peter and Wendy), Sir James Barrie

Tells the story of a mischievous yet innocent little boy who can fly. The eponymous character invites Wendy Darling to Neverland to be a mother to the Lost Boys because she succeeds in re-attaching his shadow to him and knows a lot of bedtime stories. Origin of a Wendy House

Elmer Gantry, Sinclair Lewis

Tells the story of a young, narcissistic, womanizing college athlete who abandons his early ambition to become a lawyer. After college, he attends a Baptist seminary and is ordained as a Baptist minister. He's thrown out of the seminary before completing his BD because he was too drunk. He becomes manager for Sharon Falconer, an itinerant evangelist who dies in a fire. After her death, he acts as a "New Thought" evangelist and eventually becomes a Methodist minister. He compares himself to Lancelot and William Jennings Bryan after ordering a police unit to draw their guns on a terrified baker whose roommate is found hooking up in the next room. The criminal lawyer T. J. Rigg undermines Hettie Bowler's attempt to blackmail him, who is seen early on drunkenly brawling in defense of a fellow Terwillinger College graduate. He sets up Floyd Naylor to be discovered affectionately comforting his mistress Lulu Baines and is contrasted with the upstanding Frank Shallard, whom he repeatedly gets fired. At a converted New Jersey pier dubbed the "Waters of Jordan Tabernacle," this prolific secretary-banger tramples doomed admirers while fleeing a fire the claims the life of revivalist preacher Sharon Falconer. He is eventually rewarded with a new Wellspring Church in Zenith

A Bell for Adano, John Hersey

Tells the story of an Italian-American officer in Sicily during WWII who wins the respect and admiration of the people of the town by helping them find a replacement for the town bell that the Facists had melted down for rifle barrels. Won the Pulitzer Prize in 1945.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Thornton Wilder

Tells the story of several interrelated people who die in the collapse of an Inca rope bridge in Peru, and the events that lead up to their being on the bridge. A friar who witnesses the accident then goes about inquiring into the lives of the victims, seeking some sort of cosmic answer to the question of why each had to die. Won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928.

The Garden Party, Mansfield

The Sheridan family prepares to host a garden party. Laura is charged with instructing the workers on the placement of the marquee. Laura's mother, Mrs Sheridan, has ordered masses of lilies, to both their delight. Laura's sisters Meg and Jose, and their servant Hans, move furniture around to accommodate the piano. Jose tests the piano, and then sings a song in case she is asked to do so again later. After surveying the food in the kitchen, Laura and Jose learn that their working-class neighbour Mr Scott has died. While Laura believes the party should be called off, neither Jose nor their mother agrees. After catching herself in the mirror wearing a new hat, Laura eases her conscience by deciding to forget the matter until the party is over. When the evening comes, and the family is sitting underneath the marquee, Mrs Sheridan tells Laura to bring a basket full of leftovers to the Scotts' house. Laura is led into the poor neighbours' house by Mrs Scott's sister, sees the pitiable figure of the widow, and is led to the late husband's corpse. Here, Laura is intrigued by the sublimity of the corpse's face, and she finds his face in death just as beautiful as life as she knows it. Having fled the house, Laura meets her brother Laurie at the corner of the lane. She finds herself unable to explain life and death concisely, and Laurie understands that his sister has come to realize her own mortality.

Tortilla Flat, John Steinbeck

The author's first clear critical and commercial success. Portrays a group of paisanos, countrymen, a small band of errant friends enjoying life and wine in the days after WWI. Set in a shabby district above the town of Monterey on the California coast. Danny inherits 2 houses from his grandfather where he and his friends go to live. The novel outlines the adventures the dipsomaniacal group endure in order to procure red wine and friendship.

Of Human Bondage, Somerset Maugham

The main character of this novel is only allowed to take one photograph left for him by his mother and is forced to return the rest to Miss Watkins. While studying art in Paris, this novel's protagonist meets Clutton, who is critical of his works as well as those of Fanny Price, who falls in love with the protagonist only to commit suicide after he spurns her. Fed up with the mediocrity of his painting skills, he returns to London to study medicine, where he becomes captivated with a café waitress whom he initially derides as unattractive. After she dumps him, he moves in with a motherly writer of penny fiction named Norah Nesbitt, though he later returns to bail out Mildred Rogers when he realizes she has turned to prostitution. Centered on the club-footed Philip Carey.

The Sleepwalkers, Hermann Broch

The namesake of this novel's second section symbolically sometimes touches and fantasizes over a small reproduction of the Statue of Liberty. Medics wager two packs of cigarettes on whether a physically and psychically dismembered infantryman will live; Godicke's parts miraculously do knit together, and he survives. 26 chapters in this novel's third section provide the interplay between a "ballad" narrated by Bertrand Muller about the ill-fated love affair between a Salvation Army girl and a Jewish man and an essay by Muller examining the effects on people living between vanishing and emerging ethical systems titled "The Disintegration of Values." Section titles include 1888, 1903, and 1918, as well as for Romanticism, Anarchy, and Realism.

New Atlantis, Francis Bacon

The narrator is invited to a family feast to honor men with over thirty descendents, the worthiest of his descendents being called "Son of the Vine." Saint Bartholomew sends an ark with copies of the Old and New Testaments following the appearance of a cross at sea, which the inhabitants of Renfusa could not approach. The narrator is also shown Salomon's House, a society of scientists who are sometimes sent out to learn about the outside world. The inhabitants say that the first place with their country's name was America, and it was later destroyed in a flood.

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calveras County(Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog, The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calveras County), Mark Twain

The narrator is sent by a friend to interview an old man, Simon Wheeler, who might know the location of an old acquitance named Leonidas W. Smiley. The narrator asks Simon if he knows anything about Leonidas, but he doesn't and tells a story about Jim Smiley. Jim loves to gamble everything. He catches a frog, Dan'l Webster, and spends 3 months training it to jump. When a stranger visits the camp, Jim bets $40 that Dan'l can out-jump any other frog. Because the stranger doesn't have a frog, Jim goes to find another frog, giving the stranger enough time to pour lead shot down Dan'l's throat. When Jim returns, he loses the bet and notices that Dan'l is heavier than usual. Jim never got to catch the stranger. The narrator finds out that Jim has no connection to Leonidas and leaves when Simon wants to tell him about another story. This work ends after the narrator cuts off a man who starts talking about a "yeller one-eyed cow that didn't have no tail". The protagonist of this story is described as the type of person who "would bet you how long it would take" a straddle-bug "to get wherever he was going". One character in this story judged Parson Walker to be "the best exhorter" and owned a dog known for its vise-grip tactics named Andrew Jackson. The narrator of this work seeks information on a man named Leonidas at Angel's Camp, where Simon Wheeler tells him a story in which quail shot is used to frustrate the efforts of a creature owned by Jim Smiley.

The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand

The novel's protagonist, Howard Roark, is an individualistic young architect who designs modernist buildings and refuses to compromise with an architectural establishment unwilling to accept innovation.

Lolita, Vladmir Nabokov

The protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert, is obsessed with a 12-year-old girl, Dolores Haze, with whom he becomes sexually involved after he becomes her stepfather. The title of the novel is Humbert's nickname for Dolores. The protagonist of this novel moves to Ramsdale only to find his house burn down. He finds love in the alcoholic Rita, though he is still troubled by the memory of his former love Annabel Leigh, who died of typhus. Other characters in this novel include a deaf veteran, the nephew of a dentist, and a girl who acts in The Hunted Enchanters. That girl ultimately elopes with Clare Quilty, leading the protagonist on a fruitless chase, looking them up in motel- registries but finding only aliases with insults, jokes, and literary allusions.

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, Judy Blume

The protagonist is raised without an affiliation to an organized religion because her mother is Christian and her father is Jewish. For a school assignment, she explores other people's religious beliefs. The protagonist creates a secret club with Nancy, Gretchen, and Janie where they talk about touchy subjects, leading to envy, gossip, and Two Minutes in the Closet games. She finally has an appreciation for God when she gets her menarche.

The World According to Garp, John Irving

The protagonist's mother, Jenny Fields, is a strong-willed nurse who wants a child but not a husband. She encounters Technical Sergant Garp who was severely brain damaged in combat. Jenny has sex with Garp, impregnates himself and names the son TS. Garp marries Helen, the wrestling coach's daughter, and begins his family. Jenny publishes her autobiography, A Sexual Suspect, that makes his mother a famous feminist icon. She supports the Ellen Jamesians, a group of women who cut of their own tongues in solidarity with an 11 year old girl whose tongue was cut off by her rapists to silence her.

Moby Dick(The Whale), Herman Melville

The sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship Pequod, for revenge. One room described in this novel is where pike-men and spade-men lose toes to sharp cutting instruments. In this work's epilogue, the Rachel rescues a character clinging to a coffin. A chapel in this novel contains plaques honoring maritime deaths, and is where Father Mapple preaches about Jonah's ordeal with an aquatic animal. Other characters in this work are the first mate Starbuck and the harpooner Queequeg.

Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel

The skin of this novel's protagonist burns when water suddenly heats up in a shower, after which she sees a man lustfully gazing at her from outside. A character in this novel confuses the sound of his wife's indigestion with the sound of cannons; when his wife dies, the smell at her funeral is so nauseating that few guests attend. A mother in this novel is unable to produce milk due to shock at her husband's death, so she has a servant raise her daughter. This novel begins by stating that, to avoid tears from onions, one should place an onion on one's head. The protagonist of this novel, who is courted by Doctor Brown, makes people sick at a wedding by crying into the batter for the cake that she bakes with her caregiver Nacha. A recipe begins each of the twelve sections of this novel, which centers on Tita de la Garza

The Natural, Bernard Malmud

The story follows Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career is sidetracked when he is shot by a woman whose motivation remains mysterious. Most of the story concerns itself with his attempts to return to baseball later in life, when he plays for the fictional New York Knights with his legendary bat "Wonderboy". Based upon the bizarre shooting incident and subsequent comeback of Philadelphia Phillies player Eddie Waitkus.

The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James

The story of a spirited young American woman, Isabel Archer, who, "confronting her destiny", finds it overwhelming. She inherits a large amount of money and subsequently becomes the victim of Machiavellian scheming by two American expatriates. Set in Europe, mostly England and Italy.

The Last of the Mohicans, James Fenimore Cooper,

The story takes place in 1757, during the French and Indian War (the Seven Years' War), when France and Great Britain battled for control of the North American colonies. During this war, the French called on allied Native American tribes to fight with the more numerous British colonists.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Shakespeare

The title character leaves his home in order to forestall dreadful events threatened by the Greek Emperor Antiochus. He saves the city of Tarsus and then moves on to Pentapolis, where he marries the king's beautiful daughter Thaisa. It then becomes possible for him to return home, but on the way Thaisa dies in childbirth. The child is then raised by the king of Tarsus. In this Shakespearean play, Marina is kidnapped by pirates before finally being reunited with her father.

The Aspern Papers, Henry James

The writing of this novel, as well as the history that inspired it, were fictionalized in Emma Tennant's novel Felony. The previous failures of John Cumnor inspire the protagonist of this story, who is assisted by Mrs. Prest. The assertion ";We are divided of course between liking to feel the past strange and liking to feel it familiar"; appears in the preface to this novella, which opens Volume 12 of the New York Editions and describes how it was inspired by Augustus Silsbee and Claire Clairmont. At this story's end, the narrator sends payment for a miniature portrait to Miss Tita, who earlier horrified him with the revelation that she burned the title objects. This novella's narrator is dubbed a ";publishing scoundrel"; after he sneaks into Juliana Bordereau's room to search her desk for the title objects.

The Rubaiyat(Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam), Omar Khayyam

This author is known as the "Astronomer-Poet of Persia". A translation of Persian quatrains to English by Edward FitzGerald. This work urges the reader, "Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life," and it provided the title for a play about Richard Miller's life in New London by Eugene O'Neill. This work features the question, "Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?" One part of this work describes a character "whistling in the darkness," while another commands, "Awake!" Five translations of it were completed by (*) Edward FitzGerald. A passage from this work reads, "The Moving Finger writes: and, having writ, / Moves on," while another describes "A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread -- and Thou."

The Prince and the Pauper, Mark Twain

This author's first attempt at historical fiction. Set in 1547, it tells the story of 2 young boys who were born on the same day and are identical in appearance: Tom Canty, an impoverished person who lives with his abusive alcoholic father in Offal Court off Pudding Lane in London, and Edward VI of England, son of Henry VIII.

The Secret Agent, Joseph Conrad

This novel ends with a character repeatedly contemplating whether the action of a woman drowning herself in the English Channel, leaving behind only her wedding ring, is an "act of madness or despair." In another scene of this novel, a man with a hook for a hand who drives a hansom cab incites fear in its protagonist. Its title character produces pamphlets titled "The Future of the Proletariat," and has frequent anarchist meetings with Ossipon and The Professor. That main character is stabbed to death by his wife Winnie after he accidentally kills her brother, the mentally challenged Stevie. Chief Inspector Heat investigates Adolf Verloc for blowing up Greenwich Observatory.

