Book Reports

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This long-standing classic tells the story of Odysseus as he struggles through many fantastic adventures to return to his wife and home after the end of the Trojan War.

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This classic allegory tells the tale of a pilgrim’s journey, with its many trials and temptations, to the Celestial City.

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Considered by some as the first modern novel, this epic story follows the life of the “mad” Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza through their satirical exploits of chivalry during seventeenth-century Spain.

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This tragic play is the story of a British king who, after retiring from power, learns at great expense the many facets of human nature—both good and bad.

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This is the story of Captain Ahab and his mad quest for the White Whale. Considered to be one of the greatest sea stories ever written, this book tells the tale of vengeance and obsession, and their effect on man.

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Set in early New England, this “tale of human frailty and sorrow” shows the terrible impact of sin on three people and deals with such issues as guilt and redemption, hypocrisy, and shame.

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This is the story about a young boy named Huckleberry Finn and his journey down the Mississippi River. Written in the vernacular of the day, Twain uses the adventures of Huck to explore life in America prior to the Civil War. Although controversial for its use of racial stereotypes, this book satirizes slavery and the society that supported it.

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Set in early Victorian England, this novel follows the life of a tiny orphaned boy named Pip as he struggles with a desire for wealth and social status, and eventually discovers his own values and priorities.

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Through his travels to strange lands, Gulliver discovers the virtues and flaws of his own culture as he compares it to others.

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This novel examines the differences between Europe and America through the life of a young American woman who moves to England and is caught in a struggle between independence and social propriety.

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Set in Britain, this light-hearted novel follows the relationship of Elizabeth Bennet, one of five sisters who must marry into a wealthy family, and her perceived-to-be arrogant and conceited suitor, Fitzwillian Darcy. Both must overcome both pride and prejudice if their relationship is ever to develop.

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This book, a treatise on the battle between good and evil, is a collection of letters from tempter Screwtape to his apprentice Wormwood on how to best cause the fall of an ordinary young man.