The novel begins in a small Wyoming mining town, where Jim Holbrook works in the coal mine. As the narrative progresses, the reader discovers that Jim drinks heavily and beats Anna and their children. Mazie follows Jim into town one evening and is nearly thrown down a mineshaft by the deranged miner, Sheen McEvoy. Mazie is saved by the night watchman, and instead McEvoy falls down the shaft to his death. Mazie immediately develops a fever, and the Holbrooks make plans to move east in the spring. Anna takes on a variety of short-term employment to financially prepare for the move. Jim is involved in a mine explosion, attributed to the carelessness of the new fire boss, and goes missing for five days. When Jim returns, it is with a firm resolve to remove his family from the town. In the spring, the Holbrooks leave the mining town, traveling across Nebraska and South Dakota, where their wagon is briefly immobilized by a storm. At their South Dakota tenant farm, the scene is pastoral and the Holbrooks are initially optimistic about the farm’s prospects. For the first time, the family is healthy and well-fed, and Mazie and Will begin attending school. Mazie begins to take an interest in education and befriends the learned Old Man Caldwell next door, who passes on some books to Mazie when he dies, though Jim promptly sells them. As the winter approaches, Jim realizes that after a year of working the land, the family remains in debt. With the arrival of winter, the Holbrooks no longer have enough food. Anna becomes pregnant and ill, and after a marital dispute, Jim leaves the family, returning after ten days. After the birth of Bess in the following March, the family leaves the farm and moves to Omaha, Nebraska. They take up residence in a city slum near a slaughterhouse. The smell from the slaughterhouse makes the children ill and Anna is no longer able to control them at home. Mazie becomes dreamy and detached, fantasizing about the farm as an escape from the horrors of the city. Jim gets a job in the sewers, and he and Anna are unable to support their family. Anna suffers a miscarriage and is bedridden for several days. When she regains mobility, Anna begins taking in laundry to supplement Jim’s income, though Jim explicitly disapproves. Jim gets a job at the slaughterhouse, where he earns a little more money, and he buys fireworks for the family on the Fourth of July to celebrate. When she is excluded from the celebration, Mazie becomes acutely conscious of the social and political implications of her gender. During a heat wave, Anna continues to work alone, canning fruits to feed the family through the winter, while the children run the streets and scavenge in the dump. The novel terminates in the Holbrook apartment, with Anna singing to Ben. Bess enthusiastically bangs a jar lid against the floor, and the family listens to the radio together for the first time.

Yonnondio: From the Thirties

Sue Murdock searches for redemption throughout the novel. Her father repeatedly laments his inability to relate to his daughter. Sue rejects his assistance because she believes he is trying to control her. She has a stormy relationship with Jerry Calhoun, who, perhaps because he is profoundly naive and not particularly bright, is unable to understand her. Jerry clings to quaint notions of Southern honor and is respectful of the power and authority Bogan Murdock represents. Therefore, Sue can never be happy with him. Sue rejects Jerry and soon finds herself with Slim Sarrett, a writer with a room full of pseudo-intellectual friends. Sue falls for Slim, who rejects honor and power in a way Jerry never could. In the end, however, nothing about Slim is real: he is a dedicated liar, deceitful to the last detail. As Sue discovers the depths of his lies &mdash; about his past and sexuality &mdash; she also discovers that he is not even, in fact, a particularly talented writer. After rejecting Slim, and his artist''s pose, she falls into a tepid relationship with Sweetwater. Sweetwater is a cynic, unlike Jerry, and a realist, unlike Slim. Sweetwater is also profoundly honest and struggles to maintain true to himself. Sweetwater falls in love with Sue, but she never loves him in return. One can read Sue to represent the Southern lower class, abused and controlled for generations. Who can help the lower class escape its shackles? Not the lower class man who tastes a bit of success and abandons his class to serve selfish interests, as Jerry does. Not the intellectual, the artist, who poses at everything and is unable to fight for anything. The seduction is great, but the reward is small. Perhaps the honest man, Sweetwater''s labor organizer, can save the class he to raise up even as he is betrayed and rejected by it. Perhaps Sue knows that Sweetwater''s realism and devotion to cause can save her, but she is little interested in it.

