Swordheart (2018), written by Ursula Vernon under the pseudonym of T. Kingfisher, is a fantasy romance novel that blends humor, adventure, and heartfelt emotion. The story centers on Halla, a practical, 36-year-old widow who inherits a large estate, only to be imprisoned by her late husband’s relatives, who want to force her into a marriage to control her new wealth. Desperate, Halla decides to take her own life with a decorative sword but instead summons... Read Swordheart Summary

Published in 2023, Martha Wells’s science fiction novel System Collapse is the seventh installment in the critically acclaimed and bestselling series, The Murderbot Diaries. The story continues the journey of Murderbot, a rogue security android that has hacked its own control module. In this entry, Murderbot is struggling with the aftermath of a traumatic event that causes it to have system-crashing flashbacks. It must overcome this internal crisis to help its human allies rescue a... Read System Collapse Summary

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, an episodic children’s book by Judy Blume, is a first-person narrative recounted by nine-year-old protagonist Peter Hatcher. A work of realistic fiction, this book is divided into 10 chapters and directed at young readers from the third- to fifth-grade levels. Originally published by Dutton Children’s Books in 1972, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is the first of five books in a series. The book received a number of... Read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing Summary

Originally published in 1978 by American author Armistead Maupin, Tales of the City is the first installment in a nine-book series of the same name published between 1978 and 2014. The novel takes place in San Francisco in 1976, as a young woman named Mary Ann Singleton, seeking a change in her life, moves to the city and resides at 28 Barbary Lane. There, she finds herself intertwined with her neighbors and their complex lives... Read Tales of the City Summary

Published in 2016, Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (and Everything in Between) is a memoir by American actress and author, Lauren Graham. The book uses the filming of the show for which Graham is best known (Gilmore Girls) and the reboot of that show as a framework to tell the story of her rise in Hollywood and to describe the hardships and joys that she faced along the... Read Talking As Fast As I Can Summary

Tartuffe, also known as The Imposter or The Hypocrite, is a Neoclassical comedy written by French playwright, actor, writer, and director Molière, born as Jean-Baptiste Poquelin. It was first produced in 1664 in France. While King Louis XIV and the public enjoyed the play, religious groups, including the Catholic Church and members of the upper class, condemned it for its display of a seemingly religious character who preys on those around on him for his... Read Tartuffe Summary

Published in 2014, Tesla’s Attic, by Neal Shusterman and Eric Elfman, is a science-fiction novel for middle-grade readers. It recounts the adventures of teenager Nick Slate and his friends as they learn to operate the strange devices he finds in the attic of his house while keeping them away from a secret society bent on acquiring them for evil purposes. At once thrilling and humorous, Tesla’s Attic is the first of a three-book series. Neal... Read Tesla's Attic Summary

Originally published in 1994, Thank You for Smoking is a political satire novel centered around Nick Naylor, a lobbyist for the fictional Academy of Tobacco Studies, an organization founded by the tobacco industry with the true purpose of countering negative scientific data and public condemnation of tobacco. Nick’s job has made him a pariah, as he has humiliated everyone from grieving relatives of cancer victims to federal employees. He also must watch his back, as... Read Thank You for Smoking Summary

That’s a Great Question, I’d Love to Tell You (2025) is the debut nonfiction comedic memoir from content creator Elyse Myers, whose self-deprecating humor and unfiltered stories about dealing with mental illness have made her a popular TikTok and Instagram personality. The memoir is built on the foundation of Myers’s social media content but also includes new stories that range from humorous tales of dating disasters to earnest reflections about self-worth. Blending personal stories and... Read That's a Great Question, I'd Love to Tell You Summary

That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming was self-published by Lemming in 2021 and acquired by Orbit Books in 2023. The novel is the first in the Mead Mishaps series, which involves a drunken mishap where an ordinary human accidentally saves a demon, starting her down a path to save the world from a dark sorceress who masquerades as a goddess. This fantasy romance (romantasy) title received rave reviews as an... Read That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon Summary

