In Dreamland, a young adult novel by Sarah Dessen, a teenage girl named Caitlin O’Koren reacts to the disappearance of her sister by breaking away from the path that was set out for her. The novel is broken into three parts that focus on the core of the conflicts in each section. Part I, “Cass,” traces the O’Koren family after Cass, the eldest of two daughters, runs away instead of attending Yale. Part II, entitled... Read Dreamland Summary

Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories by Irish writer James Joyce. Originally published in 1914, the collection met resistance from publishers and critics due to its controversial themes and unusual portrayal of the everyday. Dubliners follows a range of people living in the titular city, often seeking some form of social or emotional transcendence without ever truly achieving it.This study guide is for the 1965 paperback edition from Penguin Modern Classics.Content Warning: This... Read Dubliners Summary

Eat a Bowl of Tea (1961) is the only novel by Louis Chu, a Chinese American immigrant who was active in New York’s Chinatown community in the mid-20th century. The novel follows two Chinese immigrants, Wah Gay and Lee Gong, as they navigate the engagement and marriage of their children. When Wah Gay’s son Ben Loy is revealed to be impotent, his new wife, Mei Oi, the daughter of Lee Gong, has an affair, sending... Read Eat a Bowl of Tea Summary

Eaters of the Dead is a 1976 historical novel by Michael Crichton. Crichton (1942-2008) is known for his best-selling novels, many of which have been adapted into movies, as well as TV and filmmaking. His books include Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain, The Lost World, Prey, and Disclosure. Crichton also worked in filmmaking and in the TV industry, most notably on Westworld (writer, director), ER (creator), and on the Jurassic Park franchise based on his... Read Eaters Of The Dead Summary

Ego Is the Enemy is a 2016 self-help book by best-selling American author Ryan Holiday. Holiday uses real-life anecdotes to illustrate how egotistical impulses are detrimental to people’s relationships, self-awareness, critical thinking, decision-making, and, ultimately, their life’s work. Holiday also draws on diverse examples of successful people, from Eleanor Roosevelt to Bill Belichick, to show how overcoming the ego can help people foster genuine confidence and achieve their goals while living out their values. Holiday’s... Read Ego Is the Enemy Summary

Elena Vanishing is a memoir written by Elena Dunkle and her mother, Clare B. Dunkle. Originally published in 2015, the memoir explores The Physical and Psychological Experiences of Living with an Eating Disorder from Elena’s perspective. It follows Elena’s journey through the development of and continued recovery from her eating disorder, which was fueled by The Desire for Perfection and Total Self-Control. The memoir also examines key relationships in Elena’s life, particularly with her family... Read Elena Vanishing Summary

Eleven by Sandra Cisneros was originally published as part of Cisneros’s 1991 short story collection, Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories. The collection won a number of literary awards, including the 1991 PEN Center West Award for Best Fiction. This collection primarily relays stories of Mexican American, or Chicana, women and how they relate to the world around them as minorities in a majority-culture system. Cisneros is known for incorporating elements of Mexican culture into... Read Eleven Summary

Ellen Foster is a work of adult fiction by US novelist Kaye Gibbons, first published by Algonquin Books in 1987. The novel was Gibbons’s debut, and it won the Sue Kaufman Prize for literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a notable citation from the Ernest Hemingway Foundation. Critics praised the novel for its unsentimental outlook and the wry, distinct voice of its protagonist. Ellen, a young girl living in the American... Read Ellen Foster Summary

Empire of Silence (2018) is the first installment in The Sun Eater, an epic science fiction space opera series by American author Christopher Ruocchio. As the first novel of the series, Empire of Silence recounts protagonist Hadrian Marlowe’s early years as the unwanted son of a cruel imperial vassal. Resisting his inherited role of despot and torturer, Hadrian flees his father’s wrath and finds himself stranded on a strange planet. There, he must survive gladiatorial... Read Empire of Silence Summary

Enough: Your Health, Your Weight, and What It’s Like to Be Free (2026) is a book about obesity and weight loss written by Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Ania Jastreboff. Winfrey provides insight into her own personal experience of struggling to maintain her desired weight and how her perspective on obesity has changed over time. Meanwhile, Dr. Jastreboff, a Yale obesity specialist, explains the role that human biology plays in creating obesity, arguing that obesity should... Read Enough Summary

