... Read Same As It Ever Was Summary

Same Sun Here, co-written by Silas House and Neela Vaswani, details a year in the lives of two young people: an Indian immigrant living in New York City, and a small-town boy from Kentucky. Written as a series of letters between the two main characters, this middle grade novel is narrated by each author writing from the perspective of a separate character. Published in 2011, the book received the Nautilus Book Award, the E.B. White... Read Same Sun Here Summary

... Read Sea of Tranquility Summary

... Read Simon the Fiddler Summary

... Read Sir Orfeo Summary

... Read Sisters Under the Rising Sun Summary

Skink—No Surrender was written by Floridian author Carl Hiaasen and published by Ember, part of Penguin Random House, in 2014. According to the biography on his website (carlhiaasen.com), Hiaasen has lived in Florida his entire life. He is the author of several bestselling novels for adults, all of which are set in his home state. His works for young readers include the Newbery Honoree Hoot, which was adapted for film in 2006. Clinton Tyree, alias... Read Skink—No Surrender Summary

... Read Softly, As I Leave You Summary

... Read Solo Summary

“Sonny’s Blues” is a short story by author James Baldwin, which was published in the literary magazine Partisan Review in 1957. The story was later included in a 1965 collection of Baldwin’s stories, Going to Meet the Man. “Sonny’s Blues” describes the relationship between an unnamed narrator and his younger brother, Sonny. The story explores how the experience of growing up Black amid racism and poverty impacts a person’s psychology and relationships. This guide follows... Read Sonny's Blues Summary

Sophie’s Choice (1979) is one of William Styron’s better-remembered novels. It is described as an American classic or historical fiction, though it falls squarely into the category of adult literary fiction. The book would be unsuitable for younger readers because of its explicit treatment of sex. It won the 1980 National Book Award and became a bestseller. The 1982 film adaptation, starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline, garnered an Oscar for Streep’s performance.Sophie’s Choice stirred... Read Sophie's Choice Summary

... Read Sounds Like Love Summary

Ibrahim Kendi’s comprehensive history of racial thought in the US, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, was published in 2016 and won the National Book Award for Nonfiction. Kendi has also collaborated author Jason Reynolds (Long Way Down, Ain't Burned All the Bright) on a young adult "remix" of Stamped from the Beginning titled Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You, and is well known for his 2019 book, How to... Read Stamped From the Beginning Summary

... Read Stella Maris Summary

Steppenwolf, originally published in German in 1927, then translated into English in 1929, is the eighth novel published by Swiss German novelist Hermann Hesse. The novel was commercially successful upon publication, and it remains a popular novel to the present day. However, Hesse remarked that whereas his intention was to find humor in life and resist despair, Steppenwolf has often been misunderstood as a glorification of suffering. Much of Hesse’s body of work addresses spiritual... Read Steppenwolf Summary

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, originally published in 1979, is a musical play by Hugh Wheeler with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The play follows murderous barber Sweeney Todd, who seeks revenge against the corrupt Judge Turpin for wrongfully incarcerating him in order to steal Todd’s wife. Wheeler and Sondheim use this tale to examine the exploitation and retaliation of the working class, the perils of obsession, and the tension between tenderness and... Read Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Summary

Sybil, by Flora Rheta Schreiber, tells the story of the recovery of the pseudonymous Sybil Dorsett (in real life, Shirley Mason), a woman who suffers from multiple personality disorder because of severe childhood trauma. Published in 1973, the book and the subsequent mini-series caused an immediate sensation, selling millions of copies and bringing the little-known disorder into Americans’ cultural awareness. The story claims to be nonfiction, but critics of the book, such as Debbie Nathan... Read Sybil Summary

... Read Symphony of Secrets Summary

Elmer Rice’s The Adding Machine is a play originally published in 1923. The play centers around the life, death, and afterlife of a man named Zero. He and his wife live in a society dominated by reverence for financial gain and opportunism, with an emphasis on morality and rigid determinations of what is right and wrong. Mr. and Mrs. Zero come in fairly low on this social hierarchy, and while Zero is content in his... Read The Adding Machine Summary

The Awakening is Kate Chopin’s second novel. It was first published in 1899 and is considered one of the first examples of feminist fiction.The novel opens in the 1890s Louisiana, at Grand Isle, a summer holiday resort popular among wealthy Creoles who live in nearby New Orleans. Edna Pontellier, her husband, Léonce, and their two children are vacationing at the cottages of Madame Lebrun. Léonce is a kind and devoted husband, but he is often... Read The Awakening Summary