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared is the first novel by former Swedish journalist Jonas Jonasson. An action-adventure story with elements of comedy and historical fiction, the novel won the Swedish Booksellers Award in 2010; the German Pioneer Prize and the Danish Audiobook Award in 2011; and the Prix Escapades, an exclusive French literary competition, in 2012. Both critics and readers worldwide embraced the book. Within 12 years, it sold five... Read The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared Summary

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a young adult novel by Sherman Alexie, published in 2007 with art by Ellen Forney. Alexie, a Spokane/Cour d’Alene Indian (a term he prefers to “Native American”), began the book as a memoir inspired by experiences he had growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington, and attending the predominantly white Reardan High School in Reardan, Washington. The book received much praise and many... Read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Summary

The Alchemist is an early modern comedic play written by Ben Jonson and originally performed in 1610 at Oxford by the King’s Men, a group most associated with Shakespeare. The Alchemist, like many of Jonson’s plays, is a comedy of humors based on Galenic medical theory, which held that people are predominantly influenced by “humors,” or bodily fluids associated with specific personality types or traits. The play addresses themes of greed, deception, performance, and justice... Read The Alchemist Summary

American writer Michael Chabon won the Pulitzer Prize, as well as the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, for his 2000 historical fiction novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. The story unfolds in the period leading up to World War II and continues through the war years and beyond. The main characters are two Jewish cousins living in New York City and seeking success in the emerging comic book industry. One is the artist Josef... Read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Summary

The American Roommate Experiment (2022) is a contemporary romance novel by Elena Armas. This New York Times bestseller follows the coincidental romance between the spontaneous but uncertain Rosie and Lucas, her best friend Lina’s cousin—a man she’s ogled from afar via social media—as they find themselves being roommates. With a few recurring characters, it is technically a follow-up novel to The Spanish Love Deception (2021), which was also a New York Times bestseller and, as... Read The American Roommate Experiment Summary

Published in 1999, The Bad Beginning, a darkly humorous adventure novel for middle-grade readers, chronicles the misadventures of three orphaned children whose distant cousin adopts them as part of a plan to steal their huge inheritance. As the first of 13 books in the bestselling A Series of Unfortunate Events, the novel is written by Daniel Handler under the pen name Lemony Snicket, who’s also a character in the story. The books have sold 60... Read The Bad Beginning Summary

The Bad Weather Friend (2024) is a darkly comedic fantasy-thriller by best-selling American author Dean Koontz. The novel follows Benny Catspaw, a man who is too nice for his own good and who retains his optimistic outlook despite surviving a deeply traumatic and painful childhood. When he loses his job, his girlfriend, and his reputation all in a single day, a mysterious, looming figure named Spike arrives and promises to discover who is behind his... Read The Bad Weather Friend Summary

W. D. Wetherell’s short story “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant,” first published in 1983 and later anthologized in 1985’s The Man Who Loved Levittown, has been popular ever since for its gently humorous depiction of youthful infatuations. Wetherell reaches into his own past to present a tale that’s both lyrically beautiful and achingly funny. In the story, a 14-year-old boy gets a crush on an older girl and must make a painful decision... Read The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant Summary

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a 1972 children’s book by Barbara Robinson. It tells the story of six misbehaving children—the Herdmans—and their unexpected involvement with the town’s annual Christmas pageant. Told in first person by an unnamed narrator, it explores themes of Redemption, Perspective and Judgment, and Tradition. Robinson has a masterful ability to mix Roald Dahl-esque humor and nastiness with timeless lessons that will have a particular appeal to Christian readers who enjoy... Read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Summary

The third installment in Barbara Robinson’s popular series about the Herdman family, The Best Halloween Ever (2004) is a feel-good children’s chapter book. Narrated by fifth-grader Beth Bradley, the novel follows the adventures of the students at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School after the mayor of their town bans trick-or-treating on Halloween. When the school principal makes matters worse by deciding to host a safe and boring Halloween party at school, it is left up to... Read The Best Halloween Ever Summary