Lincoln in the Bardo
The novel takes place during and after the death of Abraham Lincoln's son William "Willie" Wallace Lincoln and deals with the president's grief at his loss. The bulk of the novel takes place throughout a single evening.
american
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Impossible Owls - Essays
The essays in Impossible Owls go beyond simply chronicling some of the modern world’s most uncanny, unbelievable, and spectacular oddities.
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Riding Toward Everywhere
Delves into the history and culture of train hopping. Excellent writing.
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Underworld
The prologue of _Underworld_ is a fictionalized account of The Shot Heard 'Round the World, a home run by Bobby Thomson in 1951.
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The Left Hand of Darkness
Genly Ai visits the planet of Gethen as an envoy of the Ekumen, a loose confederation of planets. Ai's mission is to persuade the nations of Gethen to join the Ekumen…
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Indignation
Set in America in 1951, during the Korean War, _Indignation_ is narrated by Marcus Messner, a Jewish college student from Newark, NJ.
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Infinite Jest
Set in an addicts' halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwed-up family to come along in recent fiction…
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Cannery Row
The story revolves around the people living there, including Lee Chong, the local grocer. Doc, a marine biologist. And Mack, the leader of a group of derelicts.
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The Dharma Bums
The narrative is set against the backdrop of the Beat Generation's counter-cultural lifestyle and the exploration of Eastern philosophy.
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Miss Lonelyhearts
Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West is set in New York during the Great Depression, a time of economic hardship and social upheaval.
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The Sun Also Rises
Jake Barnes, a journalist and World War I veteran narrates _The Sun Also Rises_.
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The Marble Faun
In Hawthorne's The Marble Faun, a carefree Italian count commits murder to protect a mysterious painter, shattering their friends' innocence and proving sin is a catalyst for maturity.
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Kindred
Dana, a young Black American, and her white husband, Kevin, moving into their new home. Suddenly, Dana is yanked back in time to a Maryland plantation in the early 19th century.
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Slouching Towards Bethlehem
A collection of essays divided into two sections - Life Styles in the Golden Land and Personals.
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Fox 8
The story of Fox8, a clever and curious fox living in a suburban landscape impacted by human development.
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Zero K
Jeffrey Lockhart’s father, Ross, is a billionaire in his sixties, with a younger wife, Artis Martineau. Her health is failing.
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The Crying of Lot 49
The story of Oedipa Maas and her investigations into a world of wild conspiracies. Then a stamp auction.
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The Sisters Brothers
A wealthy man known as the Commodore hires Eli and Charlie to hunt down and kill a man named Hermann Kermit Warm.
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The Martian
Watney's crew strands him on Mars after they believe he is dead, killed in a giant dust storm. He must make do.
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Paterson
paterson.webp “Paterson” is a long poem written by American modernist poet William Carlos Williams and published in five parts between 1946 and 1951. Williams names the poem “Paterson,” as Patterson, NJ is where he lived and worked as a doctor. The poem is a sprawling and ambitious work that was published in four parts and tend in my reading to go from great (Book 1) to so-so (Book 2), and on downward in overal quality. Just a fragment from the...
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Look Homeward, Angel
…a coming-of-age story that follows the protagonist, Eugene Gant, as he grows up in the fictional town of Altamont, North Carolina, during the early 20th century.
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China Mountain Zhang
The novel follows the life of Zhang Zhong Shan, a young man living in New York City. Chinese culture now influences most aspects of life.
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All I Asking for is My Body
Murayama's novel explores the struggles of the Japanese immigrant community in Hawaii during a time of social and economic inequality. Kiyoshi comes from a poor family. They face discrimination…
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The Purloined Letter
The Purloined Letter begins with Dupin's friend, the narrator, visiting him…
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The Gold Bug
…the adventure of an unnamed narrator and his eccentric friend, William Legrand, as they search for buried treasure.
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Let Me Be Frank With You
The book serves as a sequel to Richard Ford's previous novels, The Sportswriter, Independence Day, and The Lay of the Land.
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Slaughterhouse 5
…the story of Billy Pilgrim, an optometrist and World War II veteran. Billy becomes "unstuck in time," experiencing moments of his life out of chronological order.
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The Education of Henry Adams
Henry Adams, journalist, historian, and member of the Adams political family, posthumously published…
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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
It is a semi-autobiographical account of a drug-fueled journey through Las Vegas…
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Vineland
An exploration of the clash between the counterculture ideals of the 1960s and the conservative political climate of the 1980s.