Community

A community can come together for the common good or be torn apart by disagreement and strife. This collection explores what makes a community and how individuals struggle or succeed in finding their place within it.

City of Orphans

by Avi

Publication year 2000

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Immigration, Community

Tags Historical Fiction, Children`s Literature, World History, Action & Adventure, Poverty, Social Class, Mystery & Crime Fiction

City of Orphans is a 2011 middle-grade novel by Newbery Medal-winning author Avi. Set on the Lower East Side of New York City in 1893, it centers on 13-year-old Maks Geless, who works as a newsie to provide for the needs of his immigrant family. When Maks’s sister is jailed for theft, he is tasked with gathering clues to help save her. Plot SummaryMaks spends his days selling papers with his newsie friends and traveling... Read City of Orphans Summary

City Spies

by James Ponti

Publication year 2020

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Fear, Gratitude, Joy, Loneliness, Revenge, Shame & Pride, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Death, Justice, Art, Good & Evil, Literature, Loyalty & Betrayal, Truth & Lies, Trust & Doubt, Science & Technology, Power & Greed, Safety & Danger, Teamwork, Family, Climate, Appearance & Reality, Environment, Self Discovery, Community, Wins & Losses, Friendship, Place, Order & Chaos

Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Action & Adventure, Children`s Literature, Realistic Fiction

... Read City Spies Summary

Clock Dance

by Anne Tyler

Publication year 2018

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Self Discovery, Family, Trust & Doubt, Community, Mothers, Marriage, Conflict, Gratitude, Love

Tags Realistic Fiction, Gender & Feminism, Love & Sexuality, Parenting, Relationships, Modern Classic Fiction

Clock Dance (2018) is Anne Tyler’s 22nd domestic literary fiction novel that explores the smaller details of the human condition. Clock Dance, which spans time periods from 1967 to 2017, follows Willa, a woman who’s always made herself useful to those around her without any regard for her own needs. Through Willa’s life, Clock Dance explores themes of self-fulfillment, appreciation, passivity, and community to show how people do (or don’t) change throughout time. This novel... Read Clock Dance Summary

Clown in a Cornfield

by Adam Cesare

Publication year 2020

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Fear, Grief, Guilt, Loneliness, Nostalgia, Revenge, Coming of Age, Death, The Past, Appearance & Reality, Fathers, Self Discovery, Community, Politics & Government, Good & Evil, Power & Greed, Safety & Danger

Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction, LGBTQ+

... Read Clown in a Cornfield Summary

Collapse

by Jared Diamond

Publication year 2004

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Climate, Community, Environment

Tags World History, Climate Change, Anthropology, Anthropology, Science & Nature, Social Science, Business & Economics, Sociology, Politics & Government

Following his best-selling, Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel (1997), geologist and anthropologist Jared Diamond published a companion book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, in 2006. Where Guns, Germs, and Steel described how various environments around the world helped or hindered human civilization, Collapse explains how environmental abuse ruined many past societies and how it threatens civilizations today. An updated edition, released in 2011 by Penguin Books, is the subject of this... Read Collapse Summary

Communion

by bell hooks

Publication year 2002

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Perseverance, Loneliness, Love, Shame & Pride, Femininity, Gender Identity, Mental Health, Race, Sexual Identity, Midlife, Fathers, Marriage, Mothers, Self Discovery, Community, Justice

Tags Feminist Theory, Gender Studies, Self-Improvement, Gender & Feminism, Love & Sexuality, Philosophy, Relationships, Women`s Studies

... Read Communion Summary

Concluding Unscientific Postscript

by Søren Kierkegaard

Publication year 1846

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Religion & Spirituality, Truth & Lies, Community

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

Published in 1846, Concluding Unscientific Postscript to the Philosophical Fragments is one of the major works of the Danish philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard. The book is so named because Kierkegaard intended it as a sequel to his 1844 work Philosophical Fragments, although the Postscript is more than six times longer than the Fragments. The word “unscientific” is an ironic allusion to rationalistic philosophy, particularly that of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.Hegel’s philosophy—known as Hegelianism—held that... Read Concluding Unscientific Postscript Summary

