Each study guide includes essays, an in-depth chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quiz. Study guides are available in PDF format.
True Grit is a novel written by Charles Portis that was published in 1968. Charles Portis is an American author most known for his Western books. During the Korean War, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, and when he returned he got a degree in...
When the Emperor Was Divine is a non-fiction narrative published in 2002 by Alfred A. Knopf and written by Julie Otsuka. The novel is set in America during the Second World War and the events described in the novel were inspired by the events...
Dinaw Mengestu is an author from Ethiopia. His three novels have all been published in the U.S., including How to Read the Air and All Our Names. Additionally, he has been published in notable outlets such as The Wall Street Journal and Rolling...
A Wizard Of Earthsea is a fantasy novel written for young adults by American author Ursula K. Le Guin. It was first published in 1968 by a small publishing house called Parnassus. Early concepts for the book were explored in two short stories,...
Ntozake Shange's choreopoem, for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf debuted in 1975. It is a combination of drama, music, dance, and poetry meant to be performed by seven actresses. It has since become a cornerstone...
W. H. Auden is considered one of the finest English or American poets and one of the best poets of the 20th century. He is an exemplar of modernism along with T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, but his later poetry differs vastly from his earlier work;...
The Italian title of a book of Petrarch’s sonnets is "Canzoniere" (literally "Songbook."). The poet worked on it for many years starting in 1336. Its final edition (1373) was entitled in Latin "Rerum vulgarium fragmenta" ("Excerpts in the...
Published in 2008, The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur is a memoir by Daoud Hari that recounts the author's experiences during the genocide in Darfur by the Sudanese government and affiliated militia groups (specifically made up of...
"Quo vadis" is a historical novel written by Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz.
The novel has been written from 1894 to 1896, upon completion of certain parts they were published in the periodical press. In 1896, the novel was released as a...
Nice Work is a novel written by David Lodge in 1988. The story mainly revolves around Robyn Penrose, who is a feminist university lecturer and specializes in women's writing. She meets Vic Wilcox, who is the manager of an engineering firm. The...
“The Letter” is a short story published as part of Somerset Maugham’s 1926 collection, The Casuarina Tree. Like many of Maugham’s tales, this fictional story was inspired by a rea life event. Maugham came to know the details of the murder that...
Of Human Bondage is one of the most famous novels of English writer William Somerset Maugham. The novel was written in 1915. The protagonist – Philip Carey, is an orphan and is born with a lame leg, which makes his life very difficult.
The novel...
The New Organon (often referred to by its Latin title Novum Organum) was published by Francis Bacon in 1620 and if often referred to as his single most influential literary work. In form, it is a philosophical treatise in two parts: the first...
Belinda is a book written by Maria Edgeworth in 1801. The story revolves around a young woman called Belinda, who lives with her aunt, Mrs. Stanhope. Belinda is sent to live with Lady Delacour and Belinda is fascinated by her. The first part of...
Wild Swans : Three Daughters Of China is a family history that spans three generations and more than a century. It tells the story of the lives of three generations of women in China and is written by Chinese author Jung Chang. Wild Swans contains...
In an interesting experiment with perspective, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is narrated by the same voice, the main character Henry Lee, but at different periods during his life. The narration provides a shifting tonal perspective of...
Housekeeping is a novel written by Marilynne Robinson in 1980. The story is told by Ruthie, wo is the narrator and mainly tells the story of how Ruthie and her younger sister Lucille are raised by a succession of relatives in the town of...
Blowback (The Costs and Consequences of American Empire) was written by American author Chalmers Johnson. It was first published during 2000 and was later published during 2004 by Holt Paperbacks. Between 1967 and 1973, Johnson was a consultant...
Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism is a critical nonfiction book by Benedict Anderson. Originally published in 1983, the book has seen multiple revised editions republished in 1991 by Verso and New Left Books...
The School for Good and Evil is the first novel in a series of Young Adult fantasy fiction by Soman Chainani. The series commenced with its publication in 2013 followed by
2014: A World without Princes
2015: The Last Ever After
2017: Quests for...
Ann Radcliffe is an English novelist born on July 9, 1764 in London, England. Little is known of Radcliffe’s early life except for that fact that she was the daughter of a haberdasher and therefore resided in a fairly middle-class household. At...
Duong Thu Huong, the author of Paradise of the Blind and one of Vietnam’s most popular writers, was born in 1947. When she was twenty, she volunteered to lead a Communist Youth Brigade sent to the front during the Vietnam War. When China attacked...
The Adventures of Caleb Williams is a three-part volume of books written by William Godwin on 12 May 1794. The publishing date was specifically chosen by Godwin due to the fact that on the very same day that Prime Minister William Pitt suspended...
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens is the second literary work that features J.M. Barrie’s iconic character, Peter Pan. Kensington Gardens was published in 1908, though much of the text appeared in chapters 13-18 in Barrie’s earlier novel, The Little...