The French Lieutenant's Woman, John Fowles

This novel features two alternate endings, one featuring a lasting union between the central couple, the other concerning their separation. Despite his engagement to Ernestina Freeman, the young Victorian paleontologist Charles Smithson becomes infatuated with a solitary female figure he sees standing on the beach staring out to sea. Despite rumors of her affair with a French sailor, Smithson soon falls in love with the enigmatic, ostracized governess Sarah Woodruff.

Orlando, Virginia Woolf

This novel was adapted into a play by Sarah Ruhl. It begins with the protagonist pretending to decapitate Moors because he is too young to go to war. After losing his lover, the protagonist of this novel holes himself up in a house with 365 rooms and 52 staircases and devotes himself to writing, accompanied by the poet Nicholas Greene. A much-lauded scene from this novel takes place during a fair on the frozen Thames, where the protagonist falls in love with Sasha. Its title character marries the sea captain Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine, and publishes the long poem The Oak Tree. Its title character, born during Elizabethan times, wakes up from a coma to find he has turned into a woman.

Cry the Beloved Country, Paton

This novel's repeated use of the phrases "as was the custom" and "not a thing to be done lightly" hints at its underlying gravity. The protagonist originally goes to the city to find his sister Gertrude, but eventually comes to understand that the crusader Arthur Jarvis has been murdered by Absalom, and, after returning to his home of Ndotsheni, Stephen Kumalo weeps for his son and for South Africa, finally enunciating the title statement. This novel's protagonist meets Father Vincent while staying at Mrs. Lithebe's Mission, and that protagonist's siblings include a carpenter-turned-politician and a younger sister who turned to prostitution. In addition to John and Gertrude, Theophilus Msimangu helps this novel's protagonist. A description of the road from Ixopo to Ndotsheni at the beginning of this novel illustrates differences between the protagonist and his neighbor, James Jarvis, whose son Arthur was shot by Absalom. In Book III of this novel, Jarvis' father brings milk to the village, and after Margaret's death, the women of Ndotsheni make a wreath of condolence on the same day as the confirmation ceremony at the church. Soon after, plans for a new church are designed and a kraal is built to hold the village's cattle.

Eugene Onegin, Alexander Pushkin

This work briefly switches from iambic meter for a ditty sung by berry pickers called "The Song of the Girls." Walter Arndt's betrayal of exact meaning in translating this work was attacked by one author, whose subsequent translation caused his feud with Edmund Wilson and was published with the essay Notes on Prosody. One character befriends the housekeeper Anisia, who allows her to visit the title character's study and read his books. This work ends with one character marrying a distinguished fat general. At a name day celebration, the title character dances with Olga, the fiancé of his best friend Vladimir Lensky, antagonizing him into a duel. The title character falls in love with Tatyana.

A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry

Title comes from "Harlem" by Langston Hughes. Tells of a black family's experiences in south Chicago, as they attempt to improve their financial circumstances with an insurance payout following the death of the father. In this work, a Nigerian considers straightening hair to be "mutilation." Mrs. Johnson pays an unwelcome visit to Mama and describes a bombing in this play. George Murchison courts Beneatha in this work, who prefers Asagai. In this play, Mr. Lindner tries to dissuade a family from moving. Willy Harris runs off with money invested in a liquor store in this work. This play ends with Walter Lee's family moving into a white neighborhood. This play's setting is described as "comfortable and well-ordered if it were not for a number of indestructible contradictions to this state of being." A character in this play says that his sister is the first person to "successfully brainwash" herself and calls her the chair of the Committee on Unending Agitation. A character in this play tells another character to call in sick with the flu because it's a "respectable" disease that "white people get." A man in this play stands on a table while giving a speech with the line "Flaming spear! Hot damn!" that is interrupted by his sister yelling "Ocomogosiay."

The Little Foxes, Lillian Hellman

Title comes from Chapter 2, Verse 15 of the Song of Solomon in the King James Bible. Focuses on Regina Hubbard Giddens, who struggles for wealth and freedom within the confines of an early 20th century society where fathers considered only sons as their legal heirs. Her brother Oscar marries Birdie solely to acquire her family's plantation and cotton fields. Oscar then wants to join forces with his brother Benjamin to construct a cotton mill, but he needs 75000. Horace refuses when Regina asks him outright for the money, so Leo, a bank teller, is pressured into stealing Horace's railroad bonds from the bank's safe deposit box. Horace tells Regina he is going to change his will in favor of their daughter and also will claim he gave Leo the bonds as a loan, cutting Regina out of the deal. He has a heart attack during this chat, but Regina makes no effort to help him. Regina uses this as leverage to blackmail her brothers by threatening to report Leo's theft unless they give her 75% ownership in the cotton mill. She ultimately pays for her evil deeds with the loss of her daughter Alexandra's love and respect.

The Winter of Our Discontent, John Steinbeck

Title comes from Richard III. Mainly focuses on Ethan Allen Hawley, a former member of Long Island's aristocratic class that now works as a grocery store clerk because his late father lost the family fortune. Ethan desires to overcome his integrity because of his wife Mary and their children resent their mediocre social status. His acquaintances persuade him to be more ruthless, leading him to make an anonymous tip to the Immigration and Naturalization Service to get the store to himself. Ethan becomes able to control the covert dealings of the corrupt town businessmen and politicians. Ethan learns that his son won honorable mention in a nationwide essay contest by plagiarizing classic American authors and orators, but when Ethan confronts him, the son denies having any guilty feelings, leading to Ethan committing suicide.

As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner

Title is derived from Book XI of the Odyssey. The story of the death of Addie Bundren and her poor, rural family's quest and motivations to honor her wish to be buried in her hometown, Jefferson, Mississippi. Along the way there, Anse, Addie's husband, rejects any offer of assistance and loans from other people. Jewel, Addie's middle child, tries to leave his dysfunctional family after Anse sells Jewel's horse. Cash, her firstborn child that built her coffin, breaks a leg and winds up making a cast of concrete on his leg. After Addie is buried, Anse forces Dewey Dell to give up her money given to her by Lafe, the man who got her pregnant, for an abortion.

Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

Titular Russian chick loves Count Vronsky, but he doesn't requite her love the way she desires, so she jumps in front of a train to end her emotional anguish. This love scandalizes the social cirlces of Saint Petersburg and forces the young lovers to flee to Italy in a search for happiness. The Levins also figure prominently in the novel.In this novel, Princess Shcherbatskaya has trouble deciding which of two men would be the better suitor, and another scene shows Makhotin's horse, Gladiator, defeating Frou-Frou in a race. Dolly is devastated by the infidelity of Stiva in this work, which begins with the line, "Happy families are all alike." Konstantin Levin confesses his love for Kitty in this novel.

Kim, Rudyard Kipling

Unfolds against the backdrop of The Great Game, the political conflict between Russia and Britain in Central Asia. Set after the 2nd Afghan War but before the 3rd. The protagonist is the orphaned son of an Irish soldier and a poor Irish mother. He works for Mahbub Ali, a Pashtun horse trader who is one of the native operatives of the British secret service. He befriends an aged Tibetan lama who is on a quest to free himself from Samsara by finding the "River of the Arrow". By accompanying the lama on his journey, the protagonist learns about parts of the Great Game and is recruited by Mahbub Ali to carry a message to the head of British intelligence in Umballa. He is separated from the lama bc a regimenal chaplain identified him by his Masonic certificate. The son was forced to go to school in Lucknow, where he was trained to be a surveyor by Lurgan Sahib. Here, the Jewel Game has its origins.

Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut, JD Salinger

Unfolds at the upscale Wengler home. Eloise Wengler is a middle-aged and jaded suburbanite housewife in an unhappy marriage with Lew Wengler. Mary Jane is her former college roommate who works part-time as a secretary. Ramona is Eloise's little daughter and is accompanied everywhere by her imaginary friend, Jimmy Jimmereeno. He is first described as having green eyes and black hair and no freckles. He refuses to talk to a character who asks if he has taken off his galoshes yet. Grace is the Wengler's African American maid. Mary Jane visits Eloise to talk about their college when Ramona returns. Ramona tells Mary Jane about Jimmy. Eloise and Mary Jane later discuss the actor Akim Tamiroff. Eloise then talks about Walt Glass, a young soldier who she fell in love with. She then goes on a tirade about hating marrying Lew. She relates an event where she and Walt were catching a bus when she sprained her ankle and Walt referred to her ankle as the title of the short story. Grace asks Eloise if her spouse can stay the night, but Eloise declines after being annoyed with Lew. Eloise goes to Ramona's bedroom and reminds her that Jimmy has been killed, but Ramona tries to avoid the confrontation by calling her friend "Mickey Mickeranno". Near the end of the work, he is supposedly run over by a truck.

National Velvet, Enid Bagnold

Velvet Brown trains and rides her horse, The Piebald, to victory in the Grand National steeplechase. Her best friend is Mi Taylor, who gives her the aspiration to win the steeplechase. Mi uses a fake clearance document for Velvet as James Tasky, which is proven to be fake when she is sent to the hospital as she slides off the saddle due to exhaustion.

Piers Plowman, William Langland

Will, the narrator, falls asleep in the Malvern Hills, has a vision of a field full of folk, and dreams that he has set off in a quest for the title character, who is either Christ, the Church, England, or just an ordinary farmer.

The Scarlet Pimpernel, Baroness Orczy

Written after the author's stage play. Set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution. The title is the nom de guerre(pseudonym) of its hero and protagonist, a chivalrous Englishman who rescues aristocrats before they are sent to the guillotine. Sir Percy Blakeney leads a double life: apparently nothing more than a fop(a man very concerned about his appearance), but in reality a formidable swordsman and an escape artist. He is known by his symbol, a simple flower. His wife doesn't share his secret when the new French envoy to England, Chauvelin, approaches her with a threat of her brother's life if she doesn't help him search for this swordsman. A key scene in this work takes place at a bar called "Fishermen's Rest" and recalls another character's unsuccessful wooing of Angele. Its numerous sequels include I Will Repay and The Laughing Cavalier, and describe a namesake "league" created by Philip Glynde and Richard Galveston. It closes on the ship Day Dream, while minor characters include Tony Dewhurst and Andrew Foulkes. De Comte is able to come along for the ride after Chauvelin is thwarted and Armand St. Just is rescued, and Marguerite discovers that her husband, Percy Blakeney, is secretly rescuing victims of the French Revolution

The Time Machine, H.G. Wells

Written as a frame narrative(a literary technique that serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, where an introductory or main narrative sets the stage either for a more emphasized second narrative or for a set of shorter stories). Generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively forward or backward through time. A section deleted from this novel titled "The Grey Man" was originally added at the request of William Ernest Henley. This book ends with the narrator missing his meeting with the publisher Richardson in order to wait half an hour for a character who never reappears. It opens at a gathering attended by Filby, the Doctor, and the Amateur Cadger, at which a man describes a visit to a beach with blood-red sands and a population of menacing red crabs. This novella's protagonist accidentally sets a forest on fire, killing his diminutive companion Weena, though he is able to escape from the cave-dwelling Morlocks, who terrorize the peaceful Eloi. Originally published in 1895, this novella was serialized in the New Review from 1894 to 1895 and used the same concept as the author's earlier "The Chronic Argonauts." Near the end of the work, the protagonist is almost attacked by crab-like creatures from a red sea under the glow of the sun. Eventually he reaches a world where the only surviving organisms are lichens. Earlier, he found a Utopian society named the Eloi, only to discover another group, the Morlocks, that the Eloi kept alive as food.

The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer

Written when the author became Controller of Customs and Justice of Peace and, in 1389, Clerk of the King's work. Mostly written in verse. Presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together from London to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at a cathedral. The prize is a free meal at the Tabard Inn at Southwark on their return. One character in this work has a sore on his leg, and another tells a story about the rooster Chanticleer. One episode in this work concerns three young men who murder each other for sacks of gold while attempting to kill Death, while another story concerns a knight who must marry a hag who tells him what women want in marriage. Includes tales told by the Nun's Priest, the Pardoner, and the Wife of Bath. One character in this work switches the location of a baby cradle, causing the baby's mother to sleep in the wrong bed. Later on in this work, the devil drags a man's body and soul, as well as a frying pan, to hell. Three men in this work kill each other over a bunch of gold coins found at the foot of an oak tree, and a comedic scene sees Absalom poke Nicholas's buttocks with a hot coulter. This work sees a man kiss an old hag, who then transforms into a beautiful woman. The central group in this work is on a journey to visit Thomas Becket's shrine. The prologue to this work notes that it begins after the month of March has "bathed every vein in...liquor." In one part of this work, a demon takes a frying pan to hell after the old lady who owned it damns a lying summoner. The innkeeper Harry Bailey frequently interrupts the main characters, and another part of this work sees the carpenter John sleep in one of three tubs hoisted above the ground while Nicholas has an affair with Alison. What women desire is the subject of the Wife of Bath's narrative in this work.