Confessions of a Shopaholic

by Sophie Kinsella

Publication year 2000

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Conflict, Fear, Guilt, Hope, Love, Regret, Shame & Pride, Mental Health, Midlife, Family, Friendship, Teamwork, Self Discovery, Social Class, Community, Economics, Education, Politics & Government, Beauty, Literature, Loyalty & Betrayal, Power & Greed, Truth & Lies

Tags Romance, Humor

Published in 2000, Confessions of a Shopaholic was the breakout success of British novelist Sophie Kinsella (the pen name of Madeleine Wickham), a former financial journalist from London. Before adopting the Kinsella pseudonym, Wickham published several traditional novels, but she gained international recognition through the Shopaholic series, along with later stand-alone works such as Can You Keep a Secret? and The Undomestic Goddess.The novel follows Rebecca Bloomwood, a journalist whose compulsive spending habits clash comically... Read Confessions of a Shopaholic Summary

Confessions of the Fox

by Jordy Rosenberg

Publication year 2018

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Gender Identity, Sexual Identity, Social Class, Colonialism, Community

Tags Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, LGBTQ+, Social Class, Incarceration, Gender & Feminism, Love & Sexuality, Social Justice, Colonialism & Postcolonialism, World History

... Read Confessions of the Fox Summary

Cosmic

by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Publication year 2008

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Space, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Coming of Age, Future, Environment, Nature Versus Nurture, Place, Fathers, Friendship, Self Discovery, Community, Loyalty & Betrayal, Order & Chaos, Safety & Danger, Science & Technology, Trust & Doubt

Tags Science Fiction, Action & Adventure, Humor, Fantasy

... Read Cosmic Summary

Cosmopolitanism

by Kwame Anthony Appiah

Publication year 2006

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Globalization, Community, Politics & Government

Tags Philosophy, Education, Education, Sociology, World History, Philosophy, Arts & Culture, Politics & Government

Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers (2006) is a philosophical text written by Kwame Anthony Appiah. Appiah, a philosopher and ethicist who teaches at New York University, grew up in Kumasi, Ghana, where his father was a Ghanaian political leader and his mother a British expatriate. His family’s multicultural background, as well as the experience of growing up in diverse Kumasi and then attending school in the United Kingdom, informed Appiah’s thinking about communicating... Read Cosmopolitanism Summary

Count Me In

by Varsha Bajaj

Publication year 2019

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Fear, Shame & Pride, Race, Childhood & Youth, Objects & Materials, Friendship, Grandparents, Self Discovery, Community, Immigration, Art, Safety & Danger

Tags Children`s Literature, Social Justice, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Arts & Culture

... Read Count Me In Summary

Crazy

by Pete Earley

Publication year 2006

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Community

Tags Journalism, Education, Education, Psychology, Psychology, Mental Illness, Health

Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness, published in 2006, is a blend of memoir and journalism by author and Washington Post journalist Pete Earley. The book was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2007 and recounts the struggles of Earley’s son, Mike, to receive treatment for his mental illness, which results in Mike’s arrest. Earley juxtaposes Mike’s story with the stories of Miami residents with mental illnesses as they navigate life in... Read Crazy Summary

Creation Lake

by Rachel Kushner

Publication year 2024

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Gender Identity, The Past, Climate, Environment, Food, Place, Social Class, Community, Economics, Globalization, Politics & Government

Tags Psychological Fiction

... Read Creation Lake Summary

Creativity, Inc.

by Edwin Catmull, Amy Wallace

Publication year 2014

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Economics, Teamwork, Self Discovery, Community, Art, Equality, Science & Technology

Tags Self-Improvement, Arts & Culture, Biography

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration (2014) is a business memoir by Edwin E. Catmull, a co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios. Using his career as a framework, Catmull outlines his philosophy on how to build a sustainable creative culture. The book traces his path from a computer science student with a dream of making the first computer-animated feature film to his leadership roles at Pixar and, later... Read Creativity, Inc. Summary