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Book Summaries

Browse book summaries and analysis from editors with writing lessons, story structure insights, and craft takeaways.

Being Mortal

By Atul Gawande

Beloved

By Toni Morrison

Berlin: the Downfall 1945

Berlin: the Downfall 1945

By Antony Beevor

Between the World and Me

Between the World and Me

By Ta-Nehisi Coates

Black Boy

By Richard Wright

Black Hawk Down

Black Hawk Down

Blood Meridian

By Cormac McCarthy

Bloodlands

By Timothy Snyder

Born a Crime

Brave New World

Brave New World

By Aldous Huxley

Buddenbrooks

Candide

Capital in the Twenty-First Century

Capital in the Twenty-First Century

By Thomas Piketty

Casino Royale

Caste

By Isabel Wilkerson

Catastrophe 1914

Catastrophe 1914

By Max Hastings

Citizens

By Simon Schama

Collapse

By Jared Diamond

Cosmos

Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment

By Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Daring Greatly

By Brené Brown

Discipline and Punish

Discipline and Punish

By Michel Foucault

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

By Philip K. Dick

Do No Harm

Doctor Zhivago

By Boris Pasternak

Dominion

Don Quixote

By Miguel de Cervantes

Dracula

Dream of the Red Chamber

Dream of the Red Chamber

Dreams from My Father

Dreams from My Father

By Barack Obama

Dune

By Frank Herbert

Educated

By Tara Westover

Effi Briest

By Theodor Fontane

Eichmann in Jerusalem

Eichmann in Jerusalem

By Hannah Arendt

Fathers and Sons

Fathers and Sons

By Ivan Turgenev

Faust

By Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Faust, Part Two

Faust, Part Two

By Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Ficciones

By Jorge Luis Borges

For Whom the Bell Tolls

For Whom the Bell Tolls

By Ernest Hemingway

Foundation

By Isaac Asimov

Founding Brothers

Founding Brothers

By Joseph J. Ellis

Frankenstein

By Mary Shelley

Go Tell It on the Mountain

Go Tell It on the Mountain

By James Baldwin

Great Expectations

Great Expectations

By Charles Dickens

Gulag

By Anne Applebaum

Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels

By Jonathan Swift

Guns, Germs, and Steel

Guns, Germs, and Steel

By Jared Diamond

Half of a Yellow Sun

Half of a Yellow Sun

By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Hamlet

By William Shakespeare

Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness

By Joseph Conrad

Hiroshima

Homage to Catalonia

Homage to Catalonia

By George Orwell

Homegoing

Homo Deus

By Yuval Noah Harari

Homo Faber

Hopscotch

By Julio Cortázar

How to Change Your Mind

How to Change Your Mind

By Michael Pollan

How to Win Friends and Influence People

How to Win Friends and Influence People

By Dale Carnegie

Howards End

By E. M. Forster

I Am Malala

By Malala Yousafzai

I Contain Multitudes

I Contain Multitudes

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

By Maya Angelou

I'll Be Gone in the Dark

I'll Be Gone in the Dark

By Michelle McNamara

If on a winter's night a traveler

If on a winter's night a traveler

By Italo Calvino

If This Is a Man

If This Is a Man

In Cold Blood

By Truman Capote

Inferno

By Dante Alighieri

Inferno

By Max Hastings

Infinite Jest

By David Foster Wallace

Into the Wild

By Jon Krakauer

Into Thin Air

By Jon Krakauer

Invisible Cities

Invisible Cities

By Italo Calvino

Invisible Man

By Ralph Ellison

Iron Curtain

By Anne Applebaum

Ivan's War

By Catherine Merridale

Jane Eyre

By Charlotte Brontë

John Adams

By David McCullough

Journey to the West

Journey to the West

Just Mercy

By Bryan Stevenson

Kafka on the Shore

Kafka on the Shore

By Haruki Murakami

Killers of the Flower Moon

Killers of the Flower Moon

Kindred

By Octavia E. Butler

Lady Chatterley's Lover

Lady Chatterley's Lover

By D. H. Lawrence

Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci

By Walter Isaacson

Les Misérables

Les Misérables

Little Women

By Louisa May Alcott

Lolita

By Vladimir Nabokov

Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies

By William Golding

Lords of Finance

Lords of Finance

By Liaquat Ahamed

Love in the Time of Cholera

Love in the Time of Cholera

By Gabriel García Márquez

Macbeth

By William Shakespeare

Madame Bovary

By Gustave Flaubert

Man's Search for Meaning

Man's Search for Meaning

By Viktor E. Frankl

Manufacturing Consent

Manufacturing Consent

By Noam Chomsky

Medea

Men Explain Things to Me

Men Explain Things to Me

By Rebecca Solnit

Middlemarch

By George Eliot

Midnight's Children

Midnight's Children

By Salman Rushdie

Moby-Dick

By Herman Melville

Moneyball

By Michael Lewis

Mrs Dalloway

By Virginia Woolf

My Ántonia

By Willa Cather

My Brilliant Friend

