I perused this crime novel sometime in the late 90's, most likely 1998. It was a used paperback for sale at the local library. Likely an undocumented donation to aid library funding. I only read a dozen pages or so randomly flipping through it while I was waiting for someone. But I recall the sto...

It is easy to see Lenny as an innocent who had simple longings, an unfortunate due to his disability but fundamentally a sympathetic character; but it seems to me that while most of his violence was accidental and he did not start the fight with Curly that resulted in Curly's hand being injured, ...

In North and South, Was Mr. Bell really thinking of proposing to Margaret? He says he was worried he'd be tempted by the aunt, then says there may be another way of getting a home, and he wonders aloud to Mr. Thornton which way to throw his voice. But John doesn't catch on at all if so. Would it ...

Did Lois Lowry name the protagonist of the Giver from the biblical prophet? Both of them are at one point reluctant to follow their calling that they didn't choose, so there is some similarity. But I haven't seen this confirmed or denied in an interview.

I'm looking for a novel about a man working as a train station manager in Kazakhstan. The train station is in a remote location in a plains environment, and only rarely do trains pass. He works and lives there alone with his wife. The story's time setting is some time between the second world war...

"Transatlantyk" by Witold Gombrowicz is a satire of Polish identity. However, it is difficult to know what exactly is being satirized if you're not Polish, and not intimately acquainted with Polish history and society. The story starts off quite realistically (and indeed semi-autobiographically),...