Lord of the Flies, William Golding

A British airplane crashes near an isolated island in a remote region of the Pacific Ocean. The only survivors are preadolescent boys. The fair-haired Ralph and an overweight, bespectacled boy "Piggy" find a conch in order to convene all of the survivors. Ralph is elected the "chief", but doesn't get the votes from the members of the boys' choir, led by Jack Merridew. Piggy becomes the butt of the jokes made by the "biguns"(older boys) while a quiet, dreamy Simon feels a need to protect the "littluns"(younger boys). The boys develop a fear of a beast that they believe is on the island, which Jack uses to gain control over the boys. The title of the novel comes from an imaginary dialogue between Simon and a pig head Jack set up in deference to Ralph. One character with an odd birthmark goes missing after a forest fire in this novel, and a boy in this novel constantly repeats his name and address. Another character has blood smeared on his face and kicks sand in a small child's eyes. Although that character, Maurice, later feels bad, his friend Roger shows no regrets. Many characters in this novel venture to "The Scar" to build a fire with one character's glasses. A dreamy character in this novel named Simon is killed when other boys mistake him for "the Beast."

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court(A Yankee in King Arthur's Court, A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur), Mark Twain

A Yankee engineer from Connecticut named Hank Morgan receives a severe blow to the head and is transported in time and space to England during the reign of King Arthur. After initial confusion and his capture by one of Arthur's knights, Hank realizes that he is actually in the past, and he uses his knowledge to make people that he is a powerful magician. He attempts to modernize the past, but he is unable to prevent Arthur's death and an interdict against him by the Catholic Church. One character in this book sets off four differently colored fires and repeats four nonsense words before repairing a leak in a well. A baby in this book is named "Hello-Central" by the protagonist's wife Sandy, and this book's protagonist uses a lightning rod to blow up a rival's tower. The protagonist of this book becomes known as "the Boss" and early in the book escapes execution by predicting a solar eclipse. After receiving a crowbar blow to the head in this book, Hank Morgan wakes up in 6th century England.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy

A inn in this novel only has an external liquor licence, so people have to drink on a ledge outside looking in the window. In a comic scene in this novel, a girl called the "Queen of Spades" spills treacle down her back and rolls around in the grass before attempting to fistfight the main character. After escaping that fight with Car Darch, the protagonist of this novel is taken to a grove in The Chase where she is raped in her sleep, later giving birth to a son named Sorrow as a result. Its protagonist joins Marian and Izz at Flintcomb-Ash after her husband flees to Brazil upon finding out that she is not a virgin. In the last of the seven "phases" of this novel, Alec is stabbed to death by the protagonist, who is arrested at Stonehenge after ensuring that her sister Liza-Lu is looked after by Angel Clare.

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Lawrence Sterne

A minor character in this work, Eugenius, sees a more important character die, and that dying character's last words quote Sancho Panza, stating that should he recover, "Mitres be suffered to rain down from heaven thick as hail". In another episode of this novel, Le Fever falls ill during his a trip to Flanders, and is visited by the future suitor of Mrs. Bridget, Corporal Trim. This romance nearly parallels that of the Widow Wadman and the title character's uncle, but for a wound the latter suffers in the Battle of Namur, and the title character constantly refers to him as "My Uncle Toby".

Tis Pity She's a Wh*re, Jack Ford

A prominent incestual plot. Among those whose hopes are dashed in this play is Philotis, who is advised to retire to a convent by Richardetto. Philotis had hoped to wed Bergetto, the nephew of Donado, but her plan ends with his murder, which is part of a larger conspiracy that also sees the death of Hippolyta. Hippolyta was the mistress of Soranzo, who holds the banquet that is the setting for the final scene, which also sees Vasques murder Giovanni. This occurs shortly after Giovanni arrives with the heart of Annabella, his sister and recent victim, on his dagger.

Grendel, John Gardner

A retelling of part of Beowulf from the perspective of the antagonist, Grendel. Grendel is portrayed as an antihero.

The Devil's Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce

A satirical dictionary written by an American Civil War soldier, journalist, and writer.

Gargantua and Pantagruel, Francois Rabelais

A satrical commentary about 2 giants. In the first book of this work, Ponocrates provides Anticyrian hellebore, which is used to wipe memories. Other characters include the blind philosopher Diogenes who repeatedly carries a barrel up a hill and tosses it down. One protagonist named for his thirst receives his education from the Sophist Tubal Holoferenes. Works of fiction mentioned in this work include Abbots' Donkey-Size Pricks, How to Keep It Up Till You're Ninety, and Close-Shaven Clerks by Ockham. The protagonists also visit the Abbey of Theleme, where monks observe the rule: "Do what thou wilt." In another episode, Bacbuc the priestess brings one character to the Oracle of the Holy Bottle. That character is Panurge, while another protagonist is born from his mother's ear.

Tanglewood Tales, Nathaniel Hawthorne

A sequel to A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys. A Re-writing of well-known Greek myths in a volume for children. Includes "Theseus and the Minotaur", "Antaeus and the Pygmies", "Dragon's Teeth", "Circe's Palace", "Proserpina, Ceres, Pluto, and the Pomegranate Seed", and "Jason and the Golden Fleece".

Sister Carrie, Theodore Dreiser

A young country girl who moves to the big city where she starts realizing her own American Dream, first as a mistress to men as she perceives as superior, and later becoming a famous actress.

Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray

About Amelia Sedley and Becky Sharp. In this work, a letter from "S. HIGGS" informs one character of his disowning and the resulting small annuity he is granted in place of an inheritance. Sambo and Blenkinsop are the servant and housekeeper, respectively, of a central household in this work, and Captain Macmurdo discusses the possibility of an affair with his friend, who determines that the suspect is Lord Steyne. Jos is seduced and mysteriously dies soon after having assigned a life insurance payment to his seducer, and Sir Pitt proposes to his governess but finds out she is already married to his son in this novel. One character's husband dies at Waterloo after expressing his desire to start an affair, and this novel ends with William Dobbin marrying the widow of George Osborne.

The Day of the Locust, Nathanael West

About Todd Hackett. One character in this novel orders her son to sing the suggestive song "Mama doan wan' no peas" to demonstrate his talent. The protagonist imagines a "super Dr. Know-All Pierce-All" leading a mob, and watches the pornographic film Le Predicament de Marie at Audrey Jenning's whorehouse. Near the end of this novel, Miguel's bird Jujutla defeats a broken-beaked bird of Honest Abe Kusich in a cockfight. Its protagonist watches a set collapse during a filming of the Battle of Waterloo, and tries to sleep with Faye Greener, although she moves in with Homes Simpson.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers

About a deaf man named John Singer and the people he encounters in a 1930s mill town in Georgia. Begins with a focus on the relationship between John Singer and Spiros Antonapoulos. Antonapoulos becomes mentally ill, misbehaves, and is eventually put into an insane asylum away from town. The rest of the novel focuses on 4 of John Singer's acquaintances: Mick Kelly, a tomboy who loves music and wants to buy a piano, Jake Blount, an alcoholic labor agitator, Biff Brannon, the observant owner of a diner, and Dr. Benedict Mady Copeland, an idealistic black physician.

Disgrace, Coetzee

About a fallen professor, David Laurie. At the beginning of this novel, the protagonist sees a prostitute named Soraya every Thursday, but the arrangement ends after he sees Soraya with her children. A character in this novel is hit in the face by spitballs while watching a play in which the stage goes dark after a hairdresser hits the electric cord with her broom. In this novel, a man wears a bandage on his ear after it is set on fire during a home invasion. A character in this novel decides to make Teresa Guiccioli,a middle-aged widow in his opera Byron in Italy. This novel's protagonist takes euthanized dogs to an incinerator while volunteering for an animal welfare clinic run by Bev Shaw. Its protagonist moves onto a farm with his daughter Lucy after he resigns from his job as a Communications Professor at a university in Cape Town. The protagonist of this novel has "solved the problem of sex rather well," and imagines that he would teach Emma Bovary the joys of moderation. Three black men light the protagonist of this novel on fire before raping his daughter to destroy her will; that act was ordered by Petrus, who is trying to take over the farm belonging to the protagonist's daughter, Lucy. The protagonist takes a job at the animal shelter of Bev Shaw after losing his former job when he seduces a student named Melanie Isaacs.

In Praise of Folly, Erasmus

About a girl named Folly who praises herself and her friends - Self-love, Flattery, Oblivion, and Pleasure - endlessly and finds biblical support in her favor. Attacks superstitions and other traditions in European society as well as the Catholic Church; played an important role in the beginning of the Protestant reformation. One section of this work describes the "lights of the world" reduced to a wallet. Another section sardonically advises conscripting Scotists, Occamists, and Albertists to use their "subtleties" to fight the Turks. This work contains sections on the happiness of self-love and the importance of flattering oneself, and ends by describing Christianity's alliance with the title character. The title character describes being raised by Drunkenness and Ignorance after being born to Plutus and Youth, and claims that she "frees" people from inhibition, fear, and shame that would prevent "real experience." Also titled Moirae Encomium.

The Outcasts of Poker Flat, Bret Harte

Accompanied by an accordion played by Piney Woods, a group of people in this short story sing a song with the refrain, "I'm proud to live in the service of the Lord, and I'm bound to die in his Army." The grave of one of the title characters is discovered in the end, with the epitaph reading that he struck some bad luck on the 23rd of November, 1850, and handed in his checks on December 7th. Beginning with the titular town's loss of "several thousand dollars, two valuable horses, and a prominent citizen,". About the Duchess, Uncle Billy, Tom Simson, and John Oakhurst.

Journal of the Plague Year, Daniel Defoe

An account of one man's experiences of 1665, in which the bubonic plague struck the city of London in the Great Plague of London. Published under HF. Achieves an effect of verisimilitude, identifying specific neighborhoods, streets, and even houses. Provides tables of casualty figures and discusses the credibility of various accounts and anecdotes received by the narrator.

The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury

An alien woman has dreams of a rocket coming down from the sky containing a creature named Nathaniel York. On Earth, many civilians go on a rocket and arrive at an ideal small American town. Captain Wilder allows his men to drink, which angers the archaeologist Jeff Spender, leading to Wilder killing him. The planet turns into a haven, leading to groups such as African Americans, retirees, and anxious Americans to try and colonize it.

Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson

An old sailor named Billy Bones comes to lodge in the rural Admiral Benbow Inn on the Bristol Channel, England. A blind beggar named Pew visits to give Bones "the black spot" as a summons to share a map leading to buried treasure. Bones suffered a stroke and dies, leading to Jim Hawkins and his mother taking money and a mysterious packet from Bones' sea chest. In the packet, they find a map of an island on which Captain Flint hid his treasure. Jim then goes on an expedition as a cabin boy with Dr. Livesey and the district squire John Trelawney on Trelawney's schooner, the Hispaniola under Captain Smollett. Most of the crew served under Captain Flint, most notable was the ship's one-legged chef "Long John" Silver. A group of mutineers attacked Smollett's men when they took refuge in an abandoned stockade, allowing Jim to make his way to the Hispaniola. He encounters Israel Hands, who helps Jim beach the schooner in the northern bay, but attempts to kill to kill Jim. Silver and the pirates take Jim as a hostage to find the treasure, however, Ben Gunn already found the treasure. Had a major influence on popular perceptions of pirates, including treasure maps marked with an X, schooners, the Black Spot, tropical islands, and 1 legged seamen bearing parrots on their shoulders.

Daisy Miller, Henry James

Anne and Frederick Winterbourne meet in Vevey, Switzerland in a garden of the grand hotel where Winterbourne is allegedly vacationing from his studies. Her brother Randolph considers their hometown Schenectady to be absolutely superior to all of Europe, but Anne is the opposite. Winterbourne continues his pursuit of Saisy in spite of the disapproval of his aunt Mrs. Costello, who thinks Anne is a shameless girl for agreeing to visit the Chateau de Chillon after they have known each other for 1/2 hour. Anne becomes intimate with Giovanelli and eventually catches Roman Fever in the center of the Colosseum. A character in this novel asks to be brought a copy of Cherbuliez's Paule Méré, whose plot mirrors that of this work. Another character in this novel talks about a doctor in Schenectady, Mr. Davis, who sought to cure her dyspepsia. Mrs. Costello, the aunt of this novel's protagonist, is shocked that her nephew accompanies the title character from Vevey to the Chateau de Chillon.

To the lighthouse, Virginia Woolf

At one point in this novel a woman is comforted by hearing her husband recite "The Charge of the Light Brigade." At another stage of the work, the slicing of a fish's flesh to provide bait creates a metaphor for the cruelness of the world. Mrs. McNab appears to restore an abandoned house and young James loves cutting pictures out of the Army-Navy catalogue. Minta Doyle marries Paul Rayley, and Prue dies from complications related to childbirth. William Bankes is a botanist on the Isle of Skye who never does marry Lily Briscoe. About the Ramsey family.

