Wuthering Heights is the story of the ruin of the Earnshaw family. Wealthy and well-bred citizens of the North of England, Mr. Earnshaw returns one day with a young and ill-favored boy named Heathcliff who he says he intends to foster. His son Hindley is repulsed, but his daughter Katherine grows close with Heathcliff and their unhealthy relationship forms the core of the novel. The story is told by Nelly Dean, the Earnshaw's housekeeper.
The Lord of the Rings is the epic story of a fellowship of heroes questing to destroy the Dark Lord Sauron, a vengeful spirit intent on conquering the land of Middle Earth. Burdened with the titular Ring, an artifact of great power tied to the fate of Sauron's soul, the party journeys across Middle Earth on a harrowing path. The story deals with filial love, pastoralism versus industrialism, and the nature of bravery and justice.
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.
Enduring Love is a novel that follows the life of Joe Rose after he, along with a group of other men, help save a child from danger. Jed Parry, another rescuer, has a mental disorder and becomes obsessed with Joe, slowly forcing himself into the other man's life and driving Joe to madness. Jed even goes so far as to make attempts on Joe's life, but Joe is unable to convince his wife or the police that the threat of danger is real.
Spring Awakening is the story of a group of students, children, faculty, and parents in Germany at the turn of the century. The central character, Melchior, is a jaded atheist teenager. The characters undergo the trauma of sexual awakening in various ways. Some have access to sexual education information while others are kept purposefully in the dark by their parents and other authority figures. The play deals with abortion, homosexuality, child abuse, asexuality, and other fixtures of puberty and the effect it has on the teenage mind.
"Spring in Fialta" is a 1936 short story by Vladimir Nabokov with themes of memory, relationships, loss and jealousy. The story, told by an unreliable narrator named Victor, follows his relationship with Nina, another exile as they are staying in a town on the Mediterranean called Fialta. The story delves into the past, revealing Victor's ambiguous love for Nina and his jealousy and spite of her husband, Ferdinand. After refusing to go on a ride with the couple, Victor later learns that Nina has died in a car accident.
Arsenic and Old Lace is a play about Mortimer Brewster, the only sane member of a family composed of homicidal maniacs. In this classic black comedy, Mortimer has recently gotten engaged, but must first deal with his brother, who thinks he is Teddy Roosevelt; his two aunts, who like to take in old men and offer them poisoned wine; and another brother, who is a dangerous psychopath. The play examines themes of sanity, murder, and absurdity.