Cultural genre books (206)


161.

The Pillar of Salt by Albert Memmi EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Tunisia flag Tunisia
Description:
Originally published in 1955, The Pillar of Salt the semi-autobiographical novel about a young boy growing up in French colonized Tunisia. To gain access to privileged French society, he must reject his many identities – Jew, Arab, and African. But, on the eve of World War II, he is forced to come to terms with his loyalties and his past

162.
The Power of One

The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay EN

Rating: 4 (3 votes)
Description:
“The Power of One has everything: suspense, the exotic, violence; mysticism, psychology and magic; schoolboy adventures, drama.” –The New York Times “Unabashedly uplifting . . . asserts forcefully what all of us would like to believe: that the individual, armed with the spirit of independence–‘the power of one’–can prevail.” –Cleveland Plain Dealer In 1939, as Hitler casts his enormous, cruel shadow across the world, the seeds of apartheid take root in South Africa. There, a boy called Peekay is born. His childhood is marked by humiliation and abandonment, yet he vows to survive and conceives ... continue

163.

The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis EN

Rating: 5 (2 votes)
Description:
When the janitor teaches Beth Harmon how to play chess, she discovers a way to escape every day life in the orphanage. It soon becomes clear that she has talent as she goes on to play in championships.

164.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid EN

Rating: 3 (3 votes)
Country: Asia / Pakistan flag Pakistan
Description:
Changez, a young Muslim American, is living the American dream, with a Princeton education and high-paying job, until the events of September 11th force him to confront his personal allegiances.

165.

The River Between by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Kenya flag Kenya
Description:
The River Between explores life on the Makuyu and Kameno ridges of Kenya in the early days of white settlement. Faced with an alluring, new religion and 'magical' customs, the Gikuyu people are torn between those who fear the unknown and those who see beyond it. Some follow Joshua and his fiery brand of Christianity while others proudly pursue tribal independence. In the midst of this disunity stands Waiyaki, a dedicated visionary born to a line of prophets. He struggles to educate the tribe - a task he sees as the only unifying link between the two factions - but his plans for the f... continue

166.

The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson EN

Rating: 5 (2 votes)
Description:
"Compelling . . . The Seed Keeper invokes the strength that women, land, and plants have shared with one another through the generations." --ROBIN WALL KIMMERER

167.

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich EN

Rating: 5 (2 votes)
Description:
In this powerful and timely novel, National Book Award winning author Louise Erdrich explores how the burdens of history, and especially identity, appropriation, exploitation, and violence done to human beings in the name of justice, manifest in ordinary lives today. Revolving around a small independent bookstore in contemporary Minneapolis, The Sentence follows a turbulent year in the life of a strong though vulnerable Ojibwe woman named Tookie. After serving part of an outrageously long sentence, Tookie, who "learned to read with murderous attention" while in prison, naturally gravitates tow... continue

168.

The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe EN

Rating: 2 (1 vote)
Country: Europe / Germany flag Germany
Description:
"Be on your guard … and take care not to fall in love!" Visiting an idyllic German village, Werther, a sensitive and romantic young man, meets and falls in love with sweet-natured Lotte. Although he realizes that Lotte is to marry Albert, he is unable to subdue his passion for her and his infatuation torments him to the point of absolute despair. The first great ‘confessional’ novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther draws both on Goethe’s own unrequited love for Charlotte Buff and on the death of his friend Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem. The book was an immediate success and a cult rapidly grew up around... continue

169.

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner EN

Rating: 5 (2 votes)
Description:
NOBEL PRIZE WINNER • One of the greatest novels of the twentieth century is the story of a family of Southern aristocrats on the brink of personal and financial ruin. The Sound and the Fury is the tragedy of the Compson family, featuring some of the most memorable characters in literature: beautiful, rebellious Caddy; the manchild Benjy; haunted, neurotic Quentin; Jason, the brutal cynic; and Dilsey, their black servant. Their lives fragmented and harrowed by history and legacy, the character’s voices and actions mesh to create what is arguably Faulkner’s masterpiece and one of the greatest no... continue

170.

The Squatter and the Don by María Amparo Ruiz de Burton EN

0 Ratings
Description:
The Squatter and the Don, originally published in San Francisco in 1885, is the first fictional narrative written and published in English from the perspective of the conquered Mexican population that, despite being granted the full rights of citizenship under the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848, was, by 1860, a subordinated and marginalized national minority.