The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett

At the turn of the 20th century, Mary Lennox is a neglected unloved 10 year old girl born in India to wealthy British parents who never wanted her and made an effort to ignore her. After a cholera epidemic that killed Mary's parents, British soldiers find her and place her in the care of an English clergyman and then under Archibald Craven at his mansion on the Yorkshire Moors. Mary only likes Martha Sowerby, who tells Mary about her aunt, who would spend hours in a private walled garden. ocated at Misselthwaite, it proves to be therapeutic to both Mary and Colin. With the help of Dickon and Susan Sowerby, they defy Mrs. Medlock and, with the help of Ben Weatherstaff and a robin, find the key which Colin's father Archibald Craven buried.

The Outsiders, SE Hinton

Author was 18 when the book was published. Details the conflict between 2 rival gangs divided by their socioeconomic status:the working class "greasers" and the upper class "Socs". The story is told in first person by the teenage protagonist Ponyboy Curtis. Story takes place in Tulsa in 1965.

On the Road, Jack Kerouac

Based on the travels of the author and his friends across the US. Considered a defining work of the postwar Beat and Counterculture generations. Roman a clef, fictional story based on real events. Features many key figures of the Beat movement such as William S. Burroughs(Old Bull Lee), Allen Ginsberg(Carlo Marx), Neal Cassady(Dean Moriarty), and the author (Sal Paradise). The narrator of this novel briefly lives in a tent with Terri but leaves due to the disapproval of her relatives. Galeta is abandoned when she runs out of money but reappears with Old Bull Lee, and another character and the narrator buy marijuana in Gregoria and continue adventuring until the narrator gets dysentery. That character marries Marylou, Camille, and Inez at various points. The narrator later falls in love with Laura and they leave for a concert with Remi Boncoeur at novel's end, abandoning Dean Moriarty.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou

Begins when Maya and her old brother are sent to Stamps, Arkansas to live with their grandmother. The characters experience racial oppression, for example when a white dentist refuses to treat Maya's tooth. Maya and Bailey are sent around the US due to parental neglect and racism in Stamps. The protagonist goes through a conflict of sexuality that she hides after she gives birth at 16. Nominated for a National Book Award in 1970.

David Copperfield(The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery), Charles Dickens

Bildungsroman. Marked a turning point in the author's work, the point of separation between the novels of youth and those of maturity. Seen to be a true autobiographical novel. Wrote the novel w/o an outline. In this novel, Anne marries the schoolmaster Dr. Strong and resists the seduction of her cousin Jack Maldon. The protagonist of this novel has an eccentric aunt named Betsey Trotwood who nicknames him "Trot." The protagonist of this novel marries the vain Dora Spenlow after James Steerforth runs away with his childhood friend Little Emily. The protagonist of this novel eventually marries Agnes Wickfield despite the scheming of Uriah Heep.

My Name is Red, Orhan Pamuk

Black woos Shekure. A character in this novel complains about the garlic breath of a money changer in a chapter set in the same place as one in which Sata claims that the world needs sin. In this novel, the illiterate clothier Esther delivers messages, including some from Hassan and some sent by way of the slave girl Hayrie. One character in this book steals a pin which Bihzad of Herat used to blind himself. Another of its characters tells the story of an old master who first worked for a Blacksheep leader and then a rival Whitesheep leader after being blinded. This novel's protagonist is influenced by Master Osman, who rejects innovation, and his uncle Enishte, who tries to implement the techniques of Frankish artists. Butterfly, Stork and Olive narrate stories each about style, signature, and blindness, respectively, in this novel, whose first chapter is narrated by Elegant Effendi, who sits at the bottom of a well after his murder.

Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe

Called the original adventure novel, published in 1719. It is the first person narrative of a fictionalized character who, after his initial journeys to the sea and South America, finds himself washed up on the shore of a deserted island near the mouth of the Oronoco river.

Main Street, Sinclair Lewis

Carol Milford, the daughter of a judge, grew up in Mankato, Minnesota, and became an orphan in her teens. In college, she reads a book on village improvement in a sociology class and begins to dream of redesigning village and towns. She becomes a librarian in St. Paul, Minnesota, but finds the work unrewarding. She marries Will Kennicott, a doctor, who is a small-town boy at heart. When they marry, Will convinces her to live in his hometown of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, a town modeled on Sauk Centre, Minnesota, the author's birthplace. Carol immediately tries to remake Gopher Prairie, but fails due to the physical ugliness and conservatism in the town. Carol leaves her husband and moves to DC to become a clerk in a wartime government agency. The narrator of this novel believes the place where he lives runs a fog machine and calls society's means of keeping people in line "The Combine". And later reveals he is not really deaf by voting to watch the World Series in a group meeting. One character in this novel has a neurotic obsession with cleanliness, George Sorenson. And other characters include the articulate, closeted homosexual, Harding, and the stuttering, mother-dominated Billy Bibbit. Led to the author's 1930 Nobel Prize win.

Ragtime, EL Doctorow

Centers on a wealthy family living in New Rochelle, New York, referred to as Father, Mother, Mother's Younger Brother, Grandfather, and 'the little boy'. Mother gains independence when Father joins Robert Peary's expedition to the North Pole. Mother's Younger Brother is a genius at explosives and fireworks, but chases after love and excitement, specifically Evelyn Nesbit. Coalhouse Walker, the father of an abandoned black child, visits his severely depressed mother, Sarah, to win her over, helping him gain respect in the family by playing ragtime music. A racist fire crew, led by Will Conklin, vandalizes his Model T Ford, leading to a pursuit of redress that fails because of the inherent prejudice of the system. Sarah is killed in an attempt to aid him. Coalhouse begins killing firemen and bombing firehouses to force the city to meet his demands. Mother adopts Sarah and Coalhouse's child. Coalhouse and his gang storm the Morgan Library, wiring the building with dynamite with the help from Younger Brother. Coalhouse sacrifices his life to kill Conklin and save the vigilantes.

The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy

Centers on the eventually incestual Rahel and Estha. In this novel, a board with the acrostic phrase "Politeness Obedience Loyalty Intelligence Courtesy Efficiency" is found in a police station. A character in this book argues that the state does not pay for a woman's funeral because she didn't die in a zebra crossing. The sight of that woman's body prompts the main characters' aunt to vomit after her return from Cochin with her ex-husband. The obese ex-nun (*) Baby Kochamma blames that woman's death on a mechanic who forced her to wave a communist flag in this novel, leading to the mechanic being beaten to death by the police. Sophie Mol drowns while running away with its main characters after their mother Ammu Ipe's affair with the dalit Velutha is exposed.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum

Chronicles the adventures of a young farm girl in a magical land after she and her pet dog Toto are swept away from their home by a cyclone. She then goes to a castle to meet a powerful wizard, who appears as a giant head to Dorothy, a ball of fire to a scarecrow, a lovely lady to a tin man, and a terrible beat to a lion.

Franny and Zooey, JD Salinger

Combination of a short story and a novella. focuses on siblings Franny and Zooey, the two youngest members of the Glass family. The short story tells the story of Franny Glass, Zooey's sister, undergraduate at a small liberal arts college. The story takes place in an unnamed college town during Franny's weekend visit to her boyfriend Lane. Disenchanted with the selfishnwaess and inauthenticity she perceives all around her, she aims to escape it through spiritual means. The novella is set shortly after "Franny" in the Glass family apartment in New York City's Upper East Side. While actor Zooey's younger sister Franny suffers a spiritual and existential breakdown in their parents' Manhattan living room, leaving their mother Bessie deeply concerned, Zooey comes to Franny's aid, offering what she thinks is brotherly love, understanding, and words of sage advice.

Herzog, Saul Bellow

Composed in large part of letters from the protagonist. Set in 1964 in the US. About the midlife crisis of a Jewish man. He is just emerging from his second divorce with 2 kids, from from each wife, who are growing up without him. He is in a relationship with Ramona, by runs away from commitment. The protagonist's second marriage with Madeleine ended when Madeleine convinced the protagonist to move her and Junie to Chicago, and when they arrived at Chicago, Madeleine threw him out for another affair. The protagonist spends a lot of time mentally writing letters, all of which express disappointment.Novel opens with the protagonist in his house in Ludeyville, a town in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts. He contemplates returning to NY to see Ramona, but instead flees to Martha's vineyard to visit some friends. Won the US National Book Award and the Prix International

U.S.A. trilogy, John Dos Pasos

Comprises of The 42nd Parallel, 1919, and The Big Money. Incorporates four narrative modes: fictional narratives telling the life stories of twelve characters, collages of newspaper clippings and song lyrics labeled "Newsreel", individually labeled short biographies of public figures of the time such as Woodrow Wilson and Henry Ford and fragments of autobiographical stream of consciousness writing labeled "Camera Eye". The trilogy covers the historical development of American society during the first three decades of the 20th century.

The American, Henry James

Concerns the adventures and misadventures of Christopher Newman, an essentially good-hearted but rather gauche American businessman on his first tour of Europe. Newman is looking for a world different from the simple, harsh realities of 19th-century American business. He encounters both the beauty and the ugliness of Europe, and learns not to take either for granted. The core of the novel concerns Newman's courtship of a young widow from an aristocratic Parisian family.

Lady Chatterley's Lover, David Herbert Lawrence

Concerns the former Constance Reid whose upper class husband Clifford is paralyzed from the waist down This novel's opening paragraph notes that "we've got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen" after stating that "ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically." This novel emphasizes the class divide between its main setting and the nearby town of Tevershall. Philip Larkin's poem "Annus Mirabilis" mentions this novel just before mentioning "the Beatles' first LP." This novel's protagonist visits Venice with her sister Hilda, allowing her to claim that she had a love affair there. In this novel, Clifford's paralysis from the waist down contributes to Constance's decision to have an affair with Oliver Mellor. Parts of this novel were based on its author's earlier works "The Shades of Spring" and "The Blind Man," both of which contain prototypes of characters in this work. Tommy Dukes makes a brief appearance in this novel, when he comes around to share memories of the old times, and Bertha Coutts becomes mentally unstable and begins to harass a central character. One character in this novel is possessed of "a small boy's frail nakedness" and is the Irish playwright Michaelis. Ivy Bolton is hired to care for Sir Clifford in this novel, which enables the protagonist to spend more time away from Wragby, her estate. In 1959, this book was banned from the US mails by Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield as pornographic, smutty, obscene, and filthy.

Les Miserables, Victor Hugo

Considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. Begins in 1815 and ends in the 1832 June Rebellion in Paris. Follows the lives and interactions of several characters, particularly the struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean and his experience of redemption. Illustrates the transparent antagonism between Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert. In this novel, the protagonist's daughter falls in love with Marius, who is rescued by the protagonist in an escape through the sewers. That man gives himself up to save an innocent man and is imprisoned in Toulon, from which he escapes and adopts the illegitimate child of Fantine. After committing a minor crime, he is followed by Inspector Javert.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, James Thurber

Deals with a vague and mild-mannered man who drives into Waterbury, Connecticut with his wife for their regular weekly shopping and his wife's visit to the beauty parlor. He has 5 heroic daydream episodes. The first is as a pilot of a US Navy flying boat in a storm, which is triggered by the powering up of the "Navy hydroplane" that is followed by the wife's complaint that the protagonist is "driving too fast. The next is a magnificent surgeon performing a one-of-a-kind surgery, which is triggered by the protagonist taking off and putting on his gloves as a surgeon dons surgical gloves, and driving past a hospital. The third was as a deadly assassin testifying in a courtroom, which is triggered the protagonist's attempt to remember what his wife told him to buy when he hears a newsboy shouting about "the Waterbury Trial". The fourth was a Royal Air Force pilot volunteering for a secret suicide mission to bomb an ammunition dump, which is triggered by the protagonist picking up an old copy of Liberty and reading "Can Germany Conquer the World Through the Air?". The last daydream is the protagonist imagining himself facing a firing squad, which occurs when the protagonist is standing against a wall, smoking.

The Executioner's Song, Norman Mailer

Depicts the events related to the execution of Gary Gilmore for murder by the state of Utah. Title is also the title of a poem by this author, published in F You magazine. Notable for its portrayal of Gilmore and the anguish generated by the murders he committed. Central to the national debate over the revival of capital punishment by the Supreme Court. Won Pulitzer Prize in 1979.

Tender is the Night, F.Scott Fitzgerald

Dick and Nicole Diver are a couple that rent a villa in the South of France and surround themselves with a circle of friends, mainly Americans. Rosemary Hoyt, a young 17-year-old actress, becomes infatuated with Dick and also becomes close to Nicole. Captain Dick Diver met a teenage patient with an especially complex case of neuroses, Nicole, who was sexually abused by her father. Dick eventually develops Florence Nightingale Syndrome. He eventually determines to marry Nicole, even though Nicole's sister objects because she believes that Dick is marrying Nicole because of her status. Dick finds Rosemary when he travels to America for his father's burial, leading to a brief affair. Nicole distances herself from Dick due to his rudeness towards everyone and desire for Rosemary, a successful Hollywood star. Title is taken from "Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats. The author's final novel.

