Natalie Haynes’s Stone Blind was published in 2022. A retelling of the Greek myth of Medusa and Perseus’ quest to use the Gorgon’s head to free the captive Princess Andromeda, Stone Blind incorporates elements of biography and memoir along with epics like Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. A noted classicist, Haynes has written several fictional retellings of ancient Greco-Roman myths, from the Trojan War in A Thousand Ships to the Oedipal myth in The Children of... Read Stone Blind Summary

Stone Cold is a young adult novel by Robert Swindells, first published in 1993. The novel sheds light on the harsh realities of unhoused living through the intertwined stories of Link, a young boy trying to survive on the streets of London, and Shelter, a disturbed former soldier who sees unhoused people as nothing more than targets.The novel explores the psychological impact of being unhoused, societal indifference toward the suffering of others, and the nature... Read Stone Cold Summary

Stop, in the Name of God: Why Honoring the Sabbath Will Transform Your Life is a 2026 Christian self-help/spiritual-practice book by Charlie Kirk. As its title suggests, the text explains how honoring a weekly Sabbath (rest) is a divine requirement and a viable solution to “burnout,” distractions, and the relentless need to be always available due to an “always on” lifestyle. The book is directed toward Christians who want a clear worship/rest cycle while also... Read Stop, in the Name of God Summary

Storming Heaven, written by American novelist Denise Giardina, is a 1987 novel based on historical events that took place in West Virginia in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In the 1800s, the railroads came in and purchased several family farms, and then sold the land to the coal companies. The coal companies forced the families to move off their land. If they chose to stay, their only option was to live in coal company-owned... Read Storming Heaven Summary

In Roland Smith’s 2011 adventure novel, Storm Runners, three middle-grade students struggle to survive and find shelter during a hurricane after their school bus crashes. While a team of rescuers drives toward the disaster in search of the missing kids, the three students use all their skills and brainpower simply to stay alive.Award-winning author Smith spent decades working as a zookeeper and world-traveling animal rescuer. He has turned his experiences into award-winning novels and non-fiction... Read Storm Runners Summary

Stranded, written by Jeff Probst and coauthored by Chris Tebbetts, was published in 2013 and is the first novel in the three-book Stranded series. A middle-grade survival/adventure novel, it focuses on four young protagonists who become stranded and attempt to survive on a deserted island. The book centers on themes relating to courage, family, and team building.Probst is the host of the reality series Survivor, which began airing in 2000 and is currently in its... Read Stranded Summary

American writer and essayist Ann Pancake’s debut novel Strange as This Weather Has Been is a work of fiction that blends elements of Pancake’s own upbringing in Appalachia to tell the tale of a present-day coal mining family. Published in 2007, this is a character-driven novel with a ticking clock. Set amid the turmoil of West Virginia, Pancake’s characters are thrust into one of the most dangerous regions of the country, where strip mining has... Read Strange as this Weather Has Been Summary

Published in Japan in 2023, Strange Buildings is a mystery horror novel by the pseudonymous author and YouTuber Uketsu. It’s the sequel to his best-selling novel Strange Houses, which was adapted into a major motion picture in Japan. The story follows a writer who, after the success of his previous book, receives submissions from readers about unsettling buildings with bizarre architectural features. He selects 11 unrelated cases to investigate with his friend Kurihara, an architectural... Read Strange Buildings Summary

Originally published in 2021, Strange Houses is a horror mystery novel by a Japanese author and YouTube content creator who goes by the pseudonym Uketsu. The novel began as a YouTube video in which Uketsu and an architect friend discuss an unusual house floor plan and end up realizing the troubling implications of its design. The viral success of the video led Uketsu to write and publish a novelized version of the story. In 2024... Read Strange Houses Summary

Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage (2026), by American lawyer Belle Burden, was expanded from Burden’s standalone essay “Was I Married to a Stranger?” The essay was published in 2023 in the “Modern Love” column of The New York Times. The confessional memoir chronicles Burden’s 20-year marriage to Henry P. Davis (called “James” in the book) and details the emotional devastation that she experienced when her husband cheated on her and left her without explanation. Landlocked... Read Strangers Summary