Equus is a psychological drama that delves into the complex mind of Alan Strang, a 17-year-old boy who blinds six horses in a fit of passion. The play unfolds through the perspective of Dr. Martin Dysart, a psychiatrist who attempts to understand Alan’s actions, leading to a profound exploration of religion, sexuality, and the nature of mental and emotional wellness. It was inspired by a true story of religious mutilation of horses near Suffolk. It... Read Equus Summary

Celeste Ng is an American writer whose parents emigrated to the United States from Hong Kong in the late 1960s. She was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Shaker Heights, Ohio. Her debut novel Everything I Never Told You achieved both commercial and critical success, becoming a New York Times best-seller as well as Amazon’s Best Book of the Year in 2014 and a New York Times Notable Book of 2014.In his New York Times review... Read Everything I Never Told You Summary

Everything Sad is Untrue is an autobiographical novel published in 2020 that is both “fiction and nonfiction,” according to its author, Daniel Nayeri (354). Nayeri, his mother, and his sister sought refuge in the United States when he was eight years old, having fled from Iran. Daniel, the book’s narrator and author, weaves story after story for his reader, playing the role of Scheherazade before the king as if he was in 1,001 Nights and... Read Everything Sad Is Untrue Summary

Everything We Never Said (2024) is a dark romance thriller for young adult audiences and is Sloan Harlow’s first novel. It tells the story of Ella Graham, a high school senior whose best friend, Hayley Miller, died in a car accident several months before. Ella was driving, but she cannot remember the accident, and she has internalized significant guilt as a result. She seeks support from her school counselor, Mr. Wilkens, and develops feelings for... Read Everything We Never Said Summary

Fahrenheit-182 (2025) is a memoir by Mark Hoppus (with Dan Ozzi). Hoppus is the bassist, singer, and lyricist for one of the most popular pop-punk bands of all time, blink-182. Hoppus was inspired to share his experiences after battling cancer and discovering his life was full of rare moments. Hoppus’s memoir is part of a growing genre of musician memoirs in which artists shed light on the life behind the fame. Fahrenheit-182 is a New... Read Fahrenheit-182 Summary

Fall on Your Knees (1996), first-time novelist Ann-Marie MacDonald’s ambitious multigenerational family saga set in the early decades of the 20th century, moves from the bleak coastal towns of Canada’s Cape Breton Island to the bustling New York City of the Jazz Era. Recalling both the psychological richness of William Faulkner’s family sagas set in Yoknapatawpha County and the dark passions in the Gothic tales of Flannery O’Connor, Fall on Your Knees follows three very... Read Fall on your Knees Summary

Christine Kuehn’s Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor (2025) is both a personal memoir and a work of historical nonfiction. After receiving a mysterious letter from a screenwriter, the author embarks on a 30-year investigation into her family’s dark past, which her father, Eberhard, and her aunt, Ruth, spent a lifetime concealing. She is horrorstruck to learn that her seemingly ordinary German... Read Family of Spies Summary

Fantastic Mr. Fox (1970) is a children’s novel by British author Roald Dahl. One of Dahl’s most acclaimed and enduring titles, the novel follows an anthropomorphic fox—the titular Mr. Fox—and his animal friends, who live near three cruel farmers. Although the farmers continually attempt to kill the animals, Mr. Fox and his friends are able to outsmart them and steal all the food they want. Fantastic Mr. Fox, like many of Dahl’s works, is a... Read Fantastic Mr Fox Summary

Fatty Legs: A True Story is the 2010 autobiographical account of author Margaret-Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton’s childhood experience in one of Canada’s residential schools for Indigenous children in the 19th and 20th centuries. This study guide is based on the 10th anniversary edition, in which several supplemental chapters written by Pokiak-Fenton’s daughter-in-law explain the larger context of colonialism that created the residential school system. These residential schools represented an attempt to strip Indigenous students of their cultural... Read Fatty Legs Summary

Fear of Flying (1973) is author Erica Jong’s first novel, considered by many to be semiautobiographical. Like her protagonist, Isadora Wing, Jong was married multiple times, published a book of poetry, and earned degrees from Barnard College and Columbia University. She also underwent psychoanalysis, a process in which Isadora has been engaged for many years. Isadora is married to an analyst, and the novel follows her as she attempts to reconcile her desire for sexual... Read Fear of Flying Summary