Deliverance, James Dickey

Documents Ed Gentry's canoe trip on the Cahulawassee River in the backwoods of northern GeorgiaThis novel's narrator shoots photos of a young female model for an advertising campaign for Kitt'n Britches. At one point in this novel, the protagonist attempts to kill a deer, but freezes up after firing two of his four arrows and is unable to do so. One character in this novel haggles with the Griner Brothers and eventually gets them to drive several cars down to Aintry. At a store in this novel, one character engages in a banjo duet with an inbred albino. In a famous scene in this novel, two shotgun-wielding men sodomize Bobby Trippe and make the protagonist perform oral sex, but they are driven off when one of them is killed by Lewis Medlock.

The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck

Dramatizes family life in a Chinese village in the early 20th century. First book in the House of Earth trilogy. Won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1932. Begins with Wang Lung's wedding day and follows the rise and fall of his fortunes. Wang Lung and his wife O-Lan have 3 sons and 3 daughters, the first one of which is known as Poor Fool. One time his son brings home stolen meat and Wang Lung throws the meat on the ground, but O-Lan picks up the meat and cooks it. This starts the family's stealing, leading to riches. The novel ends with O-Lan dying from the stress of Wang Lung and his concubine Lotus.

Dracula, Bram Stoker

Established many conventions of subsequent vampire fantasy. Tells the story of the protagonist's attempt to move from Transylvania to England so he may find new blood and spread the undead curse, and of the battle between the protagonist and a group of people led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing. In this novel, the ship Demeter runs aground near Whitby. One character in this novel is described by children as a "bloofer lady" and is engaged to a man who later becomes Lord Godalming. The Texan, Quincy, is killed while stabbing the antagonist in the heart. That antagonist had earlier bit both Lucy and the protagonist's wife, Mina.

Henderson the Rain King, Saul Bellow

Eugene Henderson is a trouble middle-aged man. Despite his riches, high social status, and physical prowess, he feels restless and unfulfilled. Henderson goes to Africa to find out what he is looking for. When reaching Africa, he splits from his original group and hires Romilayu, a native guide. Romilayu leads Henderson to the village of the Arnewi, where Henderson befriends the leaders of the village and learns that the cistern from which the people get their drinking water is plagued by frogs, rendering the water unclean. Henderson tries to save the Arnewi, but ends up destroying the frogs and cistern. Henderson and Romilayu travel to the village of the Wariri, where he moves the giant wooden statue of the goddess Mummah and becomes the Wariri Rain King, Sungo. He develops a friendship with the native-born but western-educated King Dahfu. The elders send Dahfu to find a lion, which mortally wounds the king. Henderson learns that Dahfu's death leads to the Rain King getting the throne, which forces him to flee.

Rabbit is Rich, John Updike

Examines the life of Harry Angstrom, a one-time high school basketball star, who has reached a paunchy middle-age without relocating from Brewer, Pennsylvania, the poor fictional city of his birth. Harry and Janice, his wife of 22 years, live comfortably, having inherited her late father's Toyota dealership. Harry likes a country-club friend's young wife. His son, Nelson, is very indecisive and goes to Kent State University. Harry wonders whether his former lover, Ruth, ever gave birth to their illegitimate daughter. Harry is compared to Bill Clinton during Thanksgiving by his probable daughter Annabelle, who bonds with his son and nurses this man after he is bedridden from saving Judy from drowning at the beach. He spends 1969 in a love triangle with angry Vietnam veteran Skeeter and eighteen-year-old runaway Jill. He is haunted by his indirect role in the death of his infant daughter Rebecca, who drowned in a tub. He provokes his own cardiac arrest after sleeping with Pru and also has dysfunctional relationships with ex-prostitute Ruth and his wife Janice. This character briefly worked as a linotypist, and he saved his granddaughter Judy from drowning after their boat capsized. He lived for a time with Jill and her convict boyfriend Skeeter, and he also ran a Toyota dealership. Earlier, Angstrom ran away from his wife Janice, whom he later blamed for the death of his infant daughter Rebecca. He engaged in an affair with his daughter-in-law Pru in the last novel he appeared in, and he was Remembered in a novel after that.

This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Examines the lives and morality of post-World War I youth. Its protagonist Amory Blaine is an attractive student at Princeton University who dabbles in literature. Title is from Rupert Brooke's poem Tiare Tahiti.

Mansfield Park, Jane Austen

Fanny Price is sent from her impoverished home in Portsmouth to live in the country estate of her uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram. There, she is mistreated by all but her elder cousin Edmund. Her aunt Norris, the wife of the clergyman, makes herself unpleasant. In one episode in this novel, Tom falls severely ill after a night of extreme drinking, and Tom's sister elopes with his friend John. One character in this novel recites Wolsey's speech in Henry VIII, and another character becomes closer to her sister, Susan, after returning to Portsmouth. In this novel, rehearsals for Elizabeth Inchbald's Lovers' Vows are interrupted when Sir Thomas comes home early, and Maria runs away from her husband, Mr. Rushworth.

The Deerslayer, or The First War-Path, James Fenimore Cooper

First installment of Natty Bumppo. Set in Otsego Lake in central, upstate New York.

Shogun, James Clavell

First novel in the Asian Saga. Beginning in feudal Japan some months before the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, this novel gives an account of the rise of the daimyo Toranaga(based upon the actual Tokugawa leyasu). Toranaga's rise to the shogunate is seen through the eyes of the English sailor John Blackthorne, called Anjin("Pilot") by the Japanese, who is loosely based on the historical exploits of William Adams.

O Pioneers!,Willa Cather

First novel of the Great Plains trilogy. Tells the story of the Bergsons, a family of Swedish-American immigrants in the farm country near Hanover, Nebraska. Alexandra Bergson inherits the family farmland when her father dies. After this, Alexandra and her brothers Oscar and Lou visit Ivar, known as Crazy Ivar because of his unorthodox views. Talks about relationships between Alexandra and Carl Linstrum and Emil, Alexandra's brother, and Marie Shabata.

The Inferno, Dante

First part of the Divine Comedy. Tells the journey of the author through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. Hell is depicted as 9 concentric circles of torment located within the Earth. It describes the recognition and rejection of sin.

War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells

First person narrative of both an unnamed protagonist in Surrey and of his younger brother in London as southern England is invaded by Martians. One of the earliest stories to detail a conflict between mankind and an extraterrestrial race. One figure in this novel is described as having "Gorgon groups of tentacles" and kills the astronomer Ogilvy. This novel's narrator is told by an artilleryman about an object between his location and Leatherhead, and that narrator later hides in a cellar after a loud curate alerts the enemy of his location. Red weed spreads through areas in this novel which have been cleared by poisonous black smoke and heat-rays, and this novel's antagonists are finally killed by bacteria they never developed a resistance to.

The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahme

Focuses on 4 anthropomorphized animals: Mole, Rat(a water vole), Toad, and Badger. They all live in a pastoral version of Edwardian England. Mole is good-natured and meets Rat when he loses patience with spring cleaning. Rat and Mole meet Toad on a summer day at Toad Hall. Toad is rich, jovial, friendly and kindhearted, but aimless and conceited. Mole goes into the Wild Wood without Rat, but Rat follows Mole to find Badger deep in the woods. Badger, Rat, and Mole want to stop Toad's dangerous actions, so they place him on house arrest. Toad bamboozles Rat and gets away from him, leading to him driving a car recklessly and sent to prison for 20 years. Toad escapes from prison by gaining the sympathy of the gaoler's daughter. The 4 friends finally recapture Toad Hall from weasels and stoats from the Wild Wood, and Toad learns from his misdoings.

The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan

Focuses on four Chinese American immigrant families in San Francisco who start a club known as The Joy Luck Club, playing the Chinese game of mahjong for money while feasting on a variety of foods. The book is structured somewhat like a mahjong game, with four parts divided into four sections to create sixteen chapters. The three mothers and four daughters (one mother, Suyuan Woo, dies before the novel opens) share stories about their lives in the form of vignettes.

The Odyssey, Homer

Focuses on the king of Ithaca and his journey home after the fall of Troy. It takes him 10 years to reach Ithaca, which leads to people thinking he must be dead. This forces his wife and son to deal with a group of unruly suitors. Scholars believe it was composed near the end of the 8th century BC, somewhere in Ionia.

Crime and Punishment, Cesare Beccaria

Focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-student in Saint Petersburg who formulates a plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her money. Before the killing, Raskolnikov believes that with the money he could liberate himself from poverty and go on to perform great deeds. However, once it is done he finds himself racked with confusion, paranoia, and disgust for what he has done. His justifications disintegrate completely as he struggles with guilt and horror and confronts the real-world consequences of his deed. Katerina Ivanovna throws a banquet for her husband, who stumbles into a police station after drunkenly running in front of a carriage and dies in the arms of his daughter Sonia. A side plot in this work concerns the pedophile Svidrigaylov, who, like Pyotr Luzhin, courts the main character's sister Dounia. However, Dounia ends up with Razumikhin at the end of the novel.

The Stranger(The Outsider), Albert Camus

Follows Mersault, an indifferent French Algerian. He attends his mother's funeral. A few days later, he kills an Arab man in French Algiers, leading to him being tried and sentenced to death. The story is divided into 2 parts:before and after the murder. t the end of this novel, the narrator reflects on the "little robot lady" and Celeste's café after fighting the chaplain. Thomas Pérez was the so-called "fiancée" of the mother of the narrator, who has a neighbor named Salamano who beats his dog. Masson invites people to his beach house, Raymond Sintés has the narrator write a letter to his cheating girlfriend, and Marie is the narrator's girlfriend in this book which begins, "Maman died today."

Giants in the Earth, Ole Rolvaag

Follows a pioneer Norwegian immigrant family's struggles with the land and the elements of the Dakota Territory as they try to make a new life in America. In 1873, Per Hansa, his wife Beret, and their children settle in the Dakota Territory along with 3 other Norwegian immigrant families: Tonseten and his wife Kjersti, Hans Olsa and Sorine, and the Solum Brothers.

A House for Mr. Biswas, VS Naipaul

Follows a poor Trinidadian from birth to death. A character in this novel is awarded 12 marks out of 10 for an English composition titled "A Day By the Seaside" that recounts his near death. That character aces a national exam despite forgetting to fill in an entire section, and is fed prunes and milk for his academic performance. In this novel, the protagonist's wife discovers that he has been writing short stories that caricature her as ugly and over-fertile. That protagonist gets the phrase "Amazing Scenes Were Witnessed When" stuck in his head after reading it in a newspaper, and later works for the Sentinel as a collector of sob stories about "Deserving Destitutes." The main character of this novel starts out as a sign painter, but is brought into the awful Tulsi family's business when he marries their daughter Shama.

Ragged Dick(Street Life in New York with the Boot Blacks), Horatio Alger

Follows a poor bootblack's rise to middle class. The eponymous character refuses to grow up. The protagonist gets 5 dollars for performing a service at Church for Mr.Greyson and opens a bank account. The protagonist gets a job at a mercantile firm after he saves a drowning child. Inspiration for Shine!

Pride and Prejudice,Jane Austen

Follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments. Set in the Regency Era in Great Britain. Conflict is between Mr.Collins, Mr.Bennet's cousin and heir to the Longbourn estate, and Mr.Darcy for Elizabeth's hand. Darcy hires the governess Mrs. Younge to care for his sister. Mr. Darcy reveals that his sister Georgiana was seduced by Mr. Wickham in a letter apologizing for his haughty proposal. This nephew of Catherine de Bourgh owns the Derbyshire estate of Pemberly and is a good friend of Mr. Bingley. His pursuit is outlined in the first line of the book in which he appears, which claims that "a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

Slaughterhouse Five(The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death), Kurt Vonnegut

Follows the life and experiences of Billy Pilgrim, from his early years to his time as an American soldier and chaplain's assistant during World War II, to the postwar years, with Billy occasionally traveling through time itself. The text centers on Billy's capture by the German Army and his survival of the Allied firebombing of Dresden as a prisoner of war. While visiting this place, Howard W. Campbell Jr. tries to recruit men for the Free American Corps. This building's residents work at a factory spooning malt syrup into bottles. A character whispers the address of this building while being rescued by Austrian ski instructors from a plane crash that kills a barbershop quartet on their way to an optometrists' convention. After this building's destruction, the theft of a teacup prompts the execution by firing squad of Edgar Derby. The protagonist revisits this building while being kept with Montana Wildhack in a Tralfamadorian zoo by becoming "unstuck in time."