My Brilliant Friend

By Elena Ferrante

My Name Is Red

Nausea

By Jean-Paul Sartre

Neuromancer

By William Gibson

Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go

By Kazuo Ishiguro

Night

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four

By George Orwell

No Longer Human

No Longer Human

Norwegian Wood

By Haruki Murakami

Oedipus Rex

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men

By John Steinbeck

On Intersectionality

On Intersectionality

By Kimberlé Crenshaw

On Photography

By Susan Sontag

On the Origin of Species

On the Origin of Species

By Charles Darwin

On Tyranny

By Timothy Snyder

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

By Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

One Hundred Years of Solitude

One Hundred Years of Solitude

By Gabriel García Márquez

Orientalism

By Edward W. Said

Originals

Oryx and Crake

By Margaret Atwood

Outliers

By Malcolm Gladwell

Palace Walk

By Naguib Mahfouz

Pale Fire

By Vladimir Nabokov

Parable of the Sower

Parable of the Sower

By Octavia E. Butler

Père Goriot

By Honoré de Balzac

Perfume

By Patrick Süskind

Peter the Great: His Life and World

Peter the Great: His Life and World

By Robert K. Massie

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

By Annie Dillard

Pompeii

Postwar

Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice

Quiet

Regarding the Pain of Others

Regarding the Pain of Others

By Susan Sontag

Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe

By Daniel Defoe

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

By Luo Guanzhong

Rubicon

Sapiens

By Yuval Noah Harari

Savage Inequalities

Savage Inequalities

By Jonathan Kozol

Season of Migration to the North

Season of Migration to the North

Siddhartha

By Hermann Hesse

Silent Spring

By Rachel Carson

Slaughterhouse-Five

Slaughterhouse-Five

By Kurt Vonnegut

Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Snow Crash

By Neal Stephenson

Solaris

By Stanisław Lem

Song of Solomon

Song of Solomon

By Toni Morrison

Sons and Lovers

Sons and Lovers

By D. H. Lawrence

SPQR

Stalingrad

By Antony Beevor

Steppenwolf

By Hermann Hesse

Steve Jobs

By Walter Isaacson

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

By Robert Louis Stevenson

Swann's Way

By Marcel Proust

Team of Rivals

By Doris Kearns Goodwin

Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Tess of the d'Urbervilles

By Thomas Hardy

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

By Stephen R. Covey

The Age of Innocence

The Age of Innocence

By Edith Wharton

The Ascent of Money

The Ascent of Money

By Niall Ferguson

The Big Short

By Michael Lewis

The Big Sleep

By Raymond Chandler

The Black Swan

By Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The Brothers Karamazov

The Brothers Karamazov

By Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Call of Cthulhu

The Call of Cthulhu

By H. P. Lovecraft

The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales

By Geoffrey Chaucer

The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye

By J. D. Salinger

The Checklist Manifesto

The Checklist Manifesto

By Atul Gawande

The Cherry Orchard

The Cherry Orchard

By Anton Chekhov

The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order

The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order

By Samuel P. Huntington

The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo

By Alexandre Dumas

The Death of Artemio Cruz

The Death of Artemio Cruz

By Carlos Fuentes

The Decameron

By Giovanni Boccaccio

The Devil in the White City

The Devil in the White City

The Diary of a Young Girl

The Diary of a Young Girl

The Diversity of Life

The Diversity of Life

By Edward O. Wilson

The Doors of Perception

The Doors of Perception

By Aldous Huxley

The Double Helix

The Double Helix

By James D. Watson

The Elegant Universe

The Elegant Universe

By Brian Greene

The Emperor of All Maladies

The Emperor of All Maladies

By Siddhartha Mukherjee

The End of History and the Last Man

The End of History and the Last Man

By Francis Fukuyama

The Executioner's Song

The Executioner's Song

By Norman Mailer

The Face of Battle

The Face of Battle

The Feminine Mystique

The Feminine Mystique

By Betty Friedan

The Fire Next Time

The Fire Next Time

By James Baldwin

The Gene

By Siddhartha Mukherjee

The Glass Castle

The Glass Castle

By Jeannette Walls

The God of Small Things

The God of Small Things

By Arundhati Roy

The Good War

By Studs Terkel

The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath

By John Steinbeck

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby

By F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great War and Modern Memory

