Category: Book Reviews

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin is a philosophical science fiction novel published in 1974. Purchase the book by clicking this link! General Summary (No Spoilers!) Shevek, a brilliant physicist from the planet Anarres, prepares to leave his home for the first time. Anarres is a harsh, desolate world where a group of settlers…

Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse is a philosophical fiction novel published in 1930. Purchase the book by clicking this link! General Summary (No Spoilers!) Narcissus and Goldmund opens in a medieval monastery in Germany, where the main characters and good friends, Narcissus and Goldmund, are introduced. Narcissus is a disciplined monk and scholar, deeply…

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab is a historical fantasy novel published in 2020.  Purchase the book by clicking this link! General Summary (No Spoilers!) The story begins in 1714 in rural France, where Addie, a free-spirited young girl, delights in accompanying her father to the nearby town’s market. However, in a…

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead is a historical fiction novel published in 2019. Purchase the book by clicking this link! General Summary (No Spoilers!) As the horrors of Nickel Academy’s past emerge, Elwood Curtis, an African-American business owner in New York City, confronts his own traumatic memories from the institution as survivors share their…

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein is a science fiction novel published in 1966. Purchase the book by clicking this link! General Summary (No Spoilers!) In 2075, the Moon (Luna) is a penal colony for Earth, housing three million “Loonies” in underground cities. Most inhabitants are discharged criminals, political exiles, and their…

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver is a historical fiction novel published in 1998. Purchase the book by clicking this link! General Summary (No Spoilers!) The novel begins as the Price family is preparing to spend a year as missionaries in the African Congo. The father Nathan, mother Orleanna, and the four daughters (Rachel, Leah,…

A Passage To India by E.M. Forster is a historical fiction novel published in 1924.  Purchase the book by clicking this link! General  Summary (No Spoilers!) The novel begins with Miss Adela Quested and Mrs. Moore embarking on a journey to Chandrapore, India, to meet their prospective husband and son, city magistrate Ronny Moore. Although…

Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick is a science fiction novel published in 1968. Purchase the book by clicking this link! GENERAL SUMMARY (NO SPOILERS!) After a nuclear war, Earth is becoming such a wasteland that humans begin emigrating to other worlds, and simply owning a live animal is a status…

Life of Pi by Yann Martel is a philosophical fiction novel published in 2001. Purchase the book by clicking this link! General Summary (No Spoilers) Piscine “Pi” Patel’s childhood was spent in 1960s India, where his father managed a zoo. One of the zoo’s notable inhabitants is a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Pi…

The Sea-Wolf by Jack London is a psychological adventure novel published in 1904. Purchase the book by clicking this link! General Summary (No Spoilers!) The narrator, Humphrey van Weyden, is a weak-willed, intellectual man that is easily pushed around. He has never done any manual labor and has no dreams of doing so in the…

Ishmael by Dan Quinn is a fictional philosophical novel published in 1992.  Purchase the book by clicking this link! General Summary (No Spoilers!) The novel begins in the early 1990s with a nameless protagonist reading a newspaper advertisement. The advertisement says, “Teacher seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in…

The Day of the Jackal by Fredrick Forsyth is a political thriller novel published in 1971. Purchase the book by clicking this link! General Summary (No Spoilers!) Set in 1963, the book opens with “It is cold at six-forty in the morning on a March day in Paris, and seems even colder when a man…