The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene

Follows the whiskey priest. A character in this novel needs an ether cylinder from a ship that he forgets to search for, and realizes that the book he's reading is actually in Latin. A five-year-old in this novel is buried in the Garden of God, whose black gated entrance is marked "Silencio." A young boy in this novel idolizes Padre José and not the saintly boy Juan. Another child in this novel brings chicken and beer to the protagonist, whom she hides in a barn. The protagonist of this novel encounters a girl who teaches him Morse Code named Coral Fellows and a man with two yellow teeth. That man, the mestizo, eventually betrays the protagonist to the Lieutenant.

Exodus, Leon Uris

Founding of the State of Israel. unfolds with the protagonist, Ari Ben Canaan, hatching a plot to transport Jewish refugees from a British detention camp in Cyprus to Palestine. The operation is carried out under the auspices of the Mossad Le'aliyah Bet. The book then goes on to trace the histories of the various main characters and the ties of their personal lives to the birth of the new Jewish state.

The Great Santini, Pat Conroy

Hard-nosed Marine fighter pilot Lt. Col. Wilbur "Bull" Meecham runs his family with a strict hand. In 1962 before the Vietnam War, the Meecham family struggles to fit into Beaufort, South Carolina where they are newcomers. Explores Ben Meecham's growth into manhood, his experiences playing basketball for his high school, as well as his friendship with a Jewish classmate and an African-American farmer.

A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan

In the second chapter of this novel, "The Gold Cure," a character drinks coffee with gold flakes in it and thinks about how much it costs. One character in this novel collects songs which make use of pauses and graphs their duration and effectiveness. A chapter of this novel which parodies the footnote-heavy style of David Foster Wallace contains an article written by Jules about his interview with Kitty Jackson, including a description of his attempt to rape her in Central Park. In this novel, Dolly works as a PR agent for a murderous dictator known as the General. Its title comes from a line spoken by Bosco about the cruelty of time. This novel's first chapter describes the kleptomania of Sasha, the assistant to the record company executive Bennie Salazar. Its structural innovations include a chapter written as a PowerPoint presentation.

Gilgamesh

In this work, one character threatens to her father to release the dead from the underworld, and he acquiesces if she provides enough grain for seven years to the people. In another section, the protagonist has a dream involving an axe to which he experiences a sexual attraction. The night before, that protagonist had a similar dream involving a rock falling from the sky. Late in this text, the protagonist visits Utnapishtim to learn the secret of immortality. Earlier, he and his friend had slain the Bull of Heaven. The title character is the son of Ninsun and is two-thirds divine. About Enkidu and the king of Uruk.

Candide, Voltaire

It begins with a young man who is living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism by his mentor, Professor Pangloss. The work describes the abrupt cessation of this lifestyle, followed by the protagonist's slow and painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Jacques the Anabaptist dies near Lisbon in this work which ends with the characters cultivating their garden. Baron Thunder-ten-tronch expels the protagonist who is later captured by the Oreillons but released because he is not a Jesuit. That protagonist lost most of his jeweled sheep after leaving Eldorado with his servant Cacambo to look for Cunegonde. In this work, a Venetian noble named Pococurante criticizes Homer's Iliad, the works of Milton, and everything else in his house. One character is sentenced to death at an auto-da-fe, but is revealed to have survived due to a loose hangman's noose. The protagonist and Cacambo take diamonds on a convoy of red sheep, but only one survives the trek from Eldorado, and the Oreillon tribe seeks to eat Jesuit meat. The protagonist eventually overcomes the ideas of both the Manichean pessimsist Martin and a man who believes "All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds," the syphilitic philosopher Pangloss. In one episode of this work, the protagonist must choose between being flogged thirty-six times by every soldier in a regiment and having twelve bullets in his brain. After he escapes from the Bulgarian army, he is rescued by Jacques the Anabaptist. His tutor is hanged for heresy after the Lisbon earthquake, and even though that tutor is deformed because of syphilis he received from Paquette, he maintains optimism. At one point in this novel, an old woman reveals herself to be the daughter of Pope Urban X and the Princess of Palestrina. That revelation occurs on a boat headed to Paraguay, where the protagonist hopes to be able to fight some rebellious Jesuits. The protagonist recovers a jewel-laden sheep from the wreck of a Dutch merchantman, the money from which he uses to bribe the police in Paris. After their ship is wrecked off the coast of Portugal, the protagonist and his companion have to swim to Lisbon just as the city is hit by a massive earthquake. Eventually, the protagonist finds his way to Constantinople, where he liberates the old woman and Cunegonde from slavery.

The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy

It was first published as a serial in The Graphic in 1886 and is subtitled The Story of a Man of Character. At a county fair in Wessex, Michael Henchard, a hay-trusser, argues with his wife Susan. Drunk on rum-laced furmity, he auctions her off with his baby daughter Elizabeth-Jane to Richard Newson, a passing sailor, for 5 guineas. He then becomes remorseful and vows not to touch liquor again for 21 years. Believing the auction is legally binding, Susan lives with Newson for 18 years. After Newson is lost at sea, Susan decides to seek out Henchard with her daughter. Susan learns Henchard is a successful hay merchant. When they are reunited, Henchard proposes to Susan. Although the title character has promised to marry Lucetta Le Sueur, he chooses to remarry his first wife, Susan, and Lucetta marries his manager, Donald Farfrae, who proceeds to become rich as he descends into bankruptcy and finally dies on Egdon Heath.

Le Cid, Corneille

It's about Don Rodrigue, a Spanish hero who fought the Moors. Victor Hugo, in his preface to Cromwell, cites a performance of this play in explaining the impossibility of truth in art. This play's violation of the classical unities led to a famous "quarrel" in which Chapelain and de Scudery sharply criticized it. In the first act, Leonora scolds her mistress for her romantic interest in the title character, her social inferior, but the play's central dilemma arises when Diego is named as the protector of the heir to the throne, forcing the main character to challenge Gormas, the father of his intended bride, Chimene, to a duel.

Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston

Janie Crawford, an African-American woman in her forties, recounts her life starting with her sexual awakening. Around this time, Janie allows Johnny Taylor to kiss her, which Janie's grandmother, Nanny, witnesses. As a young slave woman, Nanny was raped by her white owner, then gave birth to a mixed-race daughter named Leafy. Leafy was later raped by her school teacher and became pregnant with Janie. Shortly after Janie's birth, Leafy began to drink and ran away and left Janie with Nanny. Nanny arranges for Janie to marry Logan Killicks, however Killicks thinks she doesn't do enough around the farm, considering her ungrateful because he wants only a domestic helper. After Nanny dies, Janie leaves Killicks and runs off with Joe Starks, who is elected mayor of Eatonville, Florida and wants Janie as a trophy wife. After Starks dies, Janie becomes financially independent and finds a suitor named Vergible Woods, "Tea Cake". They move to Belle Grade, which is eventually hit by the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane. Tea Cake is bitten by a rabid dog and tries to shoot Janie. Janie then fatally shoots him in self-defense and is charged with murder. An all-white jury acquits Janie and she gives Tea Cake a funeral. The protagonist of this novel meets a man who later offers to buy her a locomotive or a battleship after she is left alone when a coworker goes to a baseball game. In chapter six of this novel, the protagonist is ordered to wear a head-rag by a man who later emancipates Matt Bonner's mule. After observing the fertilization of a pear tree, this work's protagonist decides to find someone who will be "a bee for her bloom."Because she is "too busy feeling grief," the protagonist of this novel wears her overalls while burying her husband, whom she calls "the son of Evening Sun." The critic Henry Louis Gates praised a passage in this novel in which the protagonist's sexual blossoming is compared to a "thousand sister calyxes arching" of a pear tree. This novel's protagonist is raised by her grandmother Nanny after she was abandoned by her mother Leafy. In this novel, the main character is put on trial for shooting her husband after he becomes infected with rabies during a hurricane.

The Trial, Franz Kafka

Joseph K. is inextricably involved in an incomprehensible legal proceeding. The protagonist of this novel unsuccessfully begs a man not to whip two officials who were being punished as a result of his actions, and comes back to find them still being whipped the next day. The protagonist of this novel attracts a washerwoman who offers to help him. This novel's central character studies Italian to prepare for a tourist he meets in a cathedral, where he is told a parable of a man "Before the Law." At the end of this novel, he encounters two men in his apartment, who take him away to a quarry and kill him with a butcher knife, and he dies "like a dog."

The Glass Bead Game, Hermann Hesse

Joseph Knecht gains the title of Magister Ludi by mastering the title activity. This novel ends with a trio of chapters in which a self-sacrificing rainmaker, a hermit, and a fratricidal Indian Prince named Dasa represent reincarnations of its protagonist. Its introduction describes a time characterized by the popularity of articles about things like "The Favorite Dishes of the Composer Rossini", called "the Age of the Feuilleton". This novel's protagonist befriends Father Jacobus at Mariafels and accedes to a position last held by Thomas van der Trave. Its protagonist, who drowns in a mountain lake while tutoring the son of his friend Plino Designori, is recruited by the Music Master to attend the school of Waldzell in the futuristic country of Castalia.

The Wings of the Dove, Henry James

Kate Croy and Merton Densher are Londoners who want to marry but have little money. Kate has many family troubles and lives with her aunt, Maud Lowder. Milly Theale is a rich young American woman who was in love with Densher before, but she never revealed her feelings. Her travelling companion, Mrs. Stringham, is an old friend of Maud. Kate goes with Milly to see a physician, Sir Luke Strett, because Milly is suffering from an incurable disease. Milly fears the worst and Kate suspects Milly is very ill. After the trip to America where he met Milly, Densher returns to find her in London. Kate tries to prevent Milly from knowing that she and Densher are engaged. Milly goes to Venice with Mrs. Stringham, and Aunt Maud, Kate, and Densher follow them. At a party hosted at Milly's Palazzo Leporelli, Kate mentions to Densher that he marries Milly and inherit Milly's money when she dies. Densher suspected this and demands that their affair be consummated. Aunt Maud and Kate return to London. Milly hears about Kate's plan and leaves Densher, leading to her condition worsening. Milly leaves a large amount of money when she dies, but Densher refuses it. He won't marry Kate unless she refuses the bequest, but if Kate chooses the money, she takes all of it. A character in this novel writes the French words "A bientot," meaning "see you soon," on the guidebook of a woman she secretly follows to a rock overlooking a gulf. The protagonist of this novel jokes that her complexion is several shades greener than that of a woman in a Bronzino portrait. In this novel's last line, a woman breaks off a relationship by exclaiming "We shall never be again as we were!" after her lover pleads with her to refuse an inheritance bequest. The protagonist of this novel hires a valet named Eugenio.

Breakfast of Champions:Goodbye Blue Monday, Vonnegut

Kilgore Trout is a widely published, but ignored and virtually invisible writer who is invited to deliver a keynote address at a local arts festival is Midland City. Dwayne Hoover is a wealthy businessman who owns much in Midland City. Starts with the author writing in the first person. He notes that in the book he expresses a suspicion that human beings are machines. When Trout arrives in Midland City, he piques Dwayne's interest. A confused Dwayne demands a message from Trout, who hands over a copy of a novel he brought for the festival. Dwayne reads the novel, which purports to be a message from the Creator of the Universe explaining that the reader - in this case Dwayne - is the only individual in the universe with free will and that everyone else is a machine. Dwayne takes the novel as factual and, now believing other people to be machines, goes on a violent rampage, severely beating his son, his lover, and nine other people before being taken into custody. While Trout is walking to the now-postponed festival after Dwayne's rampage, the poet approaches Trout. He tells Trout he is the Creator of the Universe; that he is only telling Trout this, out of all his other literary creations; and that he is "freeing" Trout in the same way "Thomas Jefferson freed his slaves".

The Plum in the Golden Vase, Ximen Qing

Loosely based on an incident in the Water Margin. Known for its explicit material. In this novel, a white lion is raised by a wife of the protagonist to scare a rival wife's son to death. The protagonist of this novel has an affair with the wife of his brother and steals all of his valuables via the wall connecting their houses. David Tod Roy has recently finished his four-part translation of this work. Lu Xun said of the author of this book that "his writing holds such a variety of human interest that no novel of that time could surpass it." Its author was known as the Scoffing Scholar of Lanling. The serving girl Pang Chunmei is featured in the final parts of this novel, which earlier sees the sordid marriages of Li Ping'er and Pan Jinlian.

Sula, Toni Morrison

Main character is a member of the Peace family. One character in this novel almost dies as a baby because he shoves pebbles up his ass, and another character thinks his fingers grow "in a higgledy-piggledy fashion like Jack's beanstalk." One woman in this novel only has one leg, which she always covers with expensive stockings, and she eventually lights her adopted son on fire. Another character walks around the town with a cowbell and a noose every year on January 3rd, which he declares as National Suicide Day. In this book Plum is killed by Eva, who later jumps out of a window trying to save her daughter Hannah. The protagonist has an affair with her best friend's husband Jude Greene, after she grows apart from her friend when they accidentally drown a boy named Chicken Little by throwing him into a river. The title character of this novel lives in an area of Medallion, Ohio called "the Bottom" and becomes lifelong friends with Nel Wright.