The Great War and Modern Memory

By Paul Fussell

The Guns of August

The Guns of August

By Barbara W. Tuchman

The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale

By Margaret Atwood

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

By Douglas Adams

The Hobbit

By J. R. R. Tolkien

The Hound of the Baskervilles

The Hound of the Baskervilles

By Arthur Conan Doyle

The House of the Spirits

The House of the Spirits

By Isabel Allende

The Iliad

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

By Rebecca Skloot

The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner

By Khaled Hosseini

The Left Hand of Darkness

The Left Hand of Darkness

By Ursula K. Le Guin

The Liars' Club

The Liars' Club

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

By Laurence Sterne

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings

By J. R. R. Tolkien

The Magic Mountain

The Magic Mountain

The Making of the Atomic Bomb

The Making of the Atomic Bomb

By Richard Rhodes

The Maltese Falcon

The Maltese Falcon

By Dashiell Hammett

The Man in the High Castle

The Man in the High Castle

By Philip K. Dick

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

By Oliver Sacks

The Master and Margarita

The Master and Margarita

By Mikhail Bulgakov

The Metamorphosis

The Metamorphosis

The Miracle of Mindfulness

The Miracle of Mindfulness

By Thich Nhat Hanh

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

By Agatha Christie

The Name of the Rose

The Name of the Rose

The Namesake

By Jhumpa Lahiri

The New Jim Crow

The New Jim Crow

By Michelle Alexander

The Odyssey

The Omnivore's Dilemma

The Omnivore's Dilemma

By Michael Pollan

The Orchid Thief

The Orchid Thief

By Susan Orlean

The Origins of Totalitarianism

The Origins of Totalitarianism

By Hannah Arendt

The Perfect Storm

The Perfect Storm

By Sebastian Junger

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Pity of War

The Pity of War

By Niall Ferguson

The Portrait of a Lady

The Portrait of a Lady

The Power Broker

The Power Broker

By Robert A. Caro

The Power of Habit

The Power of Habit

By Charles Duhigg

The Red and the Black

The Red and the Black

The Remains of the Day

The Remains of the Day

By Kazuo Ishiguro

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

By William L. Shirer

The Road

By Cormac McCarthy

The Road to Serfdom

The Road to Serfdom

By Friedrich Hayek

The Satanic Verses

The Satanic Verses

By Salman Rushdie

The Savage Detectives

The Savage Detectives

By Roberto Bolaño

The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter

By Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Second Sex

By Simone de Beauvoir

The Selfish Gene

The Selfish Gene

By Richard Dawkins

The Shock Doctrine

The Shock Doctrine

The Song of the Dodo

The Song of the Dodo

By David Quammen

The Souls of Black Folk

The Souls of Black Folk

By W. E. B. du Bois

The Sound and the Fury

The Sound and the Fury

By William Faulkner

The Sparrow

By Mary Doria Russell

The Stranger

By Albert Camus

The Sun Also Rises

The Sun Also Rises

By Ernest Hemingway

The Tale of Genji

The Tale of Genji

By Murasaki Shikibu

The Talented Mr. Ripley

The Talented Mr. Ripley

By Patricia Highsmith

The Temple of the Golden Pavilion

The Temple of the Golden Pavilion

By Yukio Mishima

The Third Reich in Power

The Third Reich in Power

By Richard J. Evans

The Three Musketeers

The Three Musketeers

By Alexandre Dumas

The Three-Body Problem

The Three-Body Problem

The Time Machine

The Time Machine

The Time of the Hero

The Time of the Hero

By Mario Vargas Llosa

The Tin Drum

By Günter Grass

The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point

By Malcolm Gladwell

The Trial

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