Strangers in Time (2025) is a historical fiction novel by David Baldacci, set in London during World War II as the Germans renew their bombing campaigns in the city. Charlie Matters, a principled young thief; Molly Wakefield, a young nurse; and Ignatius Oliver, a secretive bookshop owner, are thrown together by tragedy and rely on one another through the Nazis’ last-ditch effort to break the British spirit. Strangers in Time examines themes including The Importance... Read Strangers in Time Summary

Strawberry Girl is a children’s historical fiction novel published in 1945. It explores the trials and successes of a rural settler community in Florida in the early 1900s. The central protagonist is a kind, hard-working, upbeat girl named Birdie who contributes to the building of her community. Strawberry Girl utilizes colloquialisms, imagery, and a happy conclusion to capture the lessons of hard work, integrity, and community. Lois Lenski wrote Strawberry Girl as part of her... Read Strawberry Girl Summary

Published in 2006, Street Love is a middle grade novel in verse by Walter Dean Myers, a modern retelling of William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Teenagers Damien Battle and Junice Ambers both live in Harlem, New York but come from differing socioeconomic classes. While Damien has been accepted into Brown University, Junice struggles to care for her younger sister and grandmother in light of her mother’s recent incarceration. Through free verse... Read Street Love Summary

Larry McMurtry’s 1993 novel, Streets of Laredo, is the direct sequel to his Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, Lonesome Dove (1985), and serves as the chronological conclusion to the four-book series. A stark example of the Revisionist Western, the novel presents a brutal and elegiac vision of a dying frontier, stripping away the romantic myths of the Old West to reveal a world of senseless violence and decay. The story follows an aging Captain Woodrow Call, once... Read Streets of Laredo Summary

Stripped Down (2026) is a memoir by Bunnie XO (Alisa DeFord), famous for her podcast Dumb Blonde, where she discusses her own life, interviews guests, and speaks honestly about trauma. Bunnie XO draws on her experiences working in the sex industry to create content.The memoir, which was a New York Times Bestseller, does not hold back on controversial subjects, exploring the difficulty of Differentiating Love and Abuse, the necessity of developing Self-Love as a Path... Read Stripped Down Summary

Strong Female Character is a 2023 memoir by Fern Brady, an Irish-Scottish comedian. Brady was diagnosed with autism in 2021 at the age of thirty-five, and Strong Female Character chronicles her experiences as an undiagnosed child and young adult through the lens of feminism. The memoir’s audiobook edition, narrated by Brady herself, was awarded the 2024 British Book Award for best nonfiction audiobook of the year. This guide refers to the 2023 Kindle edition of... Read Strong Female Character Summary

Stuck in Neutral is a young adult (YA) fiction novel about Shawn McDaniel, a fourteen-year-old boy with cerebral palsy. To the outside world, Shawn is in a kind of vegetative state: his condition makes it so that he has no control over any of his motor function, from moving his lips to evacuating his bowels. Shawn cannot communicate with the outside world, and so people—including his family members—believe him to have the brain function and... Read Stuck In Neutral Summary

Stuntboy, in the Meantime is a 2021 realistic fiction graphic novel written by American author Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Raúl the Third, and colored by Elaine Bay. In addition to Stuntboy, in the Meantime, Reynolds has written several other books for children. As a former reluctant reader himself, Reynolds creates stories that inspire young boys who don’t like to read. Stuntboy, in the Meantime features Portico Reeves, a boy who is dealing with The Effects... Read Stuntboy, in the Meantime Summary

Fifteen-year-old Felton Reinstein hits puberty and transforms from a nerd to an athlete but struggles to cope with his mom’s growing mental health struggles in Geoff Herbach’s young adult novel, Stupid Fast (2011). Bullied and teased most of his young life, Felton has anxiety caused by his dad’s death by suicide. Now, he grows huge and fast, joins the football team, and gains new jock friends and a smart, talented girlfriend named Aleah. Outwardly things... Read Stupid Fast Summary

Such a Long Journey, written by Canadian-Indian author Rohinton Mistry, follows Gustad Noble as he navigates interpersonal conflict and political scandal in early 1970s India. Indira Gandhi’s corrupt government and India’s war with Pakistan provide the story’s political backdrop. Critics widely praised the novel’s compassion and humor. It was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction.A strong and capable man, Gustad Noble carries a personal history of sadness. He lives in Bombay with his... Read Such a Long Journey Summary