The Invisible Man, HG Wells

Main protagonist is Griffin, a scientist who has devoted himself to research into optics and invents a way to change a body's refractive index to that or air so that it neither absorbs nor reflects light and thus becomes invisible. He successfully carries out this procedure on himself, but fails in his attempt to reverse it. Cemented this author as the father of sci fi.

A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle

Marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr.Watson. Derives from a speech given by Holmes to Watson on the nature of his work. The first work of detective fiction to incorporate the magnifying glass as an investigative tool.

The Bostonians, Henry James

Mississippi lawyer and Civil War veteran, Basil Randsom, visits his cousin Olive Chancellor in Boston. She takes him to Verena Tarrant delivering a feminist speech. Olive persuades Verena to move in with her and study in preparation for a career in the feminist movement. Ransom, a strong conservative, proposes to Verena, which disappoints the rest of her fellow feminists.

Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace

Most of the action occurs near Boston's Green line. The title refers to the fifth and last in a series. Early on, a Canadian and an American on a cliff outside of Tuscon discuss "the Entertainment." The calendar has been put up for "subsidization," resulting in dates in the Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment. The lives of ex-burglar Don Gately, wheelchair-bound Québecois assassin Rémy Marathe, and tennis prodigy Hal Incandenza are linked by the Entertainment, one of the experimental films created by Hal's father. The title is a movie that people will die for rather than stop watching.

Black Beauty:His Grooms and Companions, the Autobiography of a Horse, Anne Sewell

Narrated in first person as an autobiographical memoir told by the titular horse, beginning with his carefree days as a colt on an English farm with his mother, to his difficult life pulling cabs in London, to his retirement.

The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton

Newland Archer, gentleman lawyer and heir to one of NYC's most illustrious families, is happily anticipating a highly desirable marriage to May Welland. However, he questions his choice when seeing her cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska. At first Ellen's arrival from Europe and her scandalous separation from a disastrous marriage with a Polish count disturbed Newland, but Newland then became intrigued. To save the Welland family's reputation, Newland is asked to dissuade Countess Olenska from going through with the divorce. He succeeds, but cares for her, leading to his failed attempt to beg May to accelerate their wedding date. Newland tells Ellen he loves her, agreeing to remain in America, separated but still married to Count Olenski. Newland sees Ellen Newport, Rhode Island and discovers that Count Olenski wishes Ellen to return to him, but she has refused. Ellen is recalled to NYC to care for her sick grandma, where she agrees to remain separated. When Newland pressures Ellen again, she then agree to consummate their relationship and return to Europe. However, Newland decides to remain with May because she is pregnant. Won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, making this author the first woman to win the prize.

The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, Carson McCullers

Novella within a larger book that also contains 6 short stories: "Wunderkind", "The Jockey", "Madame Zilensky and the King of Finland", "The Sojourner", "A Domestic Dilemma", and "A Tree, a Rock, a Cloud". Denizens of the nameless Georgia town include the Rainey twins, malaria victim Merlie Ryan, and the Macy brothers, which consist of the amiable Henry and the violent Marvin. Opens in a small isolated town in the S US. Story introduces Miss Amelia Evans, strong in body and mind, who is approached by a hunchbacked man with a suitcase claims to be a relative. Rumors circulate that Amelia takes the stranger into her home in order to take what's in the suitcase. 8 men come to her store, only to see Miss Amelia bring out liquor and crackers, starting the cafe Miss Amelia and Cousin Lymon create. Marvin Macy wants revenge on Miss Amelia because of their failed 10-day marriage. Macy broke out into a rage, committing a string of felonies before being caught and locked up in the state penitentiary. When released, Macy begins to take advantage of Cousin Lymon and defeats Miss Amelia, stealing her money and leaving town.

Don Quixote(The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha), Miguel de Cervantes

Often labeled as the first modern novel. Revolves around the adventures of a hidalgo from La Mancha named Alonso Quixano. He decides to become a knight-errant because he reads many chivalric romances and wants to revive chivalry and serve his nation. He recruits Sancho Panza as his squire. The protagonist of this novel frees a servant boy who has been tied up to a tree after having been cheated out of wages. One section of this novel is devoted to a love triangle between Cardenio, Lucinda, and Ferdinand. Its protagonist becomes obsessed with Amadis of Gaul and fights with Samson Carrasco. That protagonist also falls in love with Dulcinea, jousts with windmills, and is served by the loyal squire Sancho Panza. One character in this novel is wrapped in a blanket when his friend refuses to pay for a stay at an inn. Another character in this novel thinks his brains are melting when someone puts curds in his hat and later attempts to fight a lion that won't come out of its cage. He later sends a Bascayan squire to Toboso in order to surrender to his lady love. The protagonist of this work is unhorsed by the Knight of the White Moon and attempts to attack giants that are actually windmills. Because the protagonist needs a lady, he picks the inn girl Dulcinea to be his love.

The Turn of the Screw, Henry James

On Christmas Eve, an unnamed narrator with other unnamed characters, listens to Douglas read a manuscript written by a former governess whom Douglas claims to have known and who is dead. The manuscript tells the story of how the young governess is hired by a man who becomes responsible for his young nephew and niece after the deaths of their parents. Miles attends a boarding school while his younger sister, Flora, lives in a summer country house in Essex. She is cared for by Mrs. Grose, the housekeeper. Miles returns from school after an expulsion letter arrives. Soon after, around the grounds of the estate, the governess sees the governess' predecessor, Miss Jessel, and Peter Quint, spend time with Flora and Miles, who both know that the 2 adults are supernatural. Flora leaves the house while Miles plays piano for the governess. The governess and Mrs. Grose go to check on Flora at the lake and sees that Flora is talking to the ghost of Miss Jessel. Flora is confronted about this, and requests never to see the governess again. Miles then dies in the arms of the governess when the ghost of Quint says that he is no longer controlled by the ghost.

With Fire and Sword, Henryk Sinkiewicz

One character in this novel promises not to interfere with the property rights of the Rozlogi estate in return for consent to marry his beloved, and later that character is saved from Tugai Bey's wrath by a stranger who he found injured in a marsh and nursed back to health at the beginning of this novel. A maiden held captive by the witch Horpyna is rescued by a party led by the boisterous knight Zagloba, who learns the evil Bogun had orchestrated the kidnapping of Princess Helena because she promised her hand in marriage to the protagonist. At the end of this novel the protagonist, Lieutenant Pan Yan, alerts King Kasimir of the siege of Zbaraz in which Prince Yeremi fought off Hmelnitski's Cossack and Tartar forces. Forms a trilogy with Fire in the Steppe and The Deluge

American Buffalo, David Mamet

One character in this play brags about eating yogurt and tries to give a man an English muffin because "breakfast is the most important meal of the day." In this play, a man asked to name a device used for spreading dead pigs' legs simply says, "Things are what they are." Another character in this play accuses the lesbian couple Grace and Ruthie of being stingy about toast and cheating at cards together. Due to a mixup in hospital names, a man in this play refuses to believe that Fletcher was mugged by Mexicans and hits the young junk shop employee who told him so. After hearing that a customer has left for the weekend with a suitcase, Don and Teach plan a burglary before realizing that Bob had been lying.

An Enemy of the People, Henrik Ibsen

One character in this play who constantly preaches "moderation" is the president of the Temperance Society and promises one character the support of the "compact majority". A character in this play nicknamed "The Badger" spends all of his daughter's inheritance buying shares to try to blackmail his son-in-law into protecting family interests. Near the end of this play, Vik fires Captain Horster from his command because he sheltered another character. Hovstad refuses to include the protagonist's article in his newspaper The People's Messenger and Aslaksen refuses to print it because of pressure from the protagonist's brother, the mayor, Peter. It is the label of Dr. Stockmann when he tries to warn the town about contamination in the public baths

Just So Stories for Little Children, Rudyard Kipling

Told the first 3 chapters of the book as bedtime stories to his daughter Josephine. Describe how one animal or another acquired its most distinctive features.

Black Boy, Richard Wright

A memoir detailing his upbringing. This author describes his youth in the South: Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee, and his eventual move to Chicago, where he establishes his writing career and becomes involved with the Communist Party.

The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe

About the pilots engaged in U.S. postwar research with experimental rocket-powered, high-speed aircraft as well as documenting the stories of the first Project Mercury astronauts selected for the NASA space program.

The Pearl, John Steinbeck

Begins with a description of the seemingly ideal family life of the poor pearl fisherman Kino, his wife Juana, and their infant son, Coyotito. Coyotito gets stung by a scorpion, but when the family goes to the local doctor, the doctor refuses to treat Coyotito because Kino doesn't have enough money and the doctor hates poor Amerindians. Kino and Juana go near the see to use a seaweed poultice on Coyotito, which leads to Kino finding "The Pearl of the World". After news spreads, everyone goes to the family to offer their services. Kino is first offered 1000 pesos for the pearl, but he thinks that it is worth 50000, leading him to decline the offer. That night, Kino is attacked by thieves, and Juana reminds him that the pearl is evil. Juana attempts to throw the pearl into the ocean, but Kino finds and beats her. Juana and Coyotito hide in a cave while Kino goes down to hunt trackers. The trackers hear a child's cry and randomly shoot in that direction, killing Coyotito. This death forces Kino to throw the pearl into the ocean. Inspiration was a Mexican folk tale from La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. A discovery of an object in this work is called "a little pat on the back by God, or the gods, or both." The protagonist of this novel thinks of Song of Evil and Song of the Family while watching a scorpion. One character warns another to throw the titular object "back into the sea, or it will destroy us," but the protagonist's refusal results in the death of his baby son, Coyotito.

Billy Budd, Sailor, Herman Melville

Billy Budd is a seaman forced in service aboard HMS Bellipotent in the year 1797, when the Royal Navy was reeling from 2 major mutinies and was threatened by the Revolutionary French Republic's military ambitions. He was forcefully recruited from another, smaller, merchant ship, The Rights of Man(named after the Thomas Paine book). Billy has an innocence, good looks and a natural charisma, but he has a stutter that grows worse under intense emotion. Claggart is envious of Budd's qualities, causing him to falsely charge Billy with conspiracy to mutiny. The captain Edward Fairfax "Starry" Vere arranges a private meeting between the 2. Claggart makes his case, but Billy is unable to respond due to his stutter. However, in his extreme frustration, he kills Claggart. Vere convenes a drumhead court-martial to convict Billy, even though the court-martial panel believes Billy is innocent. Vere says "Struck dead by an angel of God! Yet the angel must hang!" The court-martial convicts Billy and he is hanged.

The Misanthrope, Moliere

Centers on Alceste. Act III of this play opens with a marquis bragging about his courage and his good looks before thesound of an offstage carriage interrupts the two characters talking. In another scene in this play, thetitle character insults the likes of acquaintances mentioned by the onstage gentlemen before he issummoned to a military tribunal. At its end, the title character's marriage proposal is almostaccepted by his love interest, but it is declined when he admits that he wishes to stay in "some smallsecluded nook on earth" and become a hermit. This play opens with a discussion between the titlecharacter and Philinte, who eventually gets the protagonist to admit his love for Celimene is irrational.

War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy

Chronicles the French Invasion of Russia and the impact of the Napoleonic era on Tsarist society through the stories of 5 Russian aristocratic families. Brekhunov sacrifices his life while covering his servant Nikita during a snow storm.Book 8 was adapted into Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. The beginning of the first epilogue of this work describes the movements of the "sea of European history" after "seven years had passed" since the main events in the book. After a duel, a character in this work joins the Freemasons, and that duel with Dolokhov resulted from rumors about an affair that man's wife, Helene, was having. After recovering from an injury obtained during the Battle of Austerlitz, Andrei Bolkonsky's engagement is broken off by one character in this book. That character, Natasha Rostova, eventually marries this book's protagonist, Pierre Bezhukov.

Lysistrata, Aristophanes

Comedy that tells of a heroic woman who rallies the women of Greece to withhold sex in effort to end the Peloponnesian War. Among the characters in this work are the forcefully cross-dressed Commissioner of Public Safety and the foolish clown Kinesias, though, perhaps the biggest fools are the Four Policemen who appear throughout. It is unclear whether the character of Ismenia is mute, but dialog is spoken by Lampito, Kleonike, and Myrrhine, all of whom are representatives at a meeting called by the title character. The play ends with appearance of the handmaid Peace, whose naked form quickly results in a truce.

Mrs Dalloway, Virginia Woolf

Details a day in the life of Clarissa, a fictional high-society woman in post-WWI England. Clarissa goes around London in the morning in order to get ready to host a party in the evening, which reminds her of her youth in Bourton. She married Richard instead of Peter Walsh and she "had not the option" to be with a close friend, Sally Seton. Septimus Warren Smith, a WWI veteran suffering from PTSD, spends his day with his Italian-born wife Lucrezia, where Peter Walsh observes them. Septimus eventually commits suicide after he is prescribed involuntary commitment to a psychiatric hospital. Clarissa admires Septimus's act because she considers it an effort to preserve the purity of his happiness.

