"Nothing can be said to be certain," wrote Ben Franklin, "except death and taxes." And yet, death is often ignored, dismissed, or delayed as an experience worth contemplating—until we are forced to reckon with it head-on. The books in this collection do their own reckoning.
Publication year 2025
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Emotions/Behavior: Revenge, Identity: Mental Health, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Relationships: Family, Society: Class, Values/Ideas: Art, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies
Tags Mystery / Crime Fiction
Publication year 2001
Genre Biography, Nonfiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Emotions/Behavior: Apathy, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Emotions/Behavior: Joy, Identity: Femininity, Identity: Mental Health, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Life/Time: The Past, Natural World: Place, Society: Class, Society: Nation, Society: Politics & Government, Society: War, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies
Tags Biography, Historical Nonfiction, History: European, Politics / Government
Publication year 2024
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Society: Immigration, Values/Ideas: Art
Tags Modern Classic Fiction, LGBTQ, Arts / Culture
Publication year 2022
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Revenge, Identity: Femininity, Identity: Mental Health, Life/Time: Aging, Life/Time: Midlife, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Natural World: Place, Relationships: Teams, Society: Community, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality
Tags Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Fantasy, Religion / Spirituality
Publication year 2023
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Emotions/Behavior: Regret, Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Life/Time: The Future, Relationships: Teams, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt
Tags Fantasy, Romance, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, LGBTQ, Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Religion / Spirituality
Publication year 2025
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Relationships: Family, Self Discovery
Tags Romance, Fantasy, Action / Adventure
Publication year 2012
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Life/Time: Mortality & Death
Tags Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Humor
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, by Jesse Andrews, introduces us to Greg S. Gaines, 17-year-old senior at Benson High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Greg is also the narrator of the novel. Over the course of his educational career, he has diligently developed a system that allows him to survive the daily pandemonium of life in high school. He maintains a surface-level, friendly-but-not-too-friendly connection to every clique in school so that he can remain... Read Me and Earl and the Dying Girl Summary
Publication year 2012
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Self Discovery, Relationships: Family, Life/Time: Mortality & Death
Tags Romance, Grief / Death, Love / Sexuality, Depression / Suicide, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Drama / Tragedy
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes chronicles the burgeoning romance between Will Traynor, a quadriplegic man, and Louisa Clark, his caregiver. Published in 2012, Me Before You is the first novel in Moyes’s trilogy and is followed by After You (2015) and Still Me (2018). The novel was adapted into a 2016 film starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin. Written from various perspectives, Me Before You explores the complexities of disability, love, and euthanasia.This guide... Read Me Before You Summary
Publication year 1630
Genre Essay / Speech, Nonfiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Life/Time: Mortality & Death
Tags Religion / Spirituality, Metaphysical
John Donne, one of the most famous English writers of the Jacobean Age, is the central figure of a group of 17th-century poets called the Metaphysical poets. These poets combined complex, unusual metaphors with philosophic and scientific allusions, their poems often focusing on metaphysical quandaries (hence the name “Metaphysical poetry”). Donne wrote “Meditation 17” in 1623 while he was deathly ill, and though it isn’t a poem, the sermon still explores the metaphysical mystery of... Read Meditation 17 Summary
Publication year 2025
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Identity: Mental Health, Life/Time: Mortality & Death
Tags Memoir / Autobiography, Grief / Death
Publication year 2010
Genre Short Story Collection, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Values/Ideas: Science & Technology, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Self Discovery, Society: Class
Tags Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction
Memory Wall (2010) is a collection of short stories by Anthony Doerr, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of All the Light We Cannot See (2014). Doerr’s writing career began in 2002, with the publication of his short story collection The Shell Collector (2002), and he is also the author of novels About Grace (2004) and Cloud Cuckoo Land (2021), and a memoir titled Four Seasons in Rome (2007). Memory Wall won the 2011 Story Prize and... Read Memory Wall Summary
Publication year 8
Genre Novel/Book in Verse, Fiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Society: Politics & Government, Life/Time: Mortality & Death
Tags Education, Education, Mythology, Philosophy, Philosophy, Classical Period, Fantasy, Classic Fiction, Ancient Greece, Narrative / Epic Poem
Publius Ovidius Naso, known more commonly today as Ovid, originally composed his Metamorphoses in Latin and completed the work around 8 CE. The Metamorphoses combines hundreds of Greco-Roman mythological tales into 15 books of poetry, brief summaries of which follow.This guide follows A. D. Melville’s 1986 translation for Oxford World’s Classics, and citations reference page numbers rather than line numbers. This guide follows Melville’s divisions of the various myths, although not all editions will make... Read Metamorphoses Summary
Publication year 2023
Genre Graphic Memoir , Nonfiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Identity: Language, Identity: Race, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Life/Time: The Past, Society: Immigration
Tags Children's Literature, Humor, Biography
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Natural World: Space & The Universe, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Life/Time: The Future, Natural World: Nurture v. Nature, Self Discovery, Society: Colonialism
Tags Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Fantasy
Publication year 2019
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Regret, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Natural World: Animals, Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Natural World: Food, Relationships: Daughters & Sons, Relationships: Family, Relationships: Grandparents, Relationships: Mothers, Society: Class, Society: Community, Society: Economics, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies
Tags Romance, Southern Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Magical Realism, Fantasy
Publication year 2025
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Relationships: Teams, Society: Politics & Government, Society: War
Publication year 2020
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Relationships: Family
Tags Romance, Fantasy, Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Religion / Spirituality
Publication year 1996
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Regret, Identity: Masculinity, Identity: Mental Health, Identity: Race, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Life/Time: The Past, Relationships: Siblings, Society: Class, Society: Community, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal
Tags Realistic Fiction, African American Literature
Miracle’s Boys (2000) is a young adult novel by Jaqueline Woodson. The novel tells the story of three brothers, ages 21, 15, and 12, coping with the sudden death of their mother a year before. The middle brother, Charlie, recently returned home from a juvenile detention facility, where he was serving a two-year sentence for attempting to rob a candy store at gun point. Set in a Puerto Rican neighborhood in New York City, Miracle’s... Read Miracle's Boys Summary
Publication year 1963
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Life/Time: Aging, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness
Tags Lyric Poem, Confessional, History: World
Publication year 2016
Genre Novel/Book in Verse, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Life/Time: Aging, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Natural World: Animals, Natural World: Environment, Relationships: Siblings, Relationships: Teams, Society: Community, Values/Ideas: Fate, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Self Discovery
Tags Realistic Fiction, Animals, Children's Literature
... Read Moo Summary