Published in 1997, Memoirs of a Geisha is the story of a nine-year-old girl who grows up to be the most famous geisha in her time. Chiyo was the second daughter of a fisherman's. Her father was very old and her mother was his second wife. When their mother became deathly ill, their father knew he could not take care of … [Read more...] about Memoirs of a Geisha
Death of a Salesman
Written in 1948 in one day shortly after moving into his studio in Roxbury, Connecticut, Death of a Salesman became one of Arthur Miller's most famous works. The story of a middle-aged salesman who is facing a mid-life crisis, and on a downward slide to suicide. He is haunted by the ghosts of his past mistakes. As … [Read more...] about Death of a Salesman
The Sun Also Rises
"The Sun Also Rises" is a 1926 novel written by the famed American author Ernest Hemingway. The novel's main theme is that of the "Lost Generation" or the generation of young men that were seen to be irrevocably damaged by World War I and Hemingway's assertion that they were not as decadent and dissolute as was … [Read more...] about The Sun Also Rises
The Chrysalids
"The Chrysalids" is a science fiction novel written by John Wyndham and published in 1955. The book was given mixed reviews with some lauding it for its originality and other's finding it too hard to believe. In 1970, the novel was adapted into a radio serial for the BBC. The novel revolves around a young boy named … [Read more...] about The Chrysalids
The Pale King
The Pale King was published posthumously in 2011. The book was an unfinished novel written by David Foster Wallace and found by his wife after his death. The book is haphazard, as is Wallace's style. He worked on it for over a decade. Most of the stories follow the employees of the Internal Revenue Service in Peoria, … [Read more...] about The Pale King
Grendel
Published in 1971 by the American author, John Gardner, Grendel is a powerful novel using the voice of the monster in Beowulf, an Old English epic poem. In the way of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley and The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo, the monster is lonely and questioning his existence. These writers used … [Read more...] about Grendel
A Clockwork Orange
"A Clockwork Orange" is a dystopian future novel written by Anthony Burgess and published in 1962. The book was successful in part due to its fascinating usage of a slang developed by Burgess that combines English Cockney rhyming slang, modified Slavic words and many words that Burgess made up himself. The slang is … [Read more...] about A Clockwork Orange
All Quiet on the Western Front
"All Quiet on the Western Front" is a novel by the German author Erich Maria Remarque. Originally published in the German newspaper Vossische Zeitung in November and December of 1928, the story was collected into a novel and published in January 1929. In its first 18 months of print alone, the book sold 2.5 million … [Read more...] about All Quiet on the Western Front
The Bean Trees
"The Bean Trees" is a novel by the American author Barbara Kingsolver that was published in 1988. The novel was Kingsolver's first and was generally well-reviewed by critics. As a feminist and an advocate for the rights of immigrants, Kingsolver wrote the book to reflect many of these deeply-held beliefs. The … [Read more...] about The Bean Trees
The Color Purple
"The Color Purple" is a 1982 novel written by Alice Walker. The novel is told in an epistolary style, through the usage of 90 different letters written by the characters. In 1983, the book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction. Several years later in 1985, it was adapted into a … [Read more...] about The Color Purple