Study guides: popular books - Page 12 | Just Great DataBase
Most of us know the world bestseller “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand, but her literary success started from yet another book about the same idea: “The Fountainhead”. The unique approach of the author to the values of the individualism and freedom through devotion to one’s work makes this book one of the remarkable works of the modern literature. This is the story about...
“The Epic of Gilgamesh” is worth reading just because it’s the oldest story the humanity has produced. Originating in Mesopotamia, the poem brought together five classic legends about Sumarian king Uruk. Despite typical poems meant to glorify the empire and its emperor for the sake of keeping the order in place, “The Epic of Gilgamesh” has a much broader meaning...
The father of a detective genre and a great English writer created “The Fall of the House of Usher” in 1839. The text is rich in Edgar Allan Poe’s typical atmosphere, writing style, rampant imagination, and suspense. It is a great exercise for the mind and also emotions. The story takes the reader into a world of mystery, despair, and extinction. We get to meet a very old...
Jeanette Walls managed to write a memoir that for more than 250 weeks was part of The New York Times Bestseller list. Since 2005 “The Glass Castle” sold millions of copies and even made it into a movie. The plot of the book is very non-trivial. It all begins with a 4-year old girl making herself sausages for breakfast. As a result of an accident, she ends up in the hospital...
The “Iliad” is a great story of the battle of Troy written by Homer. It is a marvelous book and it doesn’t matter if Homer wrote it by himself or just collected the numerous poems and songs of vagarious artists of that time. It is often called the first work of world literature that talks about all problems of humanity. Imagine a war between the Greeks (Achaians) and the...
“The Maze Runner” is the first of a series of dystopian books written by James Dasher in 2009. Despite being so young in age, the novel’s plot has become so popular that it was turned into a movie and is now one of the most popular books among young people around the world. The protagonist of the book, Thomas, wakes up to find himself in a metal box without any recollections of...
Franz Kafka wrote the “Metamorphosis” in 1915 and together with his other works it was supposed to be destroyed after his death. Luckily his wife and friends didn’t obey the orders of the writer and the world still praises him as a great modernist and master of the words. The protagonist of the story, Gregor Samsa is a provider for his family of four. After his father...
The symbol of a long return home, “The Odyssey” written by Homer, is a true literature classic. The story is as old as the world, no wonder that its authorship is widely questioned. One thing is for sure – the greatness of “The Odyssey” is due not to a single individual’s talents, but is a result of a whole century oral heritage and cultural tradition once put...
Oscar Wilde is a well-known Irish writer who published only one novel during his life. That novel was “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. During his life Wilde was very famous for his plays, but the first publisher of his novel initially cut the text by 500 words due to his skepticism of its success. After a great deal of criticism the author revised the novel and added seven new parts...
Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote “The Scarlet Letter: A Romance” at the end of the 19th century when public morals were still strict and unforgiving. But the events of the novel are set in the 17th century when the Puritan society possessed full control over human choices. The plot of the novel is centered about a lapse from the virtue of a young woman named Hester Prynne. She has to...
The legendary Albert Camus composed “The Stranger” in 1942. The book is also often referred to as “The Outsider” – in the light of the themes of the novel that are about absurd philosophy, consequences, death, conflict of the soul and human personalities. The protagonist of the book is named Meursault and he is the one that narrates the story. He is a...
“The Tell-Tale Heart” is a perfect example of Edgar Allan Poe’s beliefs about how the story should be written. It is short, concise, can be finished in one sitting, and relates to many readers. How many times do people feel annoyed by little things? And how many times do you actually do something about it? The novel fascinates readers with its simplicity and intrigues the minds...
Most of the war stories that have acquired wide attention among the public are about World War I or World War II. Tim O’Brien wrote a popular book about Vietnam War that was published in 1990 and provoked a lively debate, both among political and historical circles. “The Things They Carried” is a collection of stories about a writer who is also a veteran. During the plot...
Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a well-known women right advocate and tough journalist. No issue or social wrongdoing would escape her unwavering pen. While marriage is a game of two, it isn’t always an equal game. The downsides of women being sentenced to staying at home were the center of most of her works. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is one of her most vivid and provoking books...
In 1958 Chinua Ahebe wrote “ Things Fall Apart” and it was one of the few African novels written in English language originally. During his childhood, Chinua was exposed to both Christian and native African values and culture, which allowed the author to relay the story of this nation in a manner that is particularly interesting and easy to understand for the western world. The...
Sometimes just one book is enough to make history. That’s the case with Emily Bronte, whose one and only novel “Wuthering Heights” made it to the great classics of literary masterpieces. We are only left wondering how many more great novels would the author write if she didn’t die the year after the book had been published. Any story that deals with mental aspects...
Together with comedies of Aristophanes and tragedies written by Sophocles, “The Aeneid” by Virgil is a pearl of Antique literature worth discovering. The poem was written during a period of Virgil being in the inner circle of Augustus and thus serves as a mirror into the morals and political climate of his reign. The novel is about a glorious travel of Aeneas, the hero of Troy battle...
“The Importance of Being Earnest” is a play written by Oscar Wilde and first performed in 1895. Despite its enduring popularity, this work of art was banned due to author’s social and personal preferences that couldn’t be accepted by the community he lived in. Reading Wilde books isn’t an easy thing. It feels like you are stealing from yourself. It’s a great...
Rudyard Kipling carefully made, almost out of tropical lianas and vines, a story of times called “The Jungle Book”. It is about friendship, love, and betrayal. Yet it is easy to read due to all the exotic creatures and the celebration of life that takes place in a middle of an untouched jungle forest. Mowgli isn’t just a boy abandoned by a civilization and brought up by animal...
Sandra Cisneros wrote “The House on Mango Street” in 1984. Even though many of you already imagine a nice house on a calm and pretty Mango Street – the book is nothing like that. The book is a compilation of colorful characters each of whom encounters the poverty, exile, humiliation, shame, restrictions and hard work. The protagonist of the book is a young girl Esperanza...