Books Reading category: 2844 books

A legendary name from the Golden Age of Paperbacks, VICTOR J. BANIS spins a witty and exuberant tale of A Thousand and One Knights, flitting blithely from tale to tail, in one era and out the other. Part autobiography, part a history of the Gay Revolution, part writing manual, part juicy gossip, with...

This study guide includes the following sections: Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, Quotes, and Topics for Discussion.

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware | Conversation Starters A Brief Look Inside: EVERY GOOD BOOK CONTAINS A WORLD FAR DEEPER than the surface of its pages. The characters and their world come alive, and the characters and its world still live on. Conversation Starters is peppered with...

Make Your Bed by William H. McRaven | Conversation Starters In “Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World”, readers are introduced to some of the author’s strategies for achieving more in life. Each of McRaven’s anecdotes are told from either his perspective...

The Great Revolt: Inside the Populist Coalition Reshaping American Politics by Salena Zito | Conversation Starters The swing voters who were key to Donald Trump’s unexpected win in the 2016 elections have been hiding in plain sight. Their votes caused the greatest upset in the recent history...

The Nobel Lecture in Literature, delivered by Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans) at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 7, 2017, in an elegant, clothbound edition.        In their announcement of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Swedish Academy...

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson | Conversation Starters A Brief Look Inside: EVERY GOOD BOOK CONTAINS A WORLD FAR DEEPER than the surface of its pages. The characters and their world come alive, and the characters and its world still live on. Conversation Starters is peppered with questions...

Diaries keep secrets, harbouring our fantasies and fictional histories. They are substitute boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses and friends. But in this age of social media, the role of the diary as a private confidante has been replaced by a culture of public self-disclosure. The Private Life...

Having slept with a prostitute in Egypt, a young French novelist named Gustave Flaubert at last abandons sentimentality and begins to write. He influences the obscure French writer Édouard Dujardin, who is read by James Joyce on the train to Trieste, where he will teach English to the Italian novelist...

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury | Conversation Starters A Brief Look Inside: The Martian Chronicles is one of Ray Bradbury's classic novels. In a series of vignettes, Bradbury imagines what life would be like on Mars. The Earth Men are drawn to Mars following a threat of nuclear...

Winner of the Agatha Award for best nonfiction work A finalist for the Edgar Award for best critical/biographical work A finalist for the Anthony Award for best critical/nonfiction work Everyone knows Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created a unique literary character...

Mrs. Fletcher by Tom Perrotta | Conversation Starters In her mid-40s, divorced, and with an empty nest, Eve Fletcher is unsure what to do next in life. One night, she receives a mysterious text message calling her a "MILF." She becomes obsessed with the text message, which leads her...

This essay by award-winning author Nicola R. White explores the relationship between hardboiled or "pulp" ficiton and the modern romance novel.

"Do we still know how to read a novel?" John Sutherland, Chairman of the 2005 Booker Prize Committee, asks. His disheartened answer is an unequivocal, "No." But Sutherland has not given up hope. With acerbic wit and intellect, he traces the history of what it used to mean to be...