Publication year 2021
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Family, Fame, Beauty, Memory, Love
Tags Food, European History, Arts & Culture
Family
Leo Tolstoy famously begins the novel Anna Karenina with the sentence: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." In this thematic collection, we have gathered noteworthy texts that navigate the joyous and sorrowful emotional terrain of the family unit.
Taste
Tastes Like War
Tasting the Sky
Teddy
Teenage Wasteland
Tell the Wolves I'm Home
Tenth of December
Terror at Bottle Creek
Tex
That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon
The 100
The 5 Love Languages
The 5 Types of Wealth
The Abduction
The Accidental Tourist
The Address
The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi
The Age of Innocence
The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion
The Amen Corner
Publication year 2021
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Family, Fame, Beauty, Memory, Love
Tags Food, European History, Arts & Culture
Publication year 2021
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Mental Health, Family, Mothers, Colonialism
Tags Food, Colonialism & Postcolonialism, Trauma & Abuse, Military & War, World History, Mental Illness, Biography
Publication year 2007
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Coming of Age, War, Gender Identity, Childhood & Youth, Language, Literature, Family
Tags Middle Eastern History, Military & War, Education, Education, World History, Arts & Culture, Biography
In her memoir, Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood (2007), Palestinian-American author and poet Ibtisam Barakat describes her early childhood in Palestine during the Six-Day War of 1967 and the life-changing effects that follow this pivotal event. Combining richly descriptive prose and free-verse poetry, Ibtisam shares often painful memories of childhood losses, from her home and sense of security to her childhood innocence. Writing from a child’s perspective, Ibtisam transcends politics to poignantly highlight how... Read Tasting the Sky Summary
Publication year 1953
Genre Short Story, Fiction
Themes Family, Education, Religion & Spirituality, Truth & Lies
Tags American Literature, Historical Fiction, Classic Fiction
Publication year 1983
Genre Short Story, Fiction
Themes Family
Tags Parenting, Relationships
Originally published in Seventeen Magazine in 1983, “Teenage Wasteland” is a short story by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Tyler, known for her realistic portrayal of the lives of ordinary people. This guide is based on the short story as it appears in the 2020 Vintage Shorts Kindle edition.It is some time in the early 1970s when Mr. Lanham, the principal of a private school, brings homemaker Daisy Coble in to tell her that her son... Read Teenage Wasteland Summary
Publication year 2012
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Grief, Friendship, Conflict, Forgiveness, Family, Siblings, Art, Truth & Lies
Tags Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, LGBTQ+
Tell the Wolves I’m Home is the 2012 debut novel of author Carol Rifka Brunt. In it, 14-year-old narrator June Elbus wrestles with her grief over the death of her uncle Finn Weiss, who died of AIDS. Set in 1987 New York at the height of the AIDS crisis, the novel confronts the stigmas surrounding the disease through June’s parents and sister, who blame Finn’s long-term partner, Toby Aldshaw, for transmitting AIDS to Finn. As... Read Tell the Wolves I'm Home Summary
Publication year 2013
Genre Short Story Collection, Fiction
Themes Social Class, Science & Technology, Justice, Good & Evil, Community, Family, Death, Masculinity, Power & Greed
Tags Satirical Literature, Science Fiction, Relationships, American Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, World History
Tenth of December: Stories (2013) is American author George Saunders’s fourth short story collection. Saunders is widely regarded as one of the modern masters of the short story form, and this collection features stories written between 1995 and 2012, some of which were previously published in various literary outlets. The book was a bestseller and was widely praised on release, winning both the Story Prize and the Folio Prize. This guide refers to the 2013... Read Tenth of December Summary
Publication year 2016
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Childhood & Youth, Family
Tags Action & Adventure, Children`s Literature, Horror & Suspense, Realistic Fiction
Watt Key’s 2016 children’s adventure novel, Terror at Bottle Creek, follows a group of children as they attempt to survive a hurricane that strikes the swamps and rivers of Alabama. This study guide uses the first edition published by Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers in 2016. Plot SummaryCort is 13 years old and lives with his father on a riverboat in Alabama, along with his cherished dog, Catfish. His father works as a... Read Terror at Bottle Creek Summary
