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Summaries of 9,834 books.

  1. The English Patient

    Michael Ondaatje

    ★ 3.9 (113k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In an abandoned Italian villa at the close of WWII, four damaged people gather around a burned English patient, whose fragmented memories of love, betrayal, and desert exploration reveal their own scarred pasts.

  2. The Mist

    Stephen King

    ★ 4.0 (113k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Trapped in a supermarket by a strange mist with unseen monsters, survivors must face their fears and the truth behind a secret government project to fight an otherworldly invasion.

  3. Chocolat

    Joanne Harris

    ★ 4.0 (113k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In a quiet French village, a mysterious chocolatier arrives during Lent, sparking a quiet revolution with her sweets and her ability to help villagers embrace their hidden desires.

  4. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

    Neil deGrasse Tyson

    ★ 4.1 (113k) average on GoodreadsHistory

    Neil deGrasse Tyson explains the universe's biggest questions, from the Big Bang to dark energy, in a short and engaging cosmic tour for busy readers.

  5. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

    Robert A. Heinlein

    ★ 4.2 (113k) average on GoodreadsPolitics

    In a future where Earth's lunar penal colony revolts for independence, a one-armed computer technician, a female activist, a wise professor, and a self-aware supercomputer lead a revolution against an oppressive government, battling for freedom and the meaning of humanity.

  6. Jemima J

    Jane Green

    ★ 3.6 (113k) average on GoodreadsRomance

    An overweight, overlooked journalist creates a glamorous online persona to attract an American man, then struggles to make her real life match her digital fantasy.

  7. Seven Up

    Janet Evanovich

    ★ 4.2 (113k) average on GoodreadsMystery

    Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum navigates murder, mobsters, and triple kidnappings, all while juggling a marriage proposal and a dangerous offer, as she searches for a bail jumper and two missing friends.

  8. Shopaholic Takes Manhattan

    Sophie Kinsella

    ★ 3.8 (113k) average on GoodreadsRomance

    Manhattan's glittering boutiques and Luke's demanding career collide with Becky's insatiable shopping habits and a looming financial disaster, threatening her American dream and their relationship.

  9. The Sign of Four

    Arthur Conan Doyle

    ★ 3.9 (113k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    A mysterious annual pearl, a vanished father, and a wooden-legged ruffian lead Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson through London's foggy underbelly to a hidden Indian treasure and a blossoming romance.

  10. Red Seas Under Red Skies

    Scott Lynch

    ★ 4.2 (113k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    After barely surviving a gang war, master thief Locke Lamora and his partner Jean dive into the ultimate con: swindling their way to the top of the most exclusive, death-defying gambling house in the world, only to find their past catching up to them in the most dangerous way imaginable.

  11. School's Out—Forever

    James Patterson

    ★ 4.2 (112k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Max, a genetically engineered bird-kid, must navigate the terrifying normalcy of an FBI-run 'school' while uncovering her destiny to save the world and facing her greatest enemy: a clone of herself.

  12. Across the Universe

    Beth Revis

    ★ 3.8 (112k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Waking fifty years too early on a generational spaceship, a frozen girl must uncover a murderer among the isolated, future-shocked inhabitants before her parents become the next victims, all while navigating a forbidden romance with the ship's enigmatic young leader.

  13. The Longest Ride

    Nicholas Sparks

    ★ 4.2 (112k) average on GoodreadsRomance

    Ninety-one-year-old Ira, after a car crash, relives his decades-long love with his deceased wife, Ruth. Miles away, college senior Sophia falls for a cowboy with a dangerous secret. Their two romances entwine in a story of lasting love and fateful choices.

  14. My Name Is Lucy Barton

    Elizabeth Strout

    ★ 3.5 (112k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    Confined to a hospital bed, Lucy Barton’s unexpected reunion with her estranged mother reveals a lifetime of buried longings, echoes of an impoverished past, and the complex love and hurt that defines their unbreakable bond.

  15. Messenger

    Lois Lowry

    ★ 3.9 (112k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    As a sinister closed-mindedness seeps into his once-welcoming village, a young messenger must journey through a treacherous forest, relying on a newfound inner power to deliver one last, vital message.

  16. Cannery Row

    John Steinbeck

    ★ 4.0 (112k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In the vibrant, post-Depression tide pools of Monterey, a motley crew of outcasts and philosophers navigates life's hilarious and heartbreaking currents, finding solace and survival in their shared humanity amidst the clatter of cannery machinery.

  17. Among the Hidden

    Margaret Peterson Haddix

    ★ 4.0 (112k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Confined to his home as an illegal third child, Luke discovers a defiant kindred spirit who challenges him to join a dangerous rebellion against a totalitarian regime that forbids his very existence.

  18. Handle with Care

    Jodi Picoult

    ★ 4.0 (112k) average on GoodreadsFiction

    A mother sues her obstetrician, believing she was denied the choice to terminate her pregnancy, forcing her to confront the worth of her daughter's life, born with a severe brittle bone disease.

  19. The Essential Calvin and Hobbes: A Calvin and Hobbes Treasury

    Bill Watterson

    ★ 4.6 (112k) average on GoodreadsChildren's

    A mischievous boy and his philosophical tiger go on fantasy adventures, exploring childhood imagination and the absurdities of adult life through a cardboard box time machine and a world of snowballs.

  20. The Partner

    John Grisham

    ★ 3.9 (112k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A lawyer fakes his death, steals a fortune, and builds a new life in Brazil, but his past catches up to him, leading to a confrontation with his former firm.

  21. Rosemary's Baby

    Ira Levin

    ★ 4.0 (112k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A young wife's dream of starting a family curdles into a waking nightmare as she realizes her new neighbors, and perhaps even her own husband, have insidious plans for her unborn child.

  22. The Glass Menagerie

    Tennessee Williams

    ★ 3.7 (112k) average on GoodreadsFiction

    In a St. Louis apartment, a faded Southern belle, her restless son, and his painfully shy sister with her collection of glass animals, grapple with shattered dreams and the suffocating grip of memory.

  23. The Marriage Plot

    Jeffrey Eugenides

    ★ 3.5 (112k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In the early 80s, an English major steeped in 19th-century romance finds her own "marriage plot" unfolding amidst Derrida, Talking Heads, and two intensely different suitors grappling with mental illness and spiritual quests after college.

  24. There There

    Tommy Orange

    ★ 4.0 (112k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In a story where many lives meet at the Big Oakland Powwow, "There There" shows the struggles, strength, and beauty of urban Native American identity, ending with an unforgettable climax.

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