At Heaven''s Gate

Georges Duhamel, the narrator, in a caustic and purposefully ultra-conversative tone, criticises the technological progress of the close of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century, and the beginnings of consumer society. Its omnipresent and haunting sounds, in particular that of the phonograph, drive him to promote the creation of a national park of silence. The "grime" which, according to him, surrounds the cities, due essentially to what he calls the "société du fer blanc" (the tinplate society), is an annoyance to him. Inventors, who continue to create superficial objects, are called on to no longer submit new patents. The Church seems to Duhamel to be the next target of technological progress, and he fears the introduction of the phonograph into religious establishments for the purpose of playing chants and sacred music, and even, ultimately, replacing the sermons of the priest. Man in this society of uncontrolled technological progress loses his bearings, hungers for the latest invention and ends up hyponchondriac on its behalf, waiting feverishly for its smallest malfunction and bringing it in at the slightest sign of failure. Through several characters who become slaves to their appliances, moving from the electric pump to the car or the "téhésef", Duhamel vehemently attacks interwar French society using a backward-looking tone. Ultimately, he submits two measures to the President of the Republic, which according to him, would counter the consumerist trend in the population. In one, he proposes the creation of a Ministry of Advertising, charged with verifying the validity of corporate slogans in order to scientifically validate the "measurable and non-measurable" assertions which these corporations use to sell their products. In the other, he asks for the creation of a Ministry of Noise, charged with legislating schedules for the use of musical appliances and radios on beaches, with studying the impact of noise on health, with proposing industrial procedures for the neutralization of noise, and finally, his dream, with creating a national park of silence.

Querelles de famille

Two young women are waiting for a bus to Woodstock, and they decide to hitch a lift. Later that night, one of them, Sylvia Kaye, is found murdered and apparently sexually assaulted in the car park of the Black Prince pub in Woodstock. Suspicion falls on various characters. The body is reported found by John Sanders, a young man who, it later transpires, is addicted to pornography and sometimes paid Sylvia for sex. He admits to waiting for her on the night of her murder but found her dead. It turns out he interfered with the body but did not murder her. Inspector Morse discovers the lift was offered in a red car and guesses various bits of information about the owner. His discoveries lead him to calculate the chances of finding a red car in North Oxford which meets all the criteria. There is only one, and it belongs to Bernard Crowther, a don at the university who lives on Southdown Road. Crowther admits that, although married, he is having an affair with another woman. He admits giving a lift to two women and dropping them in Woodstock while on the way to meet his mistress. Crowther''s wife kills herself, mistakenly thinking that her husband is the murderer; Crowther himself dies shortly afterwards from a heart attack, thinking that she is the killer. In the end it turns out it was neither of them but rather the other girl at the bus stop, Sue Widdowson, who was Crowther’s mistress. Crowther had dropped her off and had sex with Sylvia. Widdowson became insanely jealous, crept up behind Sylvia in the car, and hit her on the back of the head with a tyre lever lying in the lot. A further complication involves Jennifer Coleby who worked with Sylvia in an insurance office. Jennifer is having an affair with her boss, Palmer, and shares a flat with Sue Widdowson. Crowther types coded messages to a girlfriend who proves to be Widdowson. He leaves the messages with Coleby at her work, and she delivers them to Widdowson. The police are sent on a merry dance chasing them.

