The World According to Garp, John Irving’s fourth novel, was first published in 1978 and continues to enjoy a wide circulation. The novel features elements drawn from Irving’s life and is a literary satire of gender dynamics in the wake of second-wave feminism. Irving himself claims that it’s a protest novel. The main subject areas include parenthood, death, feminism, manhood and masculinity, marriage and family structures, the influence of literature in a reader’s life, and... Read The World According To Garp Summary

Written by Betty G. Birney, The World According to Humphrey, published in 2004, is a children’s novel about a golden hamster named Humphrey who makes a positive difference in the lives of the students and staff at Longfellow School. With a cheerful attitude, a good sense of humor, and a wealth of wisdom, Humphrey narrates his experiences as the class pet of Room 26. Against this backdrop of school life, Birney touches on important themes... Read The World According to Humphrey Summary

Written by Lucy Score in 2024, The Worst Best Man focuses on Aiden Kilbourn, New York City’s hottest billionaire bachelor. Aiden finds his dislike of long-term relationships challenged when he acts as the best man at a wedding and encounters the working-class Frankie Baranski, the witty and confident maid of honor. As the two engage in a wide variety of escapades and fall in love, they must both grow to learn how to be supportive... Read The Worst Best Man Summary

The Worst Class Trip Ever is a middle grade novel written by American author and columnist Dave Barry and published in 2015. The story is narrated by eighth grader Wyatt Palmer, who recounts the events from his class trip to Washington, DC, during which he and his friends uncover a plot to assassinate the US president. The novel depicts increasingly exciting, fantastical situations leading up to the climactic moment in which Wyatt heroically saves the... Read The Worst Class Trip Ever Summary

In Lucy Score’s Things We Never Got Over (2022), 30-something-year-old Naomi Witt falls under the spell of a wealthy bar owner, Knox Morgan, as she struggles to rediscover herself after ending an unhealthy relationship. Knox’s good looks, solitary lifestyle, and bad-boy attitude convince Naomi to give love another chance.The novel plays with familiar elements and themes of the romance genre, including the courage it takes for a wounded heart to rediscover passion, the critical support... Read Things We Never Got Over Summary

This Book Is Gay is a 2014 young adult self-help book written by Juno Dawson to help teenagers understand the world of LGBTQ+ identities. Dawson is a prolific author, writing both fiction and nonfiction for a young-adult audience. This Book Is Gay also addresses parents and cisgender heterosexual teenagers with LGBTQ+ friends and loved ones, providing support with a variety of resources. The book faced censorship in Alaska in 2015 for its sexual education material... Read This Book is Gay Summary

This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay is a 2017 memoir chronicling the highs and lows of the author’s life as a junior doctor in the British National Health Service (NHS). Compiled from the diaries he kept during his medical training, the book gives readers an insider’s view of the grueling hours, difficult patients, and life-altering decisions that doctors face daily. The memoir is both a celebration of... Read This Is Going to Hurt Summary

This Is Where I Leave You is an adult novel written by American novelist Jonathan Tropper in 2009 and published by Dutton. Judd Foxman, whose life is in turmoil after his wife cheated on him with his boss, is called home to sit shiva for his departed father. During the week spent in close quarters with his brothers, sister, mother, neighbors, and past girlfriends, Judd must confront past mistakes and overwhelming new responsibilities as resentments... Read This Is Where I Leave You Summary

Three Days in June (2025) is a literary fiction work by best-selling American author Anne Tyler. Tyler has published widely throughout her career and has a large and loyal readership. Three of her novels, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (1982), The Accidental Tourist (1985), and Breathing Lessons (1988), were Pulitzer Prize finalists, and Breathing Lessons won the Pulitzer Prize in 1989. The Accidental Tourist won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction in 1985... Read Three Days in June Summary

Three Times Lucky (2012) is a middle grade mystery fiction novel written by Sheila Turnage. Turnage is the author of the Mo & Dale series and lives in North Carolina, where her books take place. Three Times Lucky was a Newbery Honor Book, a New York Times Best Seller, a Wall Street Journal Best Book of the Year, and an E. B. White Read-Aloud Honor Book. In the story, 11-year-old best friends Mo and Dale... Read Three Times Lucky Summary

