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Described by the acclaimed twentieth-century poet and literary critic W.H. Auden as being "modern without being too modern," Thomas Hardy is one of the most influential and important writers in English literary history. Today, nearly a century...

Although it's not especially well-known, The Saga of Gosta Berling is an exceptional novel which tells the of the eponymous Gösta Berling. Berling is a defrocked priest (a person who has been stripped of the privileges associated with being a...

The Pillowman is a play by Martin McDonagh that premiered in 2003, and went on to receive the Olivier Award for Best Play as well as two Tony Awards. It tells the story of a morbid writer facing charges of enacting the murders depicted in his...

Educated is a memoir written by Tara Westover. The story recounts Tara's unusual upbringing as the daughter of extremist Mormon survivalists. Westover's father, referred to as "Gene" in the memoir, does not allow his seven children to go to school...

Hood Feminism is a collection of essays by Mikki Kendall, who takes issue with feminism in general because, she asserts, it only really works for some women. In fact, she feels that women actually oppress other women - which is an...

Behind the Beautiful Forevers is a non-fiction book published in 2012 and written by the American writer Katherine Boo. The full title of the book is Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity and it is set in the...

The Rise of Skywalker marks the end of an era which began with 1977's A New Hope and ended after nine films. To that end, The Rise of Skywalker is the last film in the legendary Skywalker Saga - but also the beginning of another story. Once again,...

Published in 1845, Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Match Girl" is a fairy tale about an impoverished girl who, afraid to return to her violent family after not having sold any matches, strikes matches which induce hallucinations of her...

Where the Wild Things Are is a children's book published in 1963 and written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. When it was initially released, it was met with mixed reviews for its honest portrayal of child anger. Some critics argued it would...

After a decade of reading, research, and writing, Donna Tartt published her highly-anticipated third novel, The Goldfinch. The 2013 novel tells the story of Theo Decker, and centers around loss, death and the titular painting, The Goldfinch.

The...

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches is a collection of the feminist writer Audre Lorde’s prose works. While Lorde primarily published poetry, she was also an accomplished essayist. Some of her most famous essays—as well as her speeches and...

Conspiracy Theories, says political scientist and author Joseph E. Uscinski, will inevitably appear in "complex human societies," as he calls them. But conspiracy theories have never been as ubiquitous as they are now, partially fueled by people...

Despite it being critically acclaimed, Mikhail Red's Birdshot (2016) is not all that well-known. It tells the story of a young farm girl called Maya, who lives in the countryside and one day accidentally kills a Philippine eagle - a majestic...

Deceit and Other Possibilities is the debut collection of stories from award-winning author Vanessa Hua. It was published in 2016 by Willow Books. The collection is filled with powerful voices. From immigrants leaving their ancestral homelands to...

Eureka Street is a novel written by Irish author Robert McLiam Wilson, and was published in 1996 by Secker & Warburg. The book was later republished in 1997 in the US, under Arcadia publishing house.The story revolves around the lives of two...

Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion is a book by Pulitzer-nominated author Rodney Stark and Roger Finke. It was first published in 2000 by University of California Press. Sociologists attempt to breakdown religion and find a...

Although Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power isn't all that well-known, it is certainly interesting. Broadly, it examines famous conspiracy theories (Pizzagate and the Birther myth, for example, are...

Your Name is a Japanese anime feature film that was released in 2016. Written and directed by Makoto Shinkai, the romantic drama is about two high schoolers who out of the blue swap their bodies. The titular roles are voiced by Ryunosuke Kamiki...

The story of the production of Tommy Wiseau's The Room is one of the most fascinating stories in movie history. Delusionally, Wiseau wanted to create the next great American masterpiece, but The Room is widely regarded as one of the worst films...

William Dean Howells is one of the most esteemed American authors of the late nineteenth century, and his literary output is immense, totaling over 100 books across different genres. He is most famous, however, for his Realist novels, a...

Set in Taliban-controlled Kabul, Afghanistan, Deborah Ellis's The Breadwinner follows the story of an eleven-year-old girl who, following her father's sudden arrest, disguises herself as a boy so she may leave the house and make money to support...

Angelina Grimke and her sister Sarah were Southern-born women, but very early on in life developed an antipathy for slavery of all kinds, both racial and gender-based. They became staunch abolitionists, and also a brave proponent of rights for...

Stray is an urban fantasy book written in 2007 by Rachel Vincent. The book is the first in her Shifter’s series. The book was written at a time when paranormal fantasy books relating to mythical creatures, such as werewolves and vampires, became...

Friedrich Hölderlin: Poems is a collection of poems by German poet Friedrich Hölderlin. Originally published in German, the translated version was written by James Mitchell and published in 2007 by Ithuriel’s Spear. The result of the translation...