Book Brief Library

Get inspired and find your next read with SuperSumary's growing library of bite-sized Book Briefs. Designed for easy browsing and discovery, each Book Brief provides a short, spoiler-free summary plus an at-a-glance snapshot of a book's mood, reviews and reception, reader profile, and other details to help you decide if a title is right for you. Explore Book Briefs alphabetically or by genre.

Looking for more comprehensive resources? Find chapter-by-chapter summaries and analyses on over 8,600 titles in our Study Guide Library, plus quick-read synopses of thousands of additional works in our Plot Summary Library

ALPHABETICAL

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A Painful Case
James Joyce

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1914

A Painted House
John Grisham

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2001

A Pale View of Hills
Kazuo Ishiguro

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1982

A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster
Rebecca Solnit

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2009

A Parchment of Leaves
Silas House

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1999

A Passage to India
E. M. Forster

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1924

A Passion in the Desert
Honoré de Balzac

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1830

A Patch of Blue
Elizabeth Kata

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1961

A Patchwork Planet
Anne Tyler

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1998

A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunity
Nicholas D. Kristof , Sheryl WuDunn

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2014

A Peace to End All Peace
David Fromkin

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1989

A Pearl in the Storm
Tori Murden McClure

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2009

A People's History of the United States
Howard Zinn

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1980

A Perfect Blood
Kim Harrison

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2012

A Perfect Spy
John le Carré

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1986

A Perilous Undertaking
Deanna Raybourn

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017

A Personal Matter
Kenzaburo Oe

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1964

A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful
Edmund Burke

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1756

A Pho Love Story
Loan Le

Fiction | Novel | Published in 2021

A Photo Finish
Elsie Silver

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

A Pickpocket's Tale
Timothy J. Gilfoyle

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2006

A Piece of the World
Christina Baker Kline

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017

A Pigeon and a Boy
Meir Shalev

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2006

A Pigeon's Tale
S.A. Mahan

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2021

A Place at the Table
Saadia Faruqi, Laura Shovan

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2020

A Place Called Freedom
Ken Follett

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1995

A Place for Us
Fatima Farheen Mirza

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018

A Place of Greater Safety
Hilary Mantel

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1992

A Place to Belong
Cynthia Kadohata

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2006

A Place to Hang the Moon
Kate Albus

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2021

A Place to Stand
Jimmy Santiago Baca

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2001

A Place Where the Sea Remembers
Sandra Benitez

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1993

A Pocket Full of Rye
Agatha Christie

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1953

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
James Joyce

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1916

A Prayer for Owen Meany
John Irving

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1989

A Pride of Poppies
Julie Bozza, et al.

Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 2015

A Primate's Memoir
Robert M. Sapolsky

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2001

A Princess of Mars
Edgar Rice Burroughs

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1912

A Problem from Hell
Samantha Power

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2002

A Promised Land
Barack Obama

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2020

A Promise of Fire
Amanda Bouchet

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver
E. L. Konigsburg

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1973

A Psalm for the Wild-Built
Becky Chambers

Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 2021

Pachinko
Min Jin Lee

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017

Pacific Vortex!
Clive Cussler, Michael Pritchard

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1983

Pack Challenge
Shelly Laurenston

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2006

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void
Mary Roach

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2010

Packinghouse Daughter
Cheri Register

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1990

Pack Up the Moon
Kristan Higgins

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living
Nick Offerman

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2013

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
Roddy Doyle

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1993

Page
Tamora Pierce

Fiction | Novel | Published in 2008

Pageboy: A Memoir
Elliot Page

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2023

Painted Scars
Neva Altaj

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

Palace of Stone
Shannon Hale

Fiction | Novel | Published in 2012

Palace of the Peacock (Faber Editions): 'Magnificent' - Tsitsi Dangarembga
Wilson Harris

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

Palace of Treason
Jason Matthews

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2015

Palace Walk
Naguib Mahfouz

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1956

Paladin of Souls
Lois McMaster Bujold

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2005

Paladin’s Grace
T. Kingfisher

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020

Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
Carl Sagan

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1994

Pale Horse, Pale Rider
Katherine Anne Porter

Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1939

Palimpsest
Gore Vidal

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1953

Pamela
Samuel Richardson

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1740

Pandemic
A.G. Riddle

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017

Pandemonium
Lauren Oliver

Fiction | Novel | Published in 2012

Pandora's Lab
Paul A. Offit

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2017

Panic
Lauren Oliver

Fiction | Novel | Published in 2014

Pantagruel
François Rabelais

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1532

Pantomime
Derek Walcott

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1978

Paperboy
Vince Vawter

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2013

Paper Girls, Volume 1
Matt Wilson, Brian K. Vaughan, Jared K. Fletcher, Cliff Chiang

Fiction | Novel | Published in 2016

Paper Princess
Erin Watt

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2016

Paper Things
Jennifer Richard Jacobson

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2015

Paper Towns
John Green

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2008

Paperweight
Meg Haston

Fiction | Novel | Published in 2015

Papillon
Henri Charrière

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2006

Parable of the Sower
Octavia E. Butler

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1993

Parable of the Talents
Octavia E. Butler

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1998

Parade's End
Ford Madox Ford

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1928

Paradise
Judith McNaught

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003

Paradise Lost
John Milton

Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Adult | Published in 1667

Paradise of the Blind
Duong Thu Huong

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1988

Paradise Regained
John Milton

Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Adult | Published in 1671

Paradise Road
Kirk Nesset

Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 1994

Paradiso
Dante Alighieri

Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Adult | Published in 1320

Parallel Journeys
Eleanor H. Ayer

Nonfiction | Biography | YA | Published in 1995

Parallel Myths
J. F. Bierlein

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1994

Paranormalcy
Kiersten White

Fiction | Novel | Published in 2010

Paris
Edward Rutherfurd

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2013

Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism
Sebastian Smee

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2024

Paris: The Memoir
Paris Hilton

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2023

Paris to the Moon
Adam Gopnik

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2000

Paris Trout
Pete Dexter

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1991

Parrot and Olivier in America
Peter Carey

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2010

Parrot In The Oven
Victor Martinez

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1996

Partials
Dan Wells

Fiction | Novel | Published in 2012

Part of Your World
Abby Jimenez

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

Party of Two
Jasmine Guillory

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020

Party Princess
Meg Cabot

Fiction | Novel | Published in 2006