Action & Adventure

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Left for Dead is a work of military nonfiction for young adults by Pete Nelson. It tells the true story of what happened to the men whose ship, the USS Indianapolis, sank during World War II in July 1945. Hunter Scott, who wrote an introduction for the book, studied the incident for a school history fair project and became determined to discover the truth about what happened. Dismayed by the miscarriage of justice surrounding the... Read Left for Dead Summary

Legend is the first book in the titular book trilogy by Chinese-American author Marie Lu. Originally published in 2011, Legend is a dystopian novel that explores topics of love, family, fascism, civil disobedience, inequality, propaganda, poverty, and hope in the face of an oppressive government. Lu was inspired by the classic Victor Hugo story Les Misérables and wanted to explore a similar cat-and-mouse dynamic in a futuristic setting. Just like the law-abiding policeman Javert pursued... Read Legend Summary

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Viennese author Carl Stephenson (1893-after 1960) published “Leiningen Versus the Ants” in the December 1938 issue of Esquire magazine. Stephenson, who often wrote under the pseudonym “Stefan Sorel,” translated the story into English himself. Stephenson wrote and edited prose from 1954-1967, verifying that he likely died sometime in the 1960s. His death date is often confused with that of the American historian and leading medieval scholar, Carl Stephenson.The story opens with Leiningen, a plantation owner... Read Leiningen Versus the Ants Summary

Leo Africanus, a title also sometimes translated into English as Leo the African, is a work of historical fiction by the Lebanese-French journalist Amin Maalouf. It was first published in French as Léon, l’Africain in 1986, and the English translation by Peter Sluglett was published in 1992. The novel’s titular protagonist, Joannes Leo Africanus, whose birth name was al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Fasi, was a real early-16th-century figure. Mainly, he was known for writing a... Read Leo Africanus Summary

First published in 1782, J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur’s Letters from an American Farmer is widely regarded as one of the earliest examples of American literature and a highly-influential epistolary text that includes elements of both fiction and nonfiction.The first letter is a modest response to Mr. F.B.’s request that James write to him with information about life in America. In it, James expresses insecurity about his ability to complete such a task, wondering... Read Letters From An American Farmer Summary

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Life as We Knew It is the harrowing tale of a family trying to survive in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic world. A young adult novel, the story is told from the point-of-view of sixteen-year-old Miranda and takes the form of her journal entries. Miranda finds her world thrown into complete chaos when an asteroid hits the moon and shifts it out of orbit, moving it closer to Earth. Though the event is expected, scientific calculations about... Read Life As We Knew It Summary

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Yann Martel’s Life of Pi is a Canadian philosophical novel and Booker Prize winner published in 2001. Yann Martel was born in Spain in 1963 to French-Canadian parents but spent his childhood in various countries including Costa Rica, France, Mexico, and Canada. Martel’s father was a diplomat who completed his PhD dissertation on Spanish writer Miguel de Unamuno at the University of Salamanca. Yann Martel studied philosophy at Trent University in Canada before becoming a... Read Life of Pi Summary

Life on the Mississippi is a powerful narrative concerning the past, present, and future of the Mississippi River, including its towns, peoples, and ways of life. The narrative is written by Mark Twain, whose real name is Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Twain explains in the narrative how he “stole” this nickname from an old steamboat captain who was also a writer. Mark Twain is a nautical term and a pilot’s phrase that means “two fathoms.” Two... Read Life on the Mississippi Summary

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Lonesome Dove is a 1985 novel by American author Larry McMurtry. Chronologically, it is the third book in the Lonesome Dove series, although it was published before its two prequels, Dead Man’s Walk (1995) and Comanche Moon (1997). One of the most celebrated novels in the Western genre, Lonesome Dove tells the story of former Texas Rangers Augustus (Gus) McRae and Woodrow Call (Call) as they take a herd of cattle on an ill-fated drive... Read Lonesome Dove Summary

Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 (2007