Last Bus to Woodstock

The story of Markham Sutherland is presented through letters, journals, and the third-person account of the novel''s supposed editor, Arthur. Sutherland, under pressure from his father to become a clergyman, confesses to Arthur his reservations about accepting the Thirty-Nine Articles and contemporary English Christianity in general. In particular, Sutherland is concerned about the depiction of God in the Old Testament, God''s patronage of the Israelites on non-moral grounds, the doctrine of Eternal Punishment, and the supposed inerrancy of the Bible. Sutherland was profoundly influenced by John Henry Newman in his early years, but was ultimately unable to accept Newman''s doctrines. Sutherland also seeks guidance in the writings of Victorian historian and sage Thomas Carlyle (who was Froude''s chief intellectual influence in later years), but finds no solutions. Tormented by his doubts and subsequent alienation from his family, Sutherland becomes morbidly depressed. On Arthur''s advice, Sutherland takes orders, hoping that his doubts will eventually pass when he enters a more active life. Because of the selectivity of his sermons, however, his parishioners begin to suspect him of Socinianism. When Sutherland is tricked into making a harsh criticism of the British and Foreign Bible Society, claiming that the text of the Bible without clerical guidance is more likely to lead to wickedness than to Christian faith and virtue, his doubts are revealed, and he is forced to resign his position. Sutherland travels to Como to rest and recover from illness, indulging in free religious speculation while there. He befriends Helen Leonard, who sympathizes with his troubles and listens to his doubts. Helen''s dull, unloving husband prefers to spend time away from his wife, and leaves her in Sutherland''s company for the season. Helen and Sutherland fall in love, causing both great anxiety, although the relationship never becomes physical. The two consider eloping, but Helen decides she cannot leave her daughter, Annie. During this conversation, however, the unsupervised Annie dips her arm into the lake, causing her to fall ill and die soon after. Sutherland again becomes depressed, believing that his religious speculations have brought himself and Helen into sin. He plans suicide, but is stopped at the last moment by an old friend, representative of John Henry Newman. Sutherland retires to a monastery, although his repentance is short lived, and he dies still in doubt. Helen, meanwhile, separates from her husband and retires to a convent, although she is unreconciled with the Church because she maintains that her love for Sutherland is holier than her marriage.

The Nemesis of Faith

Chapman''s Byron, a formidable soldier and commander, is marred by one major fault, his overweening pride. He loves to compare himself to the heroes of antiquity&mdash;Hercules, Alexander the Great, Curtius, even Orpheus. His vanity leaves him deeply vulnerable to manipulation by enemies of the King of France, who want to exploit Byron for their own schemes; and Byron allows himself to be drawn in. The King becomes aware of Byron''s treason; yet valuing his past service and his great potential, the King attempts to reform Byron, even sending him to England so that the Marshall can witness firsthand a properly functioning monarchical state. At the end of The Conspiracy, Byron manages to curb his pride and submit to the King. Yet his ego is too great to remain restrained indefinitely; Byron returns to plotting, and in the conclusion of The Tragedy he is apprehended, tried, convicted, and executed. As is usual with Chapman, the two parts of Byron are rich with allusions to classic literature. In addition to those noted above, the French courtier and plotter Picoté uses the rebellion of Catiline as a precedent for Byron''s planned uprising against his king. References to Augustus, Nero, and other ancient figures abound. Later scenes in The Tragedy twice compare Byron''s plotting with the rebellion of the Earl of Essex against Elizabeth in 1601. It has been suggested that the face-slapping scene that caused so much trouble was inspired not by anything in French monarchical history, but by a rumored incident in which Elizabeth struck Essex.

The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron

The story deals with the discovery of an artifact on Earth''s Moon left behind eons ago by ancient aliens. The object is made of a polished mineral and tetrahedral in shape, and is surrounded by a spherical forcefield. The narrator speculates at one point that the mysterious aliens who left this structure on the Moon may have used mechanisms belonging "to a technology that lies beyond our horizons, perhaps to the technology of para-physical forces." The narrator speculates that for millions of years (evidenced by dust buildup around its forcefield) the artifact has been transmitting signals into deep space, but it ceases to transmit when, some time later, it is destroyed "with the savage might of atomic power". The narrator hypothesises that this "sentinel" was left on the moon as a "warning beacon" for possible intelligent and spacefaring species that might develop on Earth. In 2001: A Space Odyssey, the operation of the sentinel is reversed. It is the energy of the sun, falling for the first time on the uncovered artifact, that triggers the signal that creatures from the Earth had taken the first step into space.

