Newest Study Guides
Each study guide includes essays, an in-depth chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quiz. Study guides are available in PDF format.
Each study guide includes essays, an in-depth chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quiz. Study guides are available in PDF format.
Zahrah the Windseeker is a fantasy novel by Nigerian writer Nnedi Okorafor published in 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Set on a fictional planet, Zahrah is a young girl born with forbidden vine dreadlocks (Dada), said to possess magical...
Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora is an anthology edited by Sheree Thomas and published in 2000. The book is a collection of short stories, novel excerpts, and short essays. As the title indicates, the...
Brown Girl in the Ring is a sci-fi novel by Canadian author Nalo Hopkinson. It was published in 1998 by Warner Aspect (now Hachette Book Group) as Hopkinson's debut novel. Set in a dystopian future, the city of Toronto has been barricaded and...
Published in 2016, Rosewater is a science fiction novel written by Nigerian-British writer Tade Thompson. Apex Publication first published it before Orbit Books acquired the rights in 2018. It is the first installment of the Wormwood trilogy...
An Unkindness of Ghosts is a sci-fi novel by American author Rivers Solomon. Published in 2017 by Akashic Books, the novel explores a society built on systemic racism in a generation ship. Inspired by the last Trans Atlantic ship to bring slaves...
"Outlander" is a historical fiction novel with the element of time travel fantasy by the American author Diana Gabaldon. The first novel was published in 1991 with enormous success, and is a part of a ten-novel series.
The first novel introduces...
Although she was a groundbreaking pioneer in the field of investigative journalism, Nellie Bly's name is not widely known. But it should be. In her seminal book Ten Days in a Mad-House, which she initially wrote as a series of articles for a...
American author Nikki Grimes is one of the most prolific writers for children and young adults. Dark Sons, which was released in 2005, was written for young adults and follows a boy called Sam, whose father leaves his family to go and marry a...
Written by author and activist Zetta Elliot, A Place Inside of Me deals with a number of incredibly complex topics, including police brutality, racism, and race. It follows an unnamed young black boy, who describes "a place inside of me" that...
It is not a typo when you see the name of this author appear as bell hooks. The lack of capitalization of her name is a conscious choice intended, at one level, to be a statement consistent with her status as social critic. She is a writer famous...
True Biz is a novel published in March, 2022 by Sara Nović. It is the follow-up to her debut novel Girl at War published in 2015. With her other life as a noted activist for the rights of the deaf and hearing-impaired, it should come as little...
In many ways, this collection of short stories by Indonesian author Budi Darma is exactly what it says on the can - a book that tells the tale of people living in the Midwest college town of Bloomington, Indiana. The collection is set in the 1970s...
Negroland is a memoir by American writer Margo Jefferson. It was published in 2015 by Pantheon Books. Margo was born in 1947 in an affluent African-American neighborhood, to a pediatrician father and socialite mother. They made it possible for her...
The Splendid and the Vile is a non-fiction portrait of Winston Churchill during the first months of his term as British Prime Minister. Churchill stepped into this role during the most troubling of times in European history; his first day in...
In his book The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel Van Der Kolk argues that trauma exists everywhere and is a fact of life for most - if not all - people. 25% of Americans are alcoholics; 20% have been molested; 33% of couples engage in physical...
“River of the Gods” is a nonfiction book by Candice Millard that focuses on the European frenzy surrounding the Orientalism of the 19th century and the culture of Egypt in particular. The prologue of the book itself is titled Obsession, and it...
Keri Blakinger's memoir Corrections in Ink chronicles the author's journey from her life of acclaim in the ice rink to her less desirable and sad life of addiction, crime, and a prison sentence. While in prison, Blakinger grappled with the...
One day, a man called Owen Michaels disappears. Before he disappears, however, he manages to sneak his wife a note that reads "protect her." While she is perplexed, Owen's wife becomes clear that Owen's note refers to his daughter, Bailey. The...
Anatomy of a Scandal tells the story of a man called James, a man and public figure who seemingly has everything going for him. He has a doting wife, is charismatic, financially comfortable, intelligent, and handsome. James, however, is accused of...
Michael Connelly's novel The Reversal (released in 2010), marks the third appearance of one of his most popular characters: defense attorney Mickey Haller. Fundamentally, the novel follows Haller, who is recruited to prosecute the retrial of a...
Author Michael Connelly is responsible for some of the most popular contemporary characters. He created the character of detective Harry Bosch and defense attorney Mickey Haller (among a number of other characters), both of whom are the main...
The Lincoln Lawyer, author Michael Connelly's 16th novel, introduces readers to a criminal defense lawyer called Mickey Haller. Mickey practices law out of his Lincoln town car driven by one of his clients who is working off his legal fees (many...
Written by American novelist Joshua Cohen, The Netanyahus (released in 2021) tells the story of the eponymous Netanyahu family. Set in a college in upstate New York in the late 1950s, the novel specifically tells the fictionalized story of...
Marriage Story is a drama film written and directed by filmmaker Noah Baumbach. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2019 and was later released in theatres and on digital streaming platforms. Despite the title, it explores the events...