Three Wishes (2003) is the debut novel by Australian author Liane Moriarty. Categorized as British and Irish humor and satire, the novel immediately became a New York Times Bestseller. The tone of Three Wishes is generally light and funny, despite its serious issues of adultery, divorce, abusive romantic partners, and the complications of pregnancy. The story is told from the limited third-person perspective of the sisters and the first-person perspective of several anonymous observers. The... Read Three Wishes Summary

Today Will Be Different is a humorous realistic fiction novel written by American author Maria Semple and published by Little, Brown and Company in 2016. The novel takes place over one day and follows Eleanor Flood, an animator and aspiring graphic novelist in Seattle, whose plan to make better decisions and improve her personal life goes awry when her husband disappears, her son falls ill, and a lunch meeting with an old coworker forces her... Read Today Will Be Different Summary

To Night Owl from Dogfish is a middle-grade novel by Holly Goldberg Sloan, published in 2019. It is an epistolary novel, meaning it is composed of letters, emails, voicemail transcripts, text messages, and other pieces of communication between characters. Much of the novel consists of emails between the novel’s two protagonists, 12-year-old girls Bett Devlin and Avery Bloom. Although Bett and Avery seem to have very little in common and live in different states, they... Read To Night Owl From Dogfish Summary

Too Old for This (2025) is a domestic noir thriller by Samantha Downing, an author known for novels such as My Lovely Wife (2019) and For Your Own Good (2021). The novel centers on Lottie Jones, a 75-year-old serial killer whose quiet retirement is disrupted when a young documentary filmmaker arrives intending to expose her hidden past. To protect her secrets, Lottie is forced to confront the challenges of a modern world filled with digital... Read Too Old for This Summary

Exploring themes of love, gender, and identity, William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, or What You Will was first performed in England in 1602 and first published in 1623 after Shakespeare’s death. Twelfth Night takes its title from the twelfth night of Christmas, a raucous holiday marked with feasting and entertainment. The subtitle What You Will refers to freedom or a lack of restriction. This guide refers to the Folger Shakespeare Library edition of the text. Plot Summary The... Read Twelfth Night Summary

Two Gentlemen of Verona is a romantic comedy generally assumed to be the first play written by William Shakespeare. It was likely written between 1587 and 1593, though the exact date of composition is unknown. The play describes the fallout that ensues when two young men (one of whom is engaged) fall in love with the same woman. Important themes in the play include The Restrictions of Courtly Love for Women, The Fickle Nature of... Read Two Gentlemen of Verona Summary

Ubu Roi, a play by Alfred Jarry, debuted in Paris in December 1896. The play’s opening night at the Théâtrede l’Oeuvre was also its closing night, as a commotion—often described as a “riot”—broke out amongst the audience, who were accustomed to naturalist theatre and were horrified by the play’s shocking and crude nature. Nonetheless, the play has gone on to be seen as a deeply-influential work of theatre, and is cited as one of the precursors to modernism and... Read Ubu Roi Summary

Ungifted is a 2012 novel for children written by Gordon Korman and is the recipient of the 2014 Red Cedar Award. Narrated from multiple perspectives, the story follows Donovan Curtis, an average student at Hardcastle Middle School who is accidentally sent to an academy for gifted kids. It chronicles the characters’ growth and change as they learn to balance intellectual achievement with experience and social engagement.Donovan is a prankster who struggles to control his impulses... Read Ungifted Summary

Unlikely Animals (2022) is a tragi-comic novel by Annie Hartnett. Set in the imaginary New Hampshire town of Everton during the opioid epidemic, it deals with the themes of loss and healing, as well as the complex relationship between the human and animal worlds. Unlikely Animals is the second book by award-winning novelist Hartnett.This guide refers to the 2022 Random House edition of the novel.Content Warning: The text contains references to substance use disorder, mental... Read Unlikely Animals Summary

Unplugged (January 2021) is a standalone novel by Canadian American children’s author Gordon Korman. Korman began writing as a teenager, and in a career that spans four decades, he has penned more than 90 middle-grade and teen novels. His works have sold 35 million copies worldwide, and his 39 Clues series has reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Korman has also received multiple reader’s choice and best book awards from various organizations... Read Unplugged Summary