The Sentinel

The Rosso family has ten children, who were named using their incredibly organized mother''s naming system, where the first child''s name would be the first name of the A section of a book of baby names (the girls'' section or the boys'' section, depending on the gender), the second child by the second name of the B section of the book, and so on. As such, the ten children have been named Abigail (Abbie), Bainbridge, Calandra (Candy), Dagwood (Woody), Eberhard (Hardy), Faustine and Gardenia (Dinnie) (the twins), Hannah, Ira, and Janthina (Jan). The story begins with their move from a New York City apartment to a New Jersey farmhouse. Each chapter deals with one child''s views on how to adjust to their new home (like Woody''s attempts to be a comedian like Woody Allen, Hardy wanting to be a detective like the Hardy boys, Hannah feeling left out of the family, Bainbridge struggling in vain to pull together a local kids'' football team) and the collective attempts of the children to obtain a pet, despite how their parents argue with ten children, they should not have a pet. The children finally win their battle to obtain a pet when their parents announce that they are breaking the rules and having an eleventh child (ruining their mother''s image of a perfect staircase of children), which will be named Kelly or Keegan, depending on the gender (which ends up being a boy according to Eleven Kids, One Summer). Since their parents have broken the rules, their mother relents and allows them to get a dog. However, they change their minds when they find a stray kitten. Taking after their mother, they decide the cat "Zsa Zsa" or "Zuriel", the last names of the book of baby book, thus reversing their mother''s system. The kids are thrilled about this.

Ten Kids, No Pets

The novel opens when Kelric Valdoria crash lands on the planet Coba. An ancient culture with similarities to the Raylicans, Coba is one of the many isolated and forgotten planets of the former Ruby Empire. Kelric makes several unsuccessful attempts to escape and eventually ends up in jail. It is there he spends his time (particularly while in isolation) learning the dice game Quis. Eventually, Kelric is released and joins one of the "estates" - small matriarchical provinces or city-states that comprise the population of Coba. These estates have special dedicated communes that exclusively play Quis, called Calanya. Kelric becomes a member of one of these communes, known as the "Calani". The society of Coba has, for centuries, replaced war and aggression with competition in Quis. The Quis also double as an information network, with players revealing information about themselves and their estate while at the same time learn about others. Finally, as an information-exchange network, Quis allows technology to improve on Coba at an astounding rate. The strength of a Calani is based on two properties: a player''s skill, and the number of different estates they have worked for. Because of his pleasing appearance and his skill in Quis, Kelric is conveted by the queens (known as "Managers") of the different estates. Kelric''s membership in the estates proceeds as follows: Dahl, Haka, Bahvla, Miesa, Varz, and finally Karn. Renamed "Sevtar", Kelric has two children with two of his wives (one of which is born Rhon) during his time in the different estates. Each time Kelric is traded, his skill and worth increase, in the end reaching legendary status. In the final trade to Karn, Ixpar Karn trades rule of the planet (in addition to being Karn Manager, Ixpar also held the title of "Minister" of Coba) for Kelric. This eventually ignites actual violence, allowing Kelric to escape. The end of this novel is where Ascendant Sun begins. Quis refers to a dice game learned by Kelric on the planet Coba. This dice strategy game can be played with a physical set of dice that are made from hand-crafted jewels; or it can be played mentally. It originates on a planet called Coba, a former colony of the Ruby Empire that became isolated during the empire''s collapses and remains so even during the time of the novels. All members of Coban society learn to play Quis, but only a few excel at it. The Quis dice can be used for a variety of purposes, including as a game, to tell stories, to exchange information, and even to gamble. But its most important use is its influence on politics, as the dice are used to compete politically, and also can convey politically important information. There are competing city-states that have isolated top Quis players, who study the art of playing Quis as their full-time occupation.

The Last Hawk

It starts as a normal day on a subway, but the normality is interrupted by the hijacking of a subway train, on the number 6 train. Four men armed with submachine guns detach the lead car of the train and take it and 17 hostages into a tunnel. The hijackers are lead by Ryder, a former mercenary; Longman, a disgruntled former motorman; Welcome, a violent former Mafia thug; and Steever, a powerful, laconic brute. They threaten to execute the hostages unless the city pays one million dollars in ransom. While the city rushes to comply, transit police try to puzzle out the hijackers'' plan. They don''t realize that Longman has figured out how to bypass the "dead-man''s switch", allowing the car to speed along the track by itself (with the police chasing it while driving on surface streets) while the hijackers escape through an emergency exit. As they prepare to leave, however, Ryder and Welcome begin to argue, ending with Ryder fatally shooting Welcome. The delay allows one of the passengers, an undercover police officer who jumped off the train as it started to speed away, to shoot Steever. Longman escapes while Ryder shoots the passenger. As Ryder is about to administer a fatal head shot, he is himself shot dead by DCI Daniels of Special Operations Division. The novel ends with Longman''s arrest.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

