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• The Rez Sisters

  a Play in Two Acts

  Highway, Tomson, 1951-

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  This award-winning play by Native playwright Tomson Highway, has been called hilarious, shocking, mystical and powerful. It is a powerful and moving portrayal of seven women from a reserve attempting to beat the odds by winning at bingo. And not…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Frankenstein

  Or, The Modern Prometheus

  Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851,

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  A nineteen-year-old girl living among British Romantic writers of her day famously wrote her first novel in a challenge set during a weekend getaway. Amazingly, while the stories by the famous writers attending are long lost, this brilliant work of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Norwegian Wood

  Murakami, Haruki, 1949-

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  Toru, a serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before. As Naoko retreats further into her own world,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The House on Mango Street

  Cisneros, Sandra

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  Told in a series of vignettes--sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes joyous--this classic story of childhood and self-discovery introduces us to Esperanza's neighborhood in Chicago. It makes a world through people and their voices, in language both…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Go Tell It on the Mountain

  Baldwin, James, 1924-1987,

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  James Baldwin chronicles a fourteen-year-old boy's discovery of the terms of his identity as the stepson of the minister of a storefront Pentecostal church in Harlem one Saturday in March of 1935. Baldwin's rendering of his protagonist's spiritual,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept

  Smart, Elizabeth, 1913-1986

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  One day, Elizabeth Smart chanced upon the poetry of George Barker - and fell passionately in love with him. Eventually they communicated and she flew both him and his wife to join her in the United States. Thus began an extraordinary, intense and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Fun Home

  a Family Tragicomic

  Bechdel, Alison, 1960-

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  A brilliantly told memoir from a cult favourite comic artist, this darkly funny family tale introduces Alison's father, an obsessive preservation expert, funeral home director, and high school English teacher, an icily distant parent, and a closeted…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Ariel

  Plath, Sylvia,

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  Ariel, first published in 1965, contains many of Sylvia Plath's best-known poems, written in an extraordinary burst of creativity just before her death. It cemented Sylvia Plath's reputation as one of the most original, daring and gifted poets of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

  Winterson, Jeanette, 1959-

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  This is the story of Jeanette, adopted and brought up by her mother as one of God's elect. Zealous and passionate, she seems destined for life as a missionary, but then she falls for one of her converts. At sixteen, Jeanette decides to leave the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Maus

  a Survivor's Tale

  Spiegelman, Art,

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  A brutally moving work of art--widely hailed as the greatest graphic novel ever written--Maus recounts the chilling experiences of the author's father during the Holocaust, with Jews drawn as wide-eyed mice and Nazis as menacing cats. It is an…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Hark!

  a Vagrant

  Beaton, Kate, 1983-

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  An uproarious romp through history and literature seen through the sharp, contemporary lens of a New Yorker cartoonist and comics sensation. No era or tome emerges unscathed as she skewers Western revolutionaries, leaders, sycophants, and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Persepolis

  Satrapi, Marjane, 1969-

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  In powerful black-and-white comics, this memoir tells the story of growing up in Tehran during the overthrow of the Shah, the Islamic Revolution, and the war with Iraq. Satrapi paints an unforgettable portrait of how daily life in Iran carried on…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Frying Plantain

  Reid-Benta, Zalika

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  Kara is caught between her Canadian nationality and her desire to be a "true" Jamaican, between her mother and grandmother, between her Black identity and white society. She is navigating the judgments and expectations of those around her while…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• 1984

  Orwell, George, 1903-1950,

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  Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth in London, chief city of Airstrip One. Big Brother stares out from every poster, the Thought Police uncover every act of betrayal. When Winston finds love with Julia, he discovers that life does not have…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

  Adams, Douglas, 1952-2001,

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  It's an ordinary Thursday lunchtime for Arthur Dent until his house gets demolished. The Earth follows shortly afterwards to make way for a new hyperspace bypass and his best friend has just announced that he's an alien. At this moment, they're…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Kite Runner

  Hosseini, Khaled,

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  Amir and Hassan are childhood friends in Kabul in the sunny days before the invasion of the Soviet army and Afghanistan’s decent into fanaticism. Both motherless, they grow up as close as brothers, despite their different castes. This bubble is…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Slaughterhouse-five, Or, the Children's Crusade

  a Duty Dance With Death

  Vonnegut, Kurt,

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  Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world's great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous firebombing of Dresden, Billy Pilgrim's odyssey through time reflects the mythic journey of our own fractured lives as we search for…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Color Purple

  Walker, Alice, 1944-

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  Published to unprecedented acclaim,The Color Purple established Alice Walker as a major voice in modern fiction. This is the story of two sisters--one a missionary in Africa and the other a child wife living in the South--who sustain their loyalty…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

  Haddon, Mark, 1962-

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  A funny and poignant modern classic narrated by an autistic boy obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, this dazzling novel weaves together old-fashioned mystery, contemporary coming-of-age, and a fascinating excursion into an atypical mind. Christopher is…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Never Let Me Go

  Ishiguro, Kazuo, 1954-

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  As children, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at a secluded, exclusive British boarding school. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules, with teachers constantly reminding students of how special they were. Now, years later,…Read moreRead more of this annotation