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Roald Dahl’s short story “Taste” is a brilliant example of his darkly comic style and sharp social satire. Set during an elegant dinner party, the story explores themes of arrogance, deceit, and moral corruption hidden beneath the surface of...

Some Time Never signals a major change for famed British author Roald Dahl. Well-known for his children's books (like The BFG), Some Time Never marks Dahl's first foray into adult literature. It tells the story of a group called the Gremlins, who...

Based on the James Ellroy novel of the same name, L.A. Confidential (1997) tells the story of three Los Angeles police officers (Jack Vincennes, played by Kevin Spacey; Bud White, played by Russell Crowe; Edmund Exley, played by Guy Pearce) who...

Written by Irish novelist Anne Enright, The Gathering (originally published in 2007), tells the story of a rather large Irish family who one day gathers for the funeral of a man called Liam Hegarty, an alcoholic who died by his own hand. The...

Although she's not especially well-known out of academic circles, American poet Ruth Forman has written countless classic poems, the vast majority of which talks about issues like spirituality and religion, love and romance, challenge, and grace....

In many ways, David Sedaris' 2000 collection of short stories is all about the concept of fitting in, and of how one does not necessarily need to speak the language of a place in order to fit in there. That said, much of the second part of the...

Published in 1846, The German Ideology is Marx and Engels’s first public attempt to outline the basics of Marxist theory as we now understand it. Here we find both the familiar political polemics around class warfare and proletarian revolution,...

Charles Dickens' ghost story "The Signalman" is about an unnamed narrator who takes an interest in a railway signal operator who is haunted by a specter. The specter's ambiguous warnings lead to the signalman being run over by a train.

First...

A Tempest, written in 1968, is Aimé Césaire's postcolonial adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Tempest. It follows the actions of the Shakespeare play, but makes the relation between Prospero and his fairy slaves, Ariel and Caliban, that of a...

A Little Princess is a children’s novel written by the English-American novelist Frances Hodgson Burnett. Published in 1905 as an adaptation of Burnett's serialized novel Sara Crewe, it is considered a classic of English-language children's...

Wonder, a story about a ten-year-old boy who lives in Manhattan and who has a rare physical deformity, was published in February of 2012 and was author R.J. Palacio's first novel.

Palacio was inspired to write Wonder after taking her son to buy...

There is a long-running debate about whether or not song lyrics can be poems (and vice versa). In many respects, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" (among other songs) proved that song lyrics can be a poem. In fact, it is considered both a...

Written by the Italian novelist Italo Calvino, The Baron in the Trees (1957) tells the metaphorical story (the book is a metaphor for independence) of a young boy named Cosimo di Rondó who climbs up a tree intending to spend the rest of his life...

The Ghost Bride is a critically-acclaimed novel by breakout Malaysian novelist Yangsze Choo first published by William Morrow in 2013. Set in 19th-century Malaya under British colonial rule, The Ghost Bride explores themes of tradition, love, and...

The publisher-approved synopsis of Five Days (originally published in 2020) says that it is "A kaleidescopic account of five days in the life of a city on the edge." And that's certainly the truth. It tells the story of seven characters who...

Bartholomew and the Oobleck is a children's story book by the famous author of children's literature. Unlike his other famous works this book has a prose narration, with rhymes only appearing a few times.

The story follows a young Bartholomew...

What Pet Should I Get? (originally published in 2015) marks the first of many lost Dr. Seuss work to be published. It tells the story of Jay and Kay's (the two children from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish) attempts to find themselves a...

Although Dr. Seuss was best-known for his standalone books, he wrote quite a few short stories, four of which are collected in Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories. Those stories include: "Horton and the Kwuggerbug", which tells the...

Although it is one of the least-known books by Dr. Seuss, You're Only Old Once (originally published in 1986) tells an interesting story of an older man who visits the Golden Years Clinic. At the clinic, the man has to deal with incredibly long...

Like most Dr Seuss books, The Butter Battle Book seems at first glance to be nothing more than a fun book of rhyming prose that appeals to children and helps them to learn how to engage with books a little better. Also like most Dr Seuss books, ...

Although Hunches in Bunches (originally published in 1982) is one of Dr. Seuss' lesser-known books, it tells the incredibly interesting story of a boy who is approached by strange-looking things with hats that look like gloves on their heads. Some...

There's a Wocket in my Pocket is one of Dr. Seuss' many classic books. It tells the simple but engaging story of a little boy who talks about the strange and interesting things that live in his house including the yeps on the steps, the wasket in...

Dr. Seuss' Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? (originally published in 1973) is narrated by a wise old man who, through a number of very whimsical and descriptive poems, describes quite a few characters and the strange situations they find...

Dr. Seuss' Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now? (originally published in 1972) tells the story of the eponymous dog named Marvin K. Mooney who is implored to "go" by an unnamed person. But Marvin refuses to go despite being constantly...