Isolation is a topic that spans lifetimes and generations, an identifiable feeling that crosses cultures and continents. Monique Truong’s The Book of Salt is an effort to capture this feeling and describe it with a story. Truong’s novel follows the tumultuous life of Binh, a Vietnamese man who is ousted from his home country and … Continue reading →.

Edna Pontellier, the heroine of The Awakening, shocked readers in 1899 and the scandal created by the book haunted Kate Chopin for the rest of her life. The Awakening begins at a crisis point in twenty-eight year-old Edna Pontellier’s life. Continue reading →.

Though many who participate in the study of literature scoff at the literary merit of graphic novels, Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, offers a fresh and unique perspective on an historical subject. Chronicling her young life in Iran during the turbulent first years of the Islamic Revolution, Satrapi literally illustrates her … Continue reading →.

Moving from regret to jealousy to acceptance, Anne experiences a far wider range of emotions than we see in other Austen characters. At 27, Anne is also far older and more mature in outlook. She hopes for a second chance at love, but is not expecting it. Continue reading →.

Jane Eyre may be downloaded for free from our ebook catalog. Jane Eyre might look like the typical high school required reading – a dry, slow, sleep-inducing novel. But don’t be fooled. It has all the elements of a modern-day soap opera or telenovela. While the reader might not be able to identify with the … Continue reading →.

An endearing quality about Wiggins’ writing is the wonderful detail with which she describes even the most minor of events. She is also very clever at describing the social milieu of the day, so clever that one would come to believe that she might be commenting on social realities such as class divisions. Continue reading →.

Sense and Sensibility may be downloaded for free in our ebook catalog. Also see our illustrated and annotated edition in the ebook store. The primary thing I took away from this book was what a great job Kate Winslet did with the character Marianne in Ang Lee’s film adaptation. She was spot on, and her … Continue reading →.

Although Kate Douglas Wiggin is famous for Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, she can deal with some remarkably dark subjects for an obvious optimist. The Romance of a Christmas Card is in the end a story of strange coincidences that ultimately lead to redemption. Continue reading →.

Jane Eyre isn’t beautiful or rich or of any social consequence. She’s a poor, plain working girl whose concerns and feelings are so expertly portrayed that we almost feel they are our own. Part of Jane’s attraction is her ordinariness. Who wouldn’t connect on some level with her? Through her eyes and ears we see the displays of the upper classes as an outsider–giving the social mores of the time an even more ridiculous tone. Continue reading →.