In Cold Blood, Truman Capote

Details the 1959 murders of 4 members of the Herbert Clutter family in the small farming community of Holocomb, Kansas. 2nd true crime book in history.

Anthem, Ayn Rand

Equality 7-2521, a 21-year-old man writing by candelight in a tunnel, tells the story of his life up to that point. He lives away from home in collective homes. He excels at the Science of Things and dreams of becoming a Scholar, but he is assigned to be a Street Sweeper. He works with Union 5-3992 and International 4-8818. While cleaning a road at the edge of the City, Equality meets Liberty 5-3000 and names her "The Golden One" while Liberty calls him "The Unconquered". Equality rediscovers electricity and wants to take his discovery to the World Council of Scholars. However, the Home of the Street Sweepers notices his absence and places him in the Palace of Corrective Detention. When he presents his work, he is punished but flees to the forest. In the forest, the Golden one appears

Digital Fortress, Dan Brown

In this novel's epilogue, it is revealed that the head of the Numataka Corporation is actually one character's father, having left him shortly after the atomic bombings of Japan. That character holds up three fingers shortly before dying, which also turns out to be the difference in isotope numbers of uranium used in the bombs, and his name is anagram of N DAKOTA. This novel sees a machine's cooling system damaged after Phil Chartrukian is thrown atop it, and Hulohot is sent to recover a ring, leading to his death at the hands of David Becker. Susan Fletcher works for this novel's antagonist, Trevor Strathmore, who is in charge of an NSA supercomputer. Titled after a supposedly unbreakable code

The Yearling, Majorle Rawlings

Jody Baxter lives with his parents, Ora and Ezra "Penny" Baxter(named Penny by Lem Forrester because of his diminutive size) in the central Florida backwoods. Ezra doesn't connect with Jody because his parents had 6 other children before him, but they died in infancy. The Baxters and the Forresters get in a fight about an old bear named Slewfoot that randomly attacks the Baxter livestock, leading to constant dispute between the 2 families, other than the disabled youngest brother Fodder-Wing and Jody. The Forresters steal the Baxters' hog, leading to Penny being bitten by a rattlesnake trying to find it. Penny shoots a doe and orphans a fawn to use its liver to draw out the venom. Jody adopts the fawn and learns that Fodder-Wing named it Flag. The parents realize that Flag eats the corn crop, which forces Ezra to order Jody to kill Flag. Ora wounds the deer, forces Jody to shoot Flag in the neck and kill the fawn. The main selection of the Book of the Month Club in April 1938. Best-selling novel in America in 1938. Won the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel.

The Night Before Christmas(A Visit from St.Nicholas, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas), Clement Clarke Moore

Largely responsible for some of the conceptions of Santa Claus from the mid 19th century to today. Had a massive effect on the history of Christmas gift-giving.

Wuthering Heights-Emily Bronte(Ellis Bell)

Lockwood, the new tenant at Thrushcross Grange in Yorkshire pays a visit to Heathcliff at his moorland farmhouse. The book details Nelly, Lockwood's housekeeper, talks about Heathcliff and the strange events at the farmhouse. Heathcliff was first detested by Hindley and his sister Catherine, but Catherine came to love him, leading to Hindley being sent away to college. Heathcliff's relationship with Catherine is in question when Catherine becomes infatuated with Edgar, one of the snobby children at Thrushcross Grange. Catherine marries Edgar with the promise of social advancement. Heathcliff inherits the manor when Hindley dies and places himself in line to inherit Thrushcross Grange by marrying Isabella Linton. Heathcliff abuses Linton, his son, to pursue young Catherine, Catherine's daughter, in order to gain Thrushcross Grange. The narrator of this novel is thought by the servant Joseph to have stolen a lantern, and that narrator is consequently attacked by dogs set loose by Joseph. One character is adopted from an orphanage in Liverpool and throws applesauce at another character. Hindley, whose wife Frances dies after giving birth to Hareton, hates that orphan. Nelly Dean tells the story of the house to the narrator of this novel, Mr. Lockwood, who rents a room at Thrushcross Grange. One of the narrators is scolded for interrupting a reading lesson with the song "Fairy Annie's Wedding," while the other narrator takes a trip to the chapel of Gimmerden Sough to hear a sermon by Jabez Branderham in a dream. After her tiny dog is hung on a doorpost, Isabella leaves for London, giving birth there to a son, Linton, by a man who eventually dies after starving himself for four days. That man had been brought to the title location from Liverpool, immediately becoming Hindley's enemy.

Snow Country, Yasunari Kawabata

Love affair between a Tokyo dilettante, Shimamura, and a provincial geisha, Komako. Set in the hot spring(onsen) town in Yuzawa. The hot springs have inns that are dominated by paid female companionship. Shimamura is a self-proclaimed Western ballet expert. On his way to the town, Shimamura is fascinated with a girl he sees on the train: Yoko, who is caring for a sick man traveling with her. He wants to see more of her, even though he is with Komako during his stay. Already a married man, it doesn't faze him that he is thinking about Yoko while being public with Komako. The end of this novel features a discussion of Chijimi linens as well as a scene in which a main character falls and "the Milky Way flow[s] down inside him with a roar," which follows the burning of a silk warehouse used as a movie theater.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey

Narrated by "Chief" Bromden, a gigantic yet docile 1/2 Native American patient at a psychiatric hospital, who presents himself as deaf and mute. Bromden's tale focuses mainly on the antics of Randle Patrick McMurphy, who faked insanity to serve his sentence for battery and gambling in the hospital rather than a prison. McMurphy constantly antagonizes Nurse Ratched and upsets the routines of the ward, leading to power struggles. A violent disturbance after a fishing trip where the patients were "supervised" by prostitutes leads to McMurphy and the Chief being sent to ECT. One night, McMurphy smuggles 2 prostitute girlfriends with liquor onto the ward and breaks into the pharmacy for codeine cough syrup and unnamed psychiatric medications. Billy Bibbit, a timid boyish patient with a terrible stutter and little experience with women, had a crush on the prostitute named Candy, primarily arranged this break-in so that Billy could lose his virginity. Although McMurphy agrees to escape before the morning shift starts, he and the other patients fall asleep without cleaning up the mess from an unsanctioned party. Ratched threatens to tell Billy's mother what she has seen, leading to Billy having an emotional breakdown and committing suicide. Ratched blames McMurphy for Billy's death, leading to McMurphy attacking Ratched and moving to the disturbed ward.

Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

One character in this novel is beaten by his father for wetting himself constantly, leading him to kill his father. Evie Lilith Burns was the first love of this novel's protagonist, whose sister is loved by Sonny Ibrahim. Joseph D'Acosta's ghost compels Mary to confess to her crime in this novel, in which William Methwold is the biological father of the protagonist. This novel's protagonist refuses to love Parvati-the-Witch, who has an affair with his archrival Shiva, with whom the protagonist was switched at birth. The titular people were born at the time of India's independence

Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh

One character in this work recites Tiresias's lines from The Waste Land through a megaphone at passers under his window. The protagonist of this work travels to Venice with a friend recovering from a broken ankle who introduces him to Anthony Blanche. On a boat from New York, the protagonist begins an affair with Julia Mottram, and earlier, he travels to Fez to visit his alcoholic Oxford companion Sebastian, whose father Lord Marchmain is the proprietor of the title estate.

Iliad(Song of ilion, Song of Ilion), Homer

Presented in dactylic hexameter. Set during the Trojan War, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles. The oldest extant piece of Western literature

Gulliver's Travels(Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships), Jonathan Swift

Recounts the story of a practical-minded Englishman trained as a surgeon who takes to seas when his business fails. Deadpan first-person narrative that rarely shows any signs of self-reflection or deep emotional response. This novel's title character's editor is Richard Sympson. That character finds himself in trouble after putting out a fire with his urine and thus journeys to Blefuscu. The child Glumdalclitch later cares for that character in another location where he is tormented by the queen's dwarf. The title character of this novel is later mistaken for a member of an uncivilized race but then associates with another who make him prefer the company of horses when he returns home, the Houyhnhnms, who rule over the Yahoos. This novel sees Tramecksan and Slamecksan, two political parties, square off in a country that also sees conflict between the Big-Endians and Little-Endians over the proper way to crack an egg. The protagonist of this novel leaves the floating island of Laputa to sail home from Japan before traveling to a land in which peaceful horses govern the brutish Yahoos

Omoo:A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas, Herman Melville

Sequel to Typee. based on the author's experiences in the South Pacific. After leaving the island of Nuku Hiva, the main character ships aboard a whaling vessel that makes its way to Tahiti, after which there is a mutiny and 1/3 of the crew are imprisoned on Tahiti.

The Birthday Party, Harold Pinter

Stanley Webber is taken away after the titular event. One character in this work explains to another that "it gets light later in winter," and after that character talks about a new show advertised in the morning paper, it is revealed that the protagonist plays piano. The main character in this work is called "a bit of a washout" after a girl delivers a package. Two men in this work approach the proprietor of a boardinghouse on the beach asking about a room, and one of them flirts with a woman who earlier refused to run away with the protagonist. After a game of blindman's buff, Lulu is found lying spread-eagle on the table, and the protagonist of this work is backed up against the wall, giggling. The central character is eventually removed by McCann and Goldberg from the boardinghouse of Petey and Meg Boles.

Tales of the South Pacific, James Michener

Stories based on observations and anecdotes the author collected while stationed as a lieutenant commander in the US Navy on the island of Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides Islands(Vanuatu). Stories take place in the environs of the Coral Sea and the Solomon Islands. The narrator has a first-person voice to several of the stories as an unnamed "Commander". Stories are interconnected by recurring characters and several loose plot lines. One plot includes the preparation for and execution of a fictitious amphibious invasion, code-named Alligator. Focus of all stories is the interactions between Americans and a variety of colonial, immigrant, and indigenous characters.

Long Day's Journey Into Night, Eugene O'Neill

Story of the Tyrone family. At the end of this play, one character expresses the sentiment that ""The fog was where I wanted to be . . . to be alone with myself in another world where truth is untrue and life can hide from itself."Each of the four acts of this play take place in the family's living room, and each is immediately before or after a meal. Characters in the this play include Cathleen, the kitchen maid, and a woman who had just recovered from morphine addiction. Taking place in one day in the summer of 1912, the plot revolves around the gradual discovery of Mary's morphine addiction and Edmund's tuberculosis.

The Reivers: A reminiscence, William Faulkner

Takes place in the first decade of the 20th century. Involves a young boy named Lucius Priest who accompanies a family friend, employee, and protege named Boon Hogganbeck to Memphis, where Boon hopes to woo a prostitute named Miss Corrie into marriage. When they steal Lucius' grandfather's car, they discover that Ned McCaslin, a black man who works with Boon at Lucius' grandfather's horse stables, has stowed away with them. When they reach Memphis, Ned disappears into the black part of town having traded the car for a racehorse. The remainder of the novel involves Ned's attempts to race the horse in order to win enough money and Boon's courtship with Miss Corrie(Everbe Corinthia). Lucius comes to face reality through meeting prostitutes old and young and Otis, Corrie's nephew, who acts as his foil. Lucius fights to defend Corrie's honor when Otis explains that he rented a place where men could see Miss Corrrie during sexual intercourse with men. After this exchange, it becomes clear that Otis is Miss Corrie's son. In order for Lucius to train as a jockey, he has to spend a day at a black man's family, making Lucius being awed by their dignity and integrity. Lucius rides the horse, Coppermine, to win only because Ned bribes him with a sardine in order to prevent him from running behind the horses to see them at all times. The story ends when Boon and Miss Corrie get married and name their first child after Lucius. Won the Pulitzer Prize in 1963, making this author one of 4 authors to be awarded it more than once.

The Color Purple, Alice Walker

Taking place mostly in rural Georgia. Focuses on the life of African-American women in S US in the 1930s. Celie, the protagonist and narrator, is a poor, uneducated, 14-year-old black girl living in rural Georgia.

Villete, Charlotte Bronte

Talks about Lucy Snowe. While disoriented by a strong opiate, the protagonist of this novel wanders to a midnight fête held in a park, where she sees "the secret junta" who conspired to send a man to "Guadaloupe." In an oft-discussed episode of this novel, the protagonist is hurried to a series on "vie d'une femme" at a gallery after a man catches her looking at an orientalist painting of a fleshy nude "Cleopatra." In order to visit Ginevra, a count in this novel dresses up as the ghost of a legendary nun who was buried alive for violating her vows. The comic French-language names used throughout this novel include that of the kingdom it's set in, Labassecour, which means "barnyard." Inspired by the author's time at a pensionatt in Belgium, this novel follows a woman who falls in love first with Dr. John and then M. Paul, who are also employed at Madame Beck's boarding school.