Publication year 2015
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Space, Perseverance, Love, Femininity
Tags Romance, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Love & Sexuality, Religion & Spirituality
Religion & Spirituality
In this collection we've gathered fiction and nonfiction texts that address humanity's age-old search for meaning and purpose within a higher power.
Ice Planet Barbarians
Ignite Me
I Heard The Owl Call My Name
Illusions
Imminent
I'm Still Here
Incantation
Inherit the Wind
In His Steps
In My Time of Dying
Interview with the Vampire
Iron John
Ishmael
It
I've Been to the Mountaintop
Jackaby
Jayber Crow
Jesus and the Disinherited
Jews Without Money
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Publication year 2015
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Space, Perseverance, Love, Femininity
Tags Romance, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Love & Sexuality, Religion & Spirituality
Publication year 2014
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Justice, Friendship, Love, War
Tags Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Religion & Spirituality
Publication year 1967
Genre Novel, Fiction
Tags Education, Education, Science & Nature, World History, Historical Fiction, Classic Fiction, Religion & Spirituality
American journalist and short-story writer Margaret Craven released her debut novel, I Heard the Owl Call My Name, in the U.S. in 1973, where it became a New York Times best-seller. Originally published in Canada in 1967, the novel, like her later works, centers around the native population of British Columbia. Mark Brian is a 27-year-old Anglican vicar sent by his bishop to the coastal village of Kingcome to live among the Kwakiutl Indians and... Read I Heard The Owl Call My Name Summary
Publication year 1977
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Self Discovery, Religion & Spirituality, Science & Technology
Tags Philosophy, Religion & Spirituality, Symbolic Narrative, Inspirational, Fantasy, Philosophy, Self-Improvement, Classic Fiction
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah was written in 1977 by American writer Richard Bach and is a philosophical novel that questions the nature of reality. This novel was a follow-up to Bach’s bestseller Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970), which has similar themes and imagery. Illusions suggests that all of reality is a construct of the imagination and can facilitate or hinder a person on their path to having the life that they want. One... Read Illusions Summary
Publication year 2024
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Perseverance, Regret, Space, Politics & Government, Religion & Spirituality, Science & Technology, Truth & Lies
Tags Science Fiction, Science & Nature, World History, Religion & Spirituality, Politics & Government
Publication year 2018
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Race, The Past
Tags Race & Racism, Black Lives Matter, Biography, Social Justice, Religion & Spirituality
I’m Still Here is a nonfiction memoir published in 2018 by the American author Austin Channing Brown. Subtitled Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, the book chronicles Brown’s lifelong efforts to navigate White spaces as a Black Christian woman. Amid a surge of interest in the wake of the 2020 George Floyd protests, actress Reese Witherspoon selected I’m Still Here for her popular Hello Sunshine book club.This study guide refers to the 2018... Read I'm Still Here Summary
Publication year 2006
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Religion & Spirituality, Power & Greed, Truth & Lies
Tags Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Jewish Literature, Romance, World History, Religion & Spirituality
Publication year 1955
Genre Play, Fiction
Themes Justice, Good & Evil, Politics & Government
Tags Drama, Historical Fiction, Science & Nature, Religion & Spirituality, Education, Education, World History, Dramatic Literature, Classic Fiction
Inherit the Wind is a 1955 play by American playwrights Jerome Lawrence (1915-2004) and Robert E. Lee (1918-1994). It is based on the 1925 Scopes trial, where schoolteacher John T. Scopes was put on trial for teaching the theory of evolution at a time when doing so was illegal. Although Inherit the Wind draws from the events of the Scopes trial, it deviates significantly from the details of the case, as Lawrence and Lee were... Read Inherit the Wind Summary
Publication year 1896
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Community, Good & Evil
Tags Religion & Spirituality, Christian, Poverty, Inspirational, Classic Fiction
In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do by American Minister Charles Monroe Sheldon is a Christian novel that encourages readers to lead their lives according to the compassionate teachings of Jesus Christ. Published in 1896, it was an instant bestseller in the UK and the US. With more than 30 million copies sold, it was one of the best selling American novels of all time.The work is based on Sheldon’s lectures to his congregation in... Read In His Steps Summary
Publication year 2024
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Fear, Grief, Joy, Love, Space, Religion & Spirituality, Science & Technology
Tags Grief & Death, Science & Nature, Philosophy, Philosophy, Biography, Health, Religion & Spirituality
Publication year 1976
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Good & Evil, Death, Apathy, Guilt, Hate & Anger, Religion & Spirituality, Loneliness, Love, Nostalgia, Place, Regret
Tags Horror & Suspense, Fantasy, Gothic Literature, Arts & Culture, Depression & Suicide, Love & Sexuality, Relationships, Philosophy, Trauma & Abuse, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classic Fiction, Religion & Spirituality
