Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast (1978) is author Robin McKinley’s debut novel. It’s an adaptation of the original Beauty and the Beast fairy tale written in 1740 by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, with genre elements of fantasy and romance and marketed for a middle grade readership. McKinley’s version of the story maintains an 18th-century setting while modernizing thematic explorations of outer versus inner beauty, ideals of faithfulness and selflessness... Read Beauty Summary

Benito Cereno is a novella by American author Herman Melville, first published in monthly periodical Putnam’s Monthly in 1855 and subsequently included in Melville’s short story collection The Piazza Tales in 1856. The story offers a fictionalized portrayal of the 1805 revolt of enslaved passengers on a Spanish ship under Captain Benito Cereno’s command. Melville drew inspiration from American Captain Amasa Delano’s memoir, A Narrative of Voyages and Travels, in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres:... Read Benito Cereno Summary

Between the Acts (1941) is Virginia Woolf’s final novel. It was published posthumously, four months after the writer’s death. It is a modernist novel that takes place on one June day in 1939, on the eve of World War II. Set in the English countryside, the novel focuses on the residents of a village who are preparing for their annual pageant at a time of looming international tension and domestic unease. Since much of the... Read Between The Acts Summary

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Bless Me, Ultima is a novel by American author Rudolfo Anaya (1937-2020). Published in 1972 by independent Chicanx publishing house TQS Publications, it is one of the first literary accounts of Chicanx culture to attain widespread acclaim in the United States. The novel is a semi-autobiographical account based on Ayana’s experience of coming of age in post-World War II New Mexico. Anaya explores themes of the Multiplicity within Chicanx Identity, Catholicism, Innocence Versus the Power... Read Bless Me, Ultima Summary

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Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memoirs of Captain Charles Ryder (1945) is the ninth published novel by British novelist Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh, who published under “Evelyn Waugh.” It chronicles the life and relationships of Charles Ryder, particularly his complex friendship with the aristocratic Flyte family, during the interwar period in England. The novel was an immediate success, and, despite his later dislike, Waugh referred to it as his “magnum opus.” It has been... Read Brideshead Revisited Summary

Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture is a 2000 nonfiction book by Ross King. The book describes how Filippo Brunelleschi radically altered the course of architectural history, defying expectations by designing and building the dome for Florence’s cathedral during the early Renaissance. Receiving widespread praise from critics, King has been commended for making a complex subject accessible to lay readers. King is a bestselling nonfiction writer who lectures across Europe and North America... Read Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture Summary

Bud, Not Buddy is a 1999 children’s realistic historical novel by American author Christopher Paul Curtis. Ten-year-old protagonist Bud Caldwell is an orphan living in Flint, Michigan in 1936. Four years after the death of his mother and after a series of abusive and neglectful foster homes, Bud sets out to find his father, whom he believes is the locally famous jazz musician Herman E. Calloway of Grand Rapids. Bud encounters a host of characters... Read Bud, Not Buddy Summary

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Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West, a nonfiction history by librarian and historian Dee Brown, was published in 1970 and became a widely influential bestseller. Dee Brown (full name Dorris Alexander Brown) was the author of more than 30 fiction and nonfiction books. As a librarian at the University of Illinois, he had access to the primary historical records from the late 19th century that became the main... Read Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee Summary

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Cannery Row by John Steinbeck was originally published in 1945. A Nobel Prize-winning writer, Steinbeck grew up in Salinas, California, which is near Monterey—the location of Cannery Row. Aside from a few years in Palo Alto, New York, and Los Angeles, Steinbeck spent most of his adult life living in Monterey County, and he drew on his personal experiences to write Cannery Row.Considered literary fiction or classic literature, Cannery Row is realistic and was written... Read Cannery Row Summary

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