Since his debut in 1951 as The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has been synonymous with "cynical adolescent." Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his sixteen-year-old life, just after he's been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy even today and keeps this novel on banned book lists. His constant wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to phonies (the two of course are not mutually exclusive) capture...

In Demian, one of the great writers of the twentieth century tells the dramatic story of a young man's awakening to selfhood. Hesse portrays the turmoil of Emil Sinclair, a docile young man who is drawn by his schoolmates, especially Max Demian, into a secret and dangerous world of petty crime and revolt against convention.

Set in rural Maine in the first half of this century, it tells the story of Dr. Wilbur Larch--obstetrician and director of the orphanage in the town of St. Clouds. It is also the story of his favorite orphan, Homer, who is never adopted.

"Willa Cather's third novel, The Song of the Lark, depicts the growth of an artist, singer Thea Kronborg, a character inspired by the Swedish-born immigrant and renowned Wagnerian soprano Olive Fremstad. Thea's early life, however, has much in common with Cather's own. Set from 1885 to 1909, the novel traces Thea's long journey from her fictional hometown of Moonstone, Colorado, to her source of inspiration in the Southwest, and to New York and the...

Maclean writes in my family, there is no clear line between religion and fly-fishing. Nor is there a clear line between family and fly-fishing. It is the one activity where brother can connect with brother and father with son.Based on Norman Maclean's childhood experiences, A River Runs Through It has established itself as one of the most moving stories of our time; it captivates readers with vivid descriptions of life along Montana's Big Blackfoot...

Financial journalist Rebecca Bloomwood seeks solace from the boredom and pressures in life with her shopping, a solution that brings her close to financial disaster, until she encounters a story that will change her life.

Jewish-American author Philip Roth's 1969 comic novel about a successful New York lawyer named Alexander Portnoy who is plagued by guilt stemming from an obsession with sex and a domineering mother.

There was a time when the world was sweeter . . . when the women in Beaufort, North Carolina, wore dresses, and the men donned hats. . . when something happened to a seventeen year-old boy that would change his life forever Every April, when the wind blows in from the sea and mingles with the scent of lilacs, Landon Carter remembers his last year at Beaufort High It was 1958, and Landon had already dated a girl or two. He even swore that he had...

Deeply wounded by her embittered mother's lack of sympathy for her aspirations, Elnora finds comfort in the nearby Limberlost Swamp, whose beauty and rich abundance provide her with the means to better her life.