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“The Pool” is a short story by W. Somerset Maugham which was published in a 1921 short story collection titled The Trembling of a Leaf. That collection is notable for also featuring what is arguably Maugham’s most famous work of short fiction. “...

“Mackintosh” is a nearly 14,000-word short story by W. Somerset Maugham found in the 1921 collection The Trembling of a Leaf. That collection is most notable for the inclusion of what is almost certainly Maugham’s most famous work of short...

This haunting and beautifully written novel tells the story of the Bright family, who move into a supposedly haunted house in upstate New York and become embroiled in a web of secrets and lies. As the story unfolds, we are taken on a journey...

American Dirt is a novel by American author Jeanine Cummins. It was published in 2020 by Flatiron Books. The novel is about Lydia and her son Luca, who illegally sneak into the US after their entire family is massacred. They barely make it out...

Restart is a stand-alone young adult novel written by the Canadian American Gordon Korman and was published in 2017. With a career of over 40 years, Korman has written several young adult and children books selling more than 28 million copies....

Flush is a children’s / young adult novel by American novelist Carl Hiaasen which was published in 2005. This middle-grade story is set in south Florida and addresses the subject of environmental conservation.

The narrative follows the young...

Look Both Ways is a young-adult novel by American author Jason Reynolds. Published in 2019 by Atheneum and Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, it features gripping illustrations by Alexander Nabaun. The story is told from the perspective of a young boy walking...

This Tender Land is a coming-of-age novel by American author William Kent Krueger. Published in 2019 by Atria Books and Simon & Schuster, the novel is set during the Great Depression in 1932. Five children get on a canoe and set sail on the...

The Vanishing Half is a historical fiction novel written by American author Brit Bennett. It was published in 2020 by Riverhead Books. The novel made The New York Times best-seller list debuting at number one. It also won the 2020 Goodreads Choice...

In Custody was published in 1984 by author Anita Desai and is one of her best-known novels. The American-Indian author has won a number of awards, including the British Guardian Prize, and In Custody was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. In 1993,...

Octavia Butler published Dawn in 1987. It centers on Lilith Iyapo, who has been kidnapped by an alien race called the Oankali. The human race has nearly killed itself off in a nuclear war. The Oankali picked up the surviving humans and placed them...

"The Cry of the Children" is an 1843 poem by the British poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, commenting upon and condemning child labor. It was first published in the magazine Blackwood's Edinburgh, though Browning would go on to revise the poem...

Crooked Kingdom is a fantasy novel written by by American author Leigh Bardugo, and was first published by Henry Holt and Co. on September 20, 2016. The story is set in 19th-century Europe and was preceded by Six of Crows (2015).

The book follows...

Braiding Sweetgrass is a non-fiction bestselling book about botany through the perspective of the Native-American teachings. The book reflects on the connection of nature, plants to the human state, and the importance of the cycle of give and...

Adrienne Rich (May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an influential American poet, essayist, and prose writer. Rich’s self-reflexive poetry and prose exhibit themes that can be traced across the timeline of her life’s work. While her earlier works...

Parched Earth is a contemporary fiction novel written by Tanzanian author, Elieshi Lema, and was first published on 29 December 2001 by E&D Ltd.

The story is narrated by Doreen Seko, a middle-aged Tanzanian teacher, as she attempts to navigate...

Zombieland is a comedy-zombie movie released on October 2, 2009 and was distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film is directed by Ruben Fleischer and stars Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin.

The movie follows a set...

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope (2009) is William Kamkwamba’s autobiography. He grew up in Malawi, a country deeply rooted in magic and the supernatural, and as a result, one that struggles to modernize....

"Written Near a Port on a Dark Evening" is a sonnet written by the English poet and novelist Charlotte Smith, using a description of an ominous nighttime landscape as an extended metaphor for the uncertainty of life itself. Written in roughly...

“The Lake Isle of Innisfree” is a poem by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats. It was written in 1888 when Yeats was living in London. It was first published in the National Observer in 1890 and reprinted in Yeats’s collection The Countess...

Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles is a novel adaptation of Homer’s Iliad from the perspective of Patroclus, Achilles’ best friend and lover, from their time as young princes to Achilles’ ultimate death in the climactic battle of the Trojan...

“The Sea Eats the Land at Home” is a 1964 poem by the Ghanaian author Kofi Awoonor, describing the devastation that occurs in a coastal town following a flood, while simultaneously exploring themes of colonialism and cultural erosion. It was...

The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1921) was the first novel published by English author Agatha Christie, who is widely considered to be the queen of detective fiction. As well as introducing Hercule Poirot, the Belgian detective persuaded out of...

Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich is a fiction novel written in a first-person narrative. The novel is based on the reflections of the narrator, Cedar Hawk Songmaker. The novel was written in the wake of the rise of the abortion...