Publication year 1979
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Siblings, Coming of Age, Fathers, Childhood & Youth, Family, Friendship, Social Class
Tags Realistic Fiction, Relationships, Animals
In small town Oklahoma during the 1970s, a rough-and-tumble teenager learns to navigate the world with his older brother and a mostly absent father in S. E. Hinton’s young adult fiction novel Tex. Published in 1979, the book was subsequently made into a popular movie starring young Matt Dillon in the title role. Hinton herself has written that Texas McCormick is the favorite of all her iconic characters, so good natured and even tempered that... Read Tex Summary
Publication year 2021
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Self Discovery, Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Love, Revenge, Femininity, Masculinity, Race, Sexual Identity, Appearance & Reality, Family, Teamwork, Community, War, Good & Evil, Justice
Tags Fantasy, Romance, Action & Adventure, Humor
Publication year 2013
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Space, Coming of Age, Future, The Past, Environment, Family, Teamwork, Self Discovery, Social Class, Justice
Tags Science Fiction, Romance, Fantasy, Action & Adventure
Publication year 1990
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Family, Marriage, Love, Conflict
Tags Religion & Spirituality, Self-Improvement, Relationships, Psychology, Christian, Love & Sexuality
Publication year 2025
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Family, Friendship, Marriage, Self Discovery, Community
Tags Self-Improvement, Finance, Business/Economics, Psychology, Philosophy
Publication year 2010
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Family, Justice, Truth & Lies
Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Action & Adventure
Publication year 1985
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Love, Grief, Marriage, Family
Tags Romance, American Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Classic Fiction
Anne Tyler’s The Accidental Tourist is a literary fiction novel that follows the character-driven story of Macon Leary, who must navigate life following the death of his son and the dissolution of his marriage. The Accidental Tourist was originally published in 1985 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. The Accidental Tourist is Anne Tyler’s 10th novel and one of her most recognized works. This study guide follows the paperback Berkley edition released in... Read The Accidental Tourist Summary
Publication year 2017
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Gender Identity, Family, Loyalty & Betrayal
Tags World History, Historical Fiction, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Romance, Horror & Suspense
Publication year 2023
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Family, Mothers, Loyalty & Betrayal, Femininity, Gender Identity, Teamwork
Tags World History, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Action & Adventure
Publication year 1920
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Social Class, Community, Family, The Past, Love, Gender Identity, Midlife
Tags Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Social Class, Love & Sexuality, Gilded Age, American Literature, Gender & Feminism, World History, Romance
American writer Edith Wharton’s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel The Age Of Innocence (1920) was a post-armistice reflection on the 1870s New York society of her youth. Wharton, an American who lived abroad in Paris, was already the successful author of other novels, including The House of Mirth (1905) and Ethan Frome (1911).In a The New York Times article, Elif Batuman reflects that “eventually, each classic tells two stories: its own, and the story of all the... Read The Age of Innocence Summary
Publication year 2013
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Femininity, The Past, Family, Self Discovery, War, Truth & Lies
Tags Historical Fiction
Publication year 1954
Genre Play, Fiction
Themes Religion & Spirituality, Race, Family, Forgiveness, Love, Regret
Tags Drama, African American Literature, Race & Racism, World History, Dramatic Literature, Classic Fiction, Religion & Spirituality
The Amen Corner (1954) is the first play by American author, orator, and civil rights activist James Baldwin. The play critiques Christian religion as a means of reinforcing oppression and poverty, specifically in Black communities. It also covers the rift between men and women in religious settings by examining the fall of its protagonist, a Black preacher named Margaret. Hollywood actress Juanita Moore, who was friends with Marlon Brando, asked Brando to loan $75 for... Read The Amen Corner Summary