Family
Leo Tolstoy famously begins the novel Anna Karenina with the sentence: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." In this thematic collection, we have gathered noteworthy texts that navigate the joyous and sorrowful emotional terrain of the family unit.
100 Cupboards is the first novel in a series of young adult fantasy books following main character Henry York, a boy who moves to Henry, Kansas with his aunt and uncle after his parents are kidnapped during a bike expedition in South America. One night, Henry and his adventurous cousin, Henrietta, discover a key to their deceased grandfather's locked bedroom; inside, they uncover a network of cupboards that each open into a different, fantastical world... Read 100 Cupboards Summary
Elif Shafak’s 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World was published in 2019. Shafak is an award-winning British Turkish novelist who advocates for women’s and LGBTQIA+ rights through her fiction. Shafak’s 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World examines the life of a sex worker who was murdered in Istanbul, Turkey, exploring key moments in her life while her friends desperately try to arrange her funeral. The novel investigates topics like violence against... Read 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World Summary
13 Little Blue Envelopes is a young adult novel by Maureen Johnson. The novel is a travelogue with romance genre elements, following protagonist Ginny Blackstone on an unconventional backpacking trip across Europe. The trip is guided by 13 letters written by her now-deceased aunt. The novel explores the idea of Travel as Self-Discovery and is a coming-of-age story depicting Ginny’s growing sense of confidence and independence. The novel also discusses The Personal Nature of Grief... Read 13 Little Blue Envelopes Summary
2666 (2004) is a novel by Chilean author Roberto Bolaño, published one year after Bolaño's death. Centering around a reclusive German author and his role in investigating the ongoing unsolved murders in the fictional city of Santa Teresa, Mexico, 2666 jumps in location, narrative style, location, and characters over its five sections. The novel is widely acclaimed and was adapted into stage plays three times. The New York Times Book Review ranked 2666 as the... Read 2666 Summary
A Bottle in the Gaza Sea (2005) is a young adult novel by French author and translator Valérie Zenatti. It was first published in French as Une bouteille dans la mer de Gaza. The novel begins when 17-year-old Israeli Tal Levine learns about a bombing at a neighborhood café. She is moved to send a letter in a bottle, which reaches 20-year-old Palestinian Naïm Al-Farjouk. Tal included her email address, and they begin corresponding. Initially... Read A Bottle in the Gaza Sea Summary
William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! (1936) is one of the many texts in Faulkner’s oeuvre that is set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi. Faulkner is considered one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, a designation earned due to his innovative and stylistic modernist techniques, which he uses to investigate the history and identity of the American South. Faulkner, who grew up in Mississippi and spent the majority of his life there, was deeply... Read Absalom, Absalom Summary
Lisa Graff’s Absolutely Almost (2014) is a middle-grade novel about self-acceptance and recognizing one’s own worth. The story follows 10-year-old Albie’s journey along this path. Albie has never been the best at anything, especially anything to do with school. He continually falls short of others’ expectations, especially his parents’. However, his new nanny, Calista, sees him differently—and gradually, she helps Albie discover his strengths and take pride in himself.Graff is an American writer who pens... Read Absolutely Almost Summary
A Chance in the World: An Orphan Boy, a Mysterious Past, and How He Found a Place Called Home is a 2012 memoir by author Steve Pemberton. In three parts, it tells the story of his quest to learn the truth about his past. The book examines themes of identity, abuse, family, racism, and how peoples’ pasts can influence their futures. Part 1 begins with Steve’s recurring memory of the day that his mother abandoned... Read A Chance in the World Summary
Written in 2017 by Ken Follett, A Column of Fire is a historical fiction/historical romance novel and the third book in his Kingsbridge series, following The Pillars of the Earth (1989) and World Without End (2007). This novel is a loose sequel to the previous two books and is set against the backdrop of 16th-century Europe. Spanning both decades and continents, it follows the lives of a cast of characters who are caught in the... Read A Column of Fire Summary
Miriam Toews’s A Complicated Kindness (2004) is about Nomi Nickel, an adolescent living in the religious Mennonite town of East Village whose coming of age takes place against the backdrop of her family’s unraveling. Toews, who grew up in the Mennonite community of Steinbach, Manitoba, is the author of several novels set in Mennonite communities, many of which are critical of aspects of the faith. This novel, Toews’s third, has garnered considerable acclaim and many... Read A Complicated Kindness Summary
Hattie Owen’s life changes the summer she turns 12 and meets the young uncle she never knew existed in Ann M. Martin’s middle-grade novel, A Corner of the Universe (2002). Uncle Adam has been kept a secret because of his mental problems. Adults have trouble handling his emotional extremes, but shy Hattie finds a true friend in her exuberant uncle. Adam teaches Hattie to explore life beyond the safety of her front porch. As Hattie... Read A Corner of the Universe Summary