Interview with the Vampire is a 1976 novel by Anne Rice. It tells the story of Louis de Pointe du Lac and his experiences after he becomes a vampire in 1791. Louis’s dissatisfaction with his mortal life extends into his immortal life, allowing Rice to explore themes of morality, love, loyalty, and immortality. This guide references the 2010 Ballantine Books eBook.Content Warning: This guide references the book’s discussion of suicide.Anne Rice ControversyThough her Vampire Chronicles... Read Interview with the Vampire Summary
Publication year 1984
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Masculinity, Nature Versus Nurture, Fathers
Tags Gender & Feminism, Philosophy, Philosophy, Sociology, Psychology, Psychology, Fantasy, Self-Improvement, Religion & Spirituality
Publication year 1992
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Religion & Spirituality, Good & Evil, Environment
Tags Magical Realism, Philosophy, Education, Education, Fantasy, Philosophy, Classic Fiction, Religion & Spirituality
Ishmael is a philosophical novel by Daniel Quinn, published by Bantam/Turner books in 1992. Quinn is a prolific writer specializing in cultural critique, and Ishmael embraces many of the themes that Quinn explores in his other fiction and nonfiction works, such as sustainability and the mythology of human civilization. As a philosophical novel, the work follows a somewhat Socratic dialogue between an unnamed narrator and a telepathic gorilla, Ishmael, using rhetorical conventions to display and... Read Ishmael Summary
Publication year 1986
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Guilt, Childhood & Youth, Friendship
Tags Horror & Suspense, Religion & Spirituality, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Fantasy, Classic Fiction
Stephen King’s 1986 novel It is widely considered to be one of the most frightening stories ever written. The book’s cast of characters clash against a monster that can assume the form of their worst fears, in a town called Derry that is itself a source of evil. It examines themes of friendship, family, grief, fear, and memory.The novel jumps frequently between past and present, but the structure of the story told in It can... Read It Summary
Publication year 1968
Genre Essay / Speech, Nonfiction
Themes Justice, Race, Hope, Perseverance, Community, Emotions/Behavior: Courage
Tags Politics & Government, Race & Racism, US History, Social Justice, Religion & Spirituality, World History
Publication year 2014
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Truth & Lies, Community, Self Discovery, Emotions/Behavior: Courage
Tags Fantasy, Horror & Suspense, World History, Religion & Spirituality, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Historical Fiction, Grief & Death
Jackaby is a 2014 young adult fantasy novel by William Ritter. It is the first in a series by the same name and follows paranormal investigator R. F. Jackaby, and his new assistant Abigail Rook, as they investigate a series of supernatural murders. The novel draws on a range of world mythologies and classic detective fiction like Sherlock Holmes, Inspector Dupin, and the works of Raymond Chandler.Plot SummaryIn 1892, a young Englishwoman named Abigail Rook... Read Jackaby Summary
Publication year 2000
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Religion & Spirituality, Aging, Self Discovery
Tags Historical Fiction, Relationships, Coming of Age, Agriculture, Grief & Death, Transcendentalism, Religion & Spirituality, Classic Fiction
Jayber Crow, published in 2000 by Counterpoint, is one of author Wendell Berry’s 80 novels and is set in the fictional town of Port William on the banks of the Kentucky River. The novel is often classified under transcendentalism, and Berry’s works focus on the agrarian lifestyle he practices in his personal life living and working a farm in rural Kentucky. Many of his novels share what he calls the “Port William membership” and have... Read Jayber Crow Summary
Publication year 1949
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Love, Hate & Anger, Fear
Tags Religion & Spirituality, Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, African American Literature, Race & Racism, Philosophy, Philosophy, Social Justice
Publication year 1930
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Immigration, Social Class, Justice
Tags Life-Inspired Fiction, Historical Fiction, Trauma & Abuse, Social Class, Poverty, Social Justice, American Literature, Education, Education, Jewish Literature, World History, Classic Fiction, Religion & Spirituality
Jews Without Money is a semi-autobiographical 1930 novel by Itzok Isaac Granich, published under Granich’s pseudonym, Mike Gold. The book charts the impoverished conditions of the Lower East Side of New York City and the experiences of growing up in a community of predominantly Jewish immigrants in the early 20th century. Growing up in such a difficult environment informed the author’s socialist politics as an adult. Plot SummaryMike Gold is born and raised by a... Read Jews Without Money Summary
Publication year 1970
Genre Novella, Fiction
Tags Symbolic Narrative, Modern Classic Fiction, Animals, Inspirational, Fantasy, Philosophy, Philosophy, Self-Improvement, Classic Fiction, Religion & Spirituality
Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by author and pilot Richard Bach, is a fable and novella that was originally presented in serialized form in Flying magazine. Bach initially struggled to find a publisher for the full work, but when the book was finally published in 1970, it enjoyed immense popular success; according to Publisher’s Weekly, it was the top-selling book of both 1972 and 1973. Bach went on to also write Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant... Read Jonathan Livingston Seagull Summary