Published in 1999, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is a psychological thriller novel by bestselling author Stephen King. Renowned for his horror writing, King draws on primal human fears as he follows spirited nine-year-old Trisha McFarland on a harrowing battle for survival after getting lost in the woods. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon explores themes of nature, faith, and the dangers of everyday life through the eyes of a plucky young heroine. Plans... Read The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon Summary

An instant success, Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Gold-Bug” was published in 1843. Poe submitted the short story to a writing competition that was sponsored by the Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper. “The Gold-Bug” was awarded first place and subsequently published in three installments. The story was Poe’s most widely read work during his lifetime. Other works by Poe include “The Oval Portrait”, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, and “The Black Cat”. This guide refers to the 2021 Amazon Kindle... Read The Gold Bug Summary

The Golden Bowl is a 1904 novel by Henry James. The novel explores the intricacies of marriage and affairs in the early 19th century through the affair of Amerigo and Charlotte, who were once in love but too poor to marry. Amerigo instead marries Maggie, and Charlotte marries Maggie’s father, a wealthy American museum curator. While Amerigo is at first happy with his new wife, the time she spends with her father creates an opportunity... Read The Golden Bowl Summary

... Read The Golden Couple Summary

In The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, an orphan boy is raised by ghosts in a cemetery, where he learns how to become invisible, haunt people’s dreams, and face his destiny. Published in 2008, this fantasy-adventure novel for middle-grade and young-adult readers became a #1 New York Times bestseller. It won the Newbery and Carnegie medals for best children’s book, the first time a work has received both awards. It also garnered a Hugo Award... Read The Graveyard Book Summary

Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech’s 2012 novel, The Great Unexpected, follows the relationship between two best friends, Naomi Deane and Lizzie Scatterding, both orphans who know little about their families. They have felt heartache and loss, though these experiences impact them in contrasting ways: Lizzie is talkative and enthusiastic, while Naomi is guarded and anxious. In a discussion of her inspiration for the text, Creech recounts her realization that when faced with the unexpected, children... Read The Great Unexpected Summary

The Guest List by Lucy Foley is a contemporary murder mystery novel published in 2020. Foley, an English author, weaves a tale of intrigue, secrets, and betrayal upon the backdrop of an isolated island in West Ireland. Foley is also known for the thrillers The Hunting Party (2018) and The Paris Apartment (2022), among others. Often likened to Agatha Christie, Foley’s novel is a slow-burn whodunit.Plot SummaryMany perspectives compose The Guest List; each chapter jumps... Read The Guest List Summary

“The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” is a short story written by Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez. Originally published in 1968 and titled “El ahogado más hermoso del mundo,” the story is a work of magical realism, a genre that treats magical or fantastical elements as though they were normal, everyday occurrences.Set on a summer day in a small coastal village in South America, the story concerns the villagers’ reaction to the discovery of... Read The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World Summary

... Read The Harlem Dancer Summary

... Read The Hitchhiker Summary

... Read The Housemaid's Wedding Summary

Set in New York’s high society at the turn of the 20th century, The House of Mirth (1905), was the second novel by renowned American writer Edith Wharton. Wharton drew upon her own privileged upbringing in a wealthy, long-established New York family for her astute observations of this social milieu during the Gilded Age, a period marked by economic disparities and ostentatious materialism. Prior to the novel’s publication in October 1905, The House of Mirth... Read The House of Mirth Summary

The Human Condition, written by Hannah Arendt and originally published in 1958, is a work of political and philosophical nonfiction. Arendt, a German-American philosopher and political theorist, divides the central theme of the book, vita activa, into three distinct functions: labor, work, and action. Her analyses of these three concepts form the philosophical core of the book. The rest of the book is historical in approach.Part 1 serves as an introduction to Arendt’s argument. She... Read The Human Condition Summary

The Hunger Games is a best-selling young adult dystopian novel, the first in Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games trilogy. It details the life of teenage heroine Katniss Everdeen as she fights to the death for the entertainment of her fascist government. Since its publication in 2008, the trilogy has sold more than 65 million copies in the United States alone and, in 2019, was listed as one of 100 most influential novels by BBC News. The... Read The Hunger Games Summary

... Read The Hunting Wives Summary

... Read The Imaginary Iceberg Summary

... Read The Innocence of Father Brown Summary

... Read The Invisible Kingdom Summary

... Read The Iron Giant Summary

... Read The Island Summary