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.

The Wonder

by Emma Donoghue

Publication year 2016

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Religion & Spirituality, Family, Colonialism

Tags Historical Fiction, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Psychological Fiction, Religion & Spirituality, World History, Irish Literature

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The Wordy Shipmates

by Sarah Vowell

Publication year 2008

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes The Past, Colonialism

Tags US History, Religion & Spirituality, Politics & Government, American Literature, World History, Humor

Essayist and commentator Sarah Vowell published her historical and social commentary The Wordy Shipmates in 2008. A humorous but seriously critical examination of the Puritan emigrants that traveled with the flagship Arbella from England to Massachusetts in 1630, the book revisits leading Puritan figures and the colonial events and ideologies they created while trying to establish the “city upon a hill” that defined their Christian mission in, what was to them, a New World.Though colonial... Read The Wordy Shipmates Summary

Things We Lost to the Water

by Eric Nguyen

Publication year 2021

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Self Discovery, Family, Immigration, Fathers, Mothers, Daughters & Sons, Perseverance, Memory, Community, Race, Sexual Identity, Truth & Lies

Tags Historical Fiction, LGBTQ+, Immigration & Refugeeism, Coming of Age, Bullying, Love & Sexuality, Grief & Death, Asian History, Natural Disaster, Parenting, Military & War, Race & Racism, Religion & Spirituality, Relationships, Modern Classic Fiction, World History

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Think Like a Monk

by Jay Shetty

Publication year 2020

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Religion & Spirituality, Forgiveness, Love, Perseverance, Order & Chaos, Truth & Lies

Tags Self-Improvement, Philosophy, Psychology, Health, Religion & Spirituality, Psychology, Philosophy, Mental Illness

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This is Water

by David Foster Wallace

Publication year 2009

Genre Essay / Speech, Nonfiction

Themes Religion & Spirituality, Self Discovery, Education, Fate

Tags Philosophy, American Literature, Self-Improvement, Psychology, Psychology, Philosophy, Religion & Spirituality

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This Is Your Mind on Plants

by Michael Pollan

Publication year 2021

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Environment, Indigenous Identity, Colonialism, Politics & Government

Tags Science & Nature, Psychology, Health, Addiction & Substance Abuse, Agriculture, Anthropology, Business & Economics, European History, US History, Politics & Government, World History, Journalism, Religion & Spirituality, Psychology, Food

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Thus Spoke Zarathustra

by Friedrich Nietzsche

Publication year 1883

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Religion & Spirituality, Fate, Order & Chaos, Trust & Doubt, Power & Greed, Good & Evil, Truth & Lies, Guilt, Fear, Perseverance, Conflict, Hope

Tags Philosophy, Religion & Spirituality, World History, Psychology, Psychology, Philosophy, Classic Fiction

Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None is a work of fiction written by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Published between 1883 and 1885, the allegorical novel also known as Thus Spake Zarathustra is a collection of speeches by a character named Zarathustra to the villagers of The Motley Cow. Nietzsche uses many literary devices such as personification, allegory, and allusion. The philosophical points referenced in Thus Spoke Zarathustra include the death of... Read Thus Spoke Zarathustra Summary

Till We Have Faces

by C. S. Lewis

Publication year 1956

Genre Novel, Fiction

Tags Mythology, Classic Fiction, Religion & Spirituality, Christian, Fantasy

C.S. Lewis’s final novel, Till We Have Faces, is a retelling of the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche. The novel is narrated by Orual, the Queen of Glome, and is framed as a complaint against the gods. Orual is the eldest of three sisters; her siblings are Redival and Istra—whom Orual calls Psyche. Orual is an ugly child who resents Redival’s beauty and whose only friend is her tutor, a Greek slave called the... Read Till We Have Faces Summary

Time for Andrew: A Ghost Story

by Mary Downing Hahn

Publication year 1994

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Perseverance, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Death, Family, Fathers, Grandparents, Self Discovery

Tags Horror & Suspense, Children`s Literature, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Religion & Spirituality

Time for Andrew: A Ghost Story is a gothic middle grade novel written by Mary Downing Hahn and published in 1994. Hahn is known for incorporating elements of the thriller and gothic genres into stories for young readers. This novel follows 12-year-old Drew as he spends the summer with his Aunt Blythe and an irritable great-grandfather in their creaky, shadowy ancestral home. When a dying boy who looks strikingly similar to Drew mysteriously appears in... Read Time for Andrew: A Ghost Story Summary

Took

by Mary Downing Hahn

Publication year 2015

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Fear, Family, Siblings

Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Children`s Literature, Religion & Spirituality

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