After being torn between Callie Vernon and Jenny Humphrey, Easy Walsh makes his decision and chooses Callie. Although Jenny and Callie made a pact to put their friendship before relationships with Easy in front of the whole school, Callie will certainly not give him up for her sophomore roommate. Meanwhile, Brett Messerschmidt is still upset about the breakup with Jeremiah. After Jeremiah lost his virginity to Elizabeth, Brett had enough with guys. Surprisingly, Brett finds love in the most unexpected place: Kara Whalen, and confides in the most unexpected person: Heath Ferro, an inveterate gossip. Not ready to declare her sexuality to the student body, Brett keeps the relationship a secret by bribing Heath with sexy pictures of her and Kara. As a result of this, the three become surprisingly close. Tinsley Carmichael does the unexpected and hooks up with a freshman: Julian McCafferty. However, Tinsley finds Julian growing increasingly more distant, and she cannot accept he might be bored with her. Brandon Buchanan is completely over Callie and Jenny and is completely in love with Elizabeth, a unique and spunky girl who goes to Jeremiah''s school. However, Elizabeth is afraid of being tied down to commitment and wants to be free to see other people, much to Brandon''s discontent. Then at a party hosted by Tinsley he sees her flirting with another guy and decides he is not able to have an open relationship with her. At a special off-campus party hosted by Tinsley, Easy proclaims his love for Callie, and they sleep together in a barn while the party rages on. Jenny walks in on them, runs out of the barn before they see her and finds Julian behind it. They talk and realize their feelings for each other, finally kissing. A fire in the barn interrupts them: a fire started by Tinsley throwing Julian''s lighter away after seeing them. Suddenly, when the group returns to Waverly, rumors are flying about who actually started the fire. When Jenny confronts Callie about what she saw, they both accuse each other of starting the fire. Brett and Kara''s secret is exposed when an intoxicated Callie lets the secret slip at the party, Kara having told Callie the secret after a meeting of Women of Waverly, the club started by Brett for girls to talk about their problems. Soon the entire student body knows that their prefect is in a lesbian relationship. Fueled by anger, Brett is hungry for revenge. Dean Marymount finds out about the fire in the barn and is planning to expel whoever was responsible. Tinsley and Callie seize this chance to frame Jenny and get rid of her once and for all.

Unforgettable

The novel, set in fictional Raintree County, Indiana, is essentially in two parts; before the Civil War and after. It spans the 19th century history of the United States, from the pre-Civil War westward expansion, to the debate over slavery, to the Civil War, to the Industrial Revolution and the Labor Movement which followed. The book is often surreal, with dream sequences, flashbacks and departures from the linear narrative. It has been described as an effort to mythologize the history of America, which to a great degree it succeeds in doing through the eyes and the commentary of John Shawnessy. For example, a number of turning points in John''s life seem to coincide with Fourth of July celebrations. John, or ''Johnny'', as he was called before The War, is a lover of literature, and is influenced by three separate cultural icons: the concept of becoming a Hero, in the sense of the legendary figures of ancient Greece; Hawthorne''s The Great Stone Face, in which legend predicts that a great man will appear, whose face is identical to the natural stone face which, in the Hawthorne story, is a local landmark; and finally, the quest to find the legendary Raintree, which was supposedly planted somewhere in Raintree County by John Chapman, or Johnny Appleseed. Johnny Shawnessy tends to view the events of his life through the prism of one or more of these contexts, and to draw parallels to these legends, frequently with considerable justification. It is a long novel, around 400,000 words. Most editions run to about 1000 pages. The fictional town of Waycross was based on Straughn, Indiana and the fictional Raintree County was based on Henry County, Indiana.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Yonnondio: From the Thirties

By Tillie Olsen

At Heaven's Gate

No Author Listed

Querelles de famille

By Georges Duhamel

Last Bus to Woodstock

By Colin Dexter

The Nemesis of Faith

By James Anthony Froude

The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron

By George Chapman

The Sentinel

By Arthur C. Clarke

Ten Kids, No Pets

By Ann M. Martin

The Last Hawk

By Catherine Asaro

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

By John Godey

Unforgettable

By Cecily von Ziegesar

Raintree County

By Ross Lockridge, Jr.