The Past

Teju Cole’s first full-length novel, Open City was published in 2011 to widespread acclaim, winning the PEN/Hemingway Award, The New York City Book Award, and the Rosenthal Foundation Award. Open City made many lists of the best books of the year, including at the New York Times Book Review, the Los Angeles Times, and NPR. Cole was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan to Nigerian parents and spent most of his childhood in Lagos, Nigeria before returning... Read Open City Summary

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Oryx and Crake is a dystopian science-fiction novel that deals with extreme genetic engineering. The plot does not unfold in a linear fashion, nor are the facts established from the outset. Rather, the novel moves back and forward in time, often on a chapter-by-chapter basis, and the reader gradually pieces together what has happened.The novel begins by establishing its central character, “Snowman,” who we find sitting near the sea. He is dishevelled and gaunt, and... Read Oryx and Crake Summary

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Presumed Innocent (1987) is Scott Turow’s first novel, originally published by Farrar Straus & Giroux. The hit novel stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 44 weeks and is often credited as an early example of the modern legal thriller, helping to shape the genre’s conventions. Turow went on to publish 12 additional novels and three nonfiction works. He also continued to practice law, specializing in criminal defense, contrasting with Presumed Innocent’s protagonist... Read Presumed Innocent Summary

Pretties by Scott Westerfeld is the second book of the Uglies quartet. It is a dystopian science fiction novel set in a world where people believe they are leading lives of luxury, but the cost is more than they can imagine. Published in 2005, Pretties debuted as a New York Times bestseller in both its hardcover and paperback formats. Westerfeld has published more than 20 young adult novels, although he is best known for the... Read Pretties Summary

Pretty Little Liars is a young adult fiction novel written by Sara Shepard. It is the first book in the Pretty Little Liars series, which features 16 books, along with seven companion novels. The highly successful series was featured on The New York Times best-seller list and adapted into a television show in 2010. The popular show lasted seven seasons and aired on the Freeform Network. Although Shepard had only written eight books in the... Read Pretty Little Liars Summary

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Rebecca, a bestselling novel by famed English writer Daphne du Maurier, was published in 1938, and has never gone out of print. The winner of the National Book Award for favorite novel of 1938, Rebecca has been adapted numerous times, including Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 film version, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and a 1997 television miniseries. It was most recently adapted for a Netflix film in 2020 by the same name. Rebecca... Read Rebecca Summary

In 2018, Barry Sutton, a detective with the NYPD, witnesses the suicide of Ann Voss Peters, who has FMS—a mysterious ailment in which victims gain alternate memories. Barry has lunch with his ex-wife, Julia, on what would have been their late daughter Meghan’s 26th birthday. While investigating Ann’s false memories, Barry is enticed to the strange Hotel Memory, where business magnate Marcus Slade captures him and forcibly sends him back to the day Meghan died... Read Recursion Summary

The Red Kayak is a coming-of-age story set near the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Thirteen-year-old Braden Parks ("Brady") lives along the Corsica River with his mother and father and makes his living fishing for crabs and repairing boats. The town where the novel primarily takes place—Bailey's Wharf—is undergoing major changes as the story begins; historically home mostly to working-class families like the Parks, the town is now attracting wealthier residents like the Parks' new neighbors... Read Red Kayak Summary

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Published in 1973, Rendezvous With Rama is a science fiction adventure novel by British author Arthur C. Clarke. In his time, Clarke was known as one of the “Big Three” writers of science fiction alongside American authors Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein. Clarke’s expertise in space flight prompted him to develop the novel and screenplay for his best-known work, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Rendezvous With Rama won major speculative fiction awards, including the... Read Rendezvous with Rama Summary

Reservation Blues tells the story of Coyote Springs, a Spokane Indian rock band. The band is founded on a reservation, slowly gathers fans, and begins to play shows. Coyote Springs is given the chance to audition for a major record company in New York City, but, ultimately, the band does not succeed. The book combines traditional narrative with a mixture of other narrative techniques, including newspaper articles, song lyrics, interviews, and excerpts from journals. Together... Read Reservation Blues Summary