Joan Didion’s memoir, The Year of Magical Thinking, explores her experiences mourning the death of her husband and the severe illness of her daughter in 2003. Didion, an American journalist and essayist, first gained popularity during the 1960s and 70s covering counterculture and Hollywood, but in The Year of Magical Thinking she turns to more intimate material. Didion’s husband John Gregory Dunne died of a heart attack while he and Didion were caring for their... Read The Year of Magical Thinking Summary

Yiyun Li’s 2025 memoir, Things in Nature Merely Grow, is a work of creative nonfiction that explores the author’s grief after the suicides of her two sons: 16-year-old Vincent in 2017 and 19-year-old James in 2024. In the aftermath of this second, unforeseen tragedy, Li attempts to construct a framework for living within what she terms the “abyss” of her new reality, a permanent state that defies conventional narratives of healing. The memoir continues a... Read Things in Nature Merely Grow Summary

Tinkers (2009) is Paul Harding’s debut novel. It delves into the life of a dying man, George Washington Crosby, as he reflects on his past and his family history. The narrative weaves together George’s memories with stories from his father’s life, and it explores the themes of mortality, memory, and the interconnectedness of generations. The novel, which is considered literary fiction, won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the 2010 PEN/ Robert W. Bingham... Read Tinkers Summary

To Kill a Mockingbird is a Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel written by Harper Lee and originally published in 1960. The book is widely regarded as an American classic and, until recently, was the only novel Lee had published. To Kill a Mockingbird was inspired by events and observations that took place in Lee’s hometown. Set in the Great Depression, from 1932 to 1935, the novel is narrated by a young girl named Scout, whose coming-of-age experiences closely mirror... Read To Kill a Mockingbird Summary

Set mainly in the early 1900s, Denis Johnson’s 2011 novella, Train Dreams, presents snapshots in the life of Robert Grainier, a laborer in the Northwest frontier. Working in the logging and railroad industries while living a remote life in the wilderness, Grainier navigates a harsh world while contending with grief. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction in 2012, Train Dreams tackles themes including Industrial Progress and the Erosion of Wilderness, The Symbiosis of... Read Train Dreams Summary

Tree of Smoke (2007) is a novel by Denis Johnson. Set primarily during the Vietnam War, the narrative follows a wide cast of characters, including CIA operatives, soldiers, missionaries, nurses, and double agents. At its center is Colonel Francis X. Sands, a larger-than-life figure who oversees covert psychological warfare operations, while his nephew Skip and others are drawn into the moral and physical chaos of the conflict. Tree of Smoke won the 2007 National Book... Read Tree of Smoke Summary

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Trust Exercise (2019), a literary fiction novel by Susan Choi, centers on two high school students who fall in love. As the plot develops, it becomes obvious that the relationship is not at all that it seems. Although Trust Exercise received mixed reviews from readers, critics praise the novel for challenging preconceived ideas of what a novel should be. It won the 2019 National Book Award for fiction. Choi is a best-selling, award-winning novelist who typically writes literary... Read Trust Exercise Summary

Two Trains Running by August Wilson first opened in 1990 at the Yale Repertory Theatre with Samuel L. Jackson as Wolf and Laurence Fishburne playing Sterling. The play premiered on Broadway in 1992, receiving four Tony nominations in 1992 including Best Play. Two Trains Running is a part of Wilson’s Century Cycle, also known as the Pittsburgh Cycle, which consists of 10 plays: one for each decade of the 20th century, each depicting the changing... Read Two Trains Running Summary

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Wit—sometimes spelled as W;t—is a Pulitzer-Prize winning play by Margaret Edson first published in 1995. The play follows the story of Dr. Vivian Bearing, a 50-year-old professor of 17th-century poetry who has recently been diagnosed with stage-four metastatic ovarian cancer. The plot itself is nonlinear; for example, the opening scene of the play takes place two hours before Vivian dies, but the play switches between Vivian’s childhood, career, and treatment milestones to tell her whole... Read Wit Summary