My Brother Sam is Dead is a novel by James Lincoln Collier about a boy named Timothy Meeker living during the American Revolutionary War. Timothy's father is a loyalist and his patriot brother is forced to leave home, eventually joining the Continental Army. After his father dies and the family begins to fall apart, Timothy witnesses many horrors of the war and his brother is eventually killed. The novel is a coming of age story focusing on themes of loyalty and bravery and the tension between family and ideology.
The Joys of Motherhood is a novel by Buchi Emecheta about the lives of African women and the themes of fertility and tradition. After being injured during an elephant hunt, the chief Nwokocha Agbadi has a daughter with his favorite wife, Ona. The daughter, Nnu Ego, grows up but is barren. After numerous attempts to conceive a child and after one child dies, she gives birth to four children. She takes care of her children, sending them off to study, and eventually dies alone.
The Metamorphosis and Other Stories is a collection of short stories written by Franz Kafka. "The Metamorphosis" centers on the story of Gregor Samsa, who wakes up one morning to find he has turned into a giant bug. After trying not to burden his family, Gregor eventually dies. Kafka's stories are grotesque and macabre, incorporating absurdity into the everyday and satirizing bureaucracy and urban life. Stories like "In the Penal Colony" and "The Judgment" present themes of human alienation, power and oppression.
Three Weeks with My Brother is a book by Nicholas Sparks and published in 2004. The book recounts the author's three-week journey with his brother Micah around the world. Nicholas and Micah are the only members left of their family and recount their childhood and adult memories as they travel to see landmarks in various countries. The narrative, which is short yet transformative for the brothers, examines themes of memory, love, life and death.
The House on Mango Street & Woman Hollering Creek & Other Stories is a collection containing Sandra Cisneros 1984 novel and many of her short stories. The stories deal with issues of multiculturalism, examining the experience of Mexicans living in the United States, particularly women. The House on Mango Street is about a girl named Esperanza Cordero growing up in Chicago. The book is comprised of short poetic vignettes that depict her coming of age and her longing to leave her constricting life on Mango Street.
A&P and Other Stories is a collection of stories by John Updike. Updike's stories deal with issues of family, religion and sexuality. They attempt to give life to the mundane and pay special attention to the Protestant middle class through humor and sensuousness. "A & P" is a story about a clerk, Sammy, working at a grocery store and who admires three girls in swimsuits shopping at his store. After his boss scolds the girls, Sammy quits his job and tries to go after the girls but finds them gone.
The Burning Plain and Other Stories is a collection of short fiction by Mexican writer Juan Rulfo. Stories like "Tell Them Not To Kill Me!" chronicle the dark times experienced by many Mexicans during the crimes and upheaval of the Mexican Revolution. Many of Rulfo's stories deal with the violence and lawlessness of the revolution. His famous story "You Don't Hear the Dogs Barking" follows a man carrying his estranged grown-up son in search of a doctor after the younger man is wounded in combat.
The Book of the Dutchess and Other Poems is a collection of poetic works by the 14th century English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer. The Book of the Duchess is an early work of Chaucer's that contains themes of love, loss, divinity and poetry itself. The poem begins with the poet reading the story of the Ceyx and her deceased husband Alcyone and her interactions with the goddess Juno. The poet then falls asleep and has a vivid dream in which he converses with a knight who lost his true love.
The Country of the Pointed Firs and Other Stories is a collection of works by Sarah Orne Jewett. Her stories are notable as works of regionalism, focusing on specific locations in America. Rather than focusing on plots, her works feature vignettes that draw out subtle descriptions. Her most famous story, "The Country of the Pointed Firs," describes a narrator who returns to Dunnett, Maine to finish a book. She moves in with Mrs. Todd, who distracts her and moves into a schoolhouse instead, describing some of the people she meets.