By Milan Kundera

The Unwomanly Face of War

The Unwomanly Face of War

By Svetlana Alexievich

The Visit

By Friedrich Dürrenmatt

The Wager

The War of the Worlds

The War of the Worlds

The Warmth of Other Suns

The Warmth of Other Suns

By Isabel Wilkerson

The Whisperers

By Orlando Figes

The Will to Meaning

The Will to Meaning

By Viktor E. Frankl

The Year of Magical Thinking

The Year of Magical Thinking

The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate

The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate

By Robert A. Caro

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God

By Zora Neale Hurston

These Truths

Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart

By Chinua Achebe

Think Again

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Thinking, Fast and Slow

By Daniel Kahneman

This Changes Everything

This Changes Everything

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

By John le Carré

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird

To the Lighthouse

To the Lighthouse

By Virginia Woolf

Too Big to Fail

Too Big to Fail

By Andrew Ross Sorkin

Treasure Island

Treasure Island

By Robert Louis Stevenson

Truman

By David McCullough

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas

Ulysses

Unbroken

By Laura Hillenbrand

Understanding Power

Understanding Power

By Noam Chomsky

Voices from Chernobyl

Voices from Chernobyl

By Svetlana Alexievich

Walking with the Wind

Walking with the Wind

War

By Sebastian Junger

War and Peace

Washington: a Life

Washington: a Life

What Is History?

What Is History?

When Breath Becomes Air

When Breath Becomes Air

By Paul Kalanithi

Women, Race, and Class

Women, Race, and Class

By Angela Y. Davis

Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights

By Emily Brontë

2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey

By Arthur C. Clarke

2666

By Roberto Bolaño

A Brief History of Time

A Brief History of Time

By Stephen Hawking

A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange

By Anthony Burgess

A Doll's House

By Henrik Ibsen

A Farewell to Arms

A Farewell to Arms

By Ernest Hemingway

A Field Guide to Getting Lost

A Field Guide to Getting Lost

By Rebecca Solnit

A Grain of Wheat

A Grain of Wheat

By Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

A Passage to India

A Passage to India

By E. M. Forster

A People's History of the United States

A People's History of the United States

A People's Tragedy

A People's Tragedy

By Orlando Figes

A Personal Matter

A Personal Matter

By Kenzaburō Ōe

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

A Short History of Nearly Everything

A Short History of Nearly Everything

A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities

By Charles Dickens

A Wizard of Earthsea

A Wizard of Earthsea

By Ursula K. Le Guin

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Ain't I a Woman

Ain't I a Woman

Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

By Lewis Carroll

All Quiet on the Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front

By Erich Maria Remarque

All the Devils Are Here

All the Devils Are Here

By Bethany McLean

Americanah

By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

An Immense World

An Immense World

And Then There Were None

And Then There Were None

By Agatha Christie

Angela's Ashes

By Frank McCourt

Animal Farm

By George Orwell

Anna Karenina

Annals of the Former World

Annals of the Former World

Antifragile

By Nassim Nicholas Taleb

As I Lay Dying

By William Faulkner

Atomic Habits

Awakenings

By Oliver Sacks

Band of Brothers

Band of Brothers

By Stephen E. Ambrose

Becoming

By Michelle Obama

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By Robert M. Sapolsky