Published in 2015, V. E. Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic is a young adult fantasy novel and the first installment of the Shades of Magic series. Kell Maresh, one of the last Antari magicians, possesses the rare ability to travel between parallel worlds. When a dangerous artifact from a forbidden realm falls into Kell’s possession, he and a thief named Lila Bard become entangled in a perilous adventure. The novel—which received a Goodreads Choice... Read A Darker Shade of Magic Summary
A Dog’s Purpose: A Novel for Humans is a novel by Bruce W. Cameron and is the first in his A Dog’s Purpose series of novels. Written in 2010, the novel was a New York Times bestseller for 49 weeks. The novel is unique in that it is narrated by a dog. The dog lives four lives over the course of the novel, seeking a purpose for his life during each of his incarnations. In... Read A Dog's Purpose Summary
A Dream Called Home is a memoir published in 2018 by the award-winning Mexican American author Reyna Grande. The book is the sequel to her bestselling 2012 memoir, The Distance Between Us, which addresses Reyna’s experiences crossing the US-Mexico border as a child. The title alludes to the American dream while also gesturing to varied concepts of home. This summary refers to the 2018 English-language edition published by Atria Books.Plot SummaryReyna divides her memoir into... Read A Dream Called Home Summary
Kazuo Ishiguro is an English and Japanese author who is most well-known for prizewinning novels such as The Remains of the Day (1989) and Never Let Me Go (2005), the latter of which was adapted into a film in 2010. “A Family Supper” is a 1983 short story that was originally published in a volume of Ishiguro’s works, titled Firebird 2: Writing Today.The short story begins when an unnamed narrator returns to his homeland of... Read A Family Supper Summary
Michael McGerr’s 2003 nonfiction book, A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920, is titled after a phenomenon President Theodore Roosevelt observed in the early 20th century. The book’s epigraph quotes President Roosevelt in 1906: So far as this movement of agitation throughout the country takes the form of a fierce discontent with evil, of a firm determination to punish the authors of evil, whether in industry or politics... Read A Fierce Discontent Summary
After Ever After is a young adult novel written by American author Jordan Sonnenblick and published in 2010. It is the sequel to Sonnenblick’s debut novel, Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, which came out in 2004 but focused on a different protagonist. While the first book revolves around Steven Alper, After Ever After explores his younger brother Jeff’s perspective as he navigates eighth grade alongside his best friend, Tad, and his girlfriend, Lindsey. Sonnenblick, who... Read After Ever After Summary
A Game of Thrones is a 1996 epic fantasy novel by George R. R. Martin and is the first in his long-running A Song of Ice and Fire series. The novel introduces the audience to the fictional world of Westeros, where characters become embroiled in a complicated web of plots, conspiracies, and betrayals as they pursue power. A Game of Thrones won numerous awards on publication and was adapted for television in 2011. This guide... Read A Game of Thrones Summary
A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl’s Journal, 1830-1832 is the best-known book by children’s author and educator Joan W. Blos. The novel is presented as the fictional journal of Catherine Hall, a young girl living in New Hampshire before the Civil War. Through Catherine’s journal entries, the novel portrays the daily life, challenges, and changes in a young girl’s world over two years, including personal loss, the complexities of friendship, and an encounter... Read A Gathering of Days Summary
A Girl Named Disaster (1996) is a novel by Nancy Farmer. At the start of the novel, 11-year-old Nhamo lives in her remote Mozambique village with her late mother’s family. When the local doctor, or muvuki, decides that Nhamo is to blame for her family’s recent misfortune, her aunt and uncle decide to marry her off in an arranged marriage. Desperate to avoid this fate, Nhamo flees the village and sets out in a boat... Read A Girl Named Disaster Summary
A Great Reckoning (2016) is the 12th novel in the Inspector Gamache series. The series consists of contemporary mysteries written by the Canadian author Louise Penny. Like the other novels in the series, A Great Reckoning revolves around the small village of Three Pines, Quebec, and its inhabitants. The novel includes a standalone murder mystery plot and references to events in other novels within the series; Penny explores themes of parenthood, loss, and betrayal. This... Read A Great Reckoning Summary
A Handful of Dust is a satirical novel by Evelyn Waugh, published in 1934. The novel satirizes the lives of the English gentry and middle class in the interwar period. Waugh’s highly regarded satire is based on his own experience of divorce and unhappiness, as well as his understanding of the English class system. The novel has been dramatized for radio, theater, and screen. This guide uses the 2018 Penguin English Library edition.Content Warning: The... Read A Handful of Dust Summary
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay (2015) is a horror novel published by William Morrow. It is the fifth of Tremblay’s 10 novels, and was optioned in 2016 by Focus Features for screen adaptation. His seventh novel, The Cabin at the End of the World (2018), winner of the Bram Stoker and Locus Awards, was also adapted for the screen; it was released in 2023 as the M. Night Shyamalan film Knock at... Read A Head Full of Ghosts Summary
A Heart in a Body in the World is a young adult novel by Deb Caletti, published in 2018. The novel is a work of contemporary realism and is a Michael L. Printz Honor Book.Plot SummaryThe novel follows the story of Annabelle Agnelli, a high school senior living with her mother Gina and her brother Malcolm in Seattle, Washington. Annabelle is a talented cross-country runner, a strong student, and popular at her school. One evening... Read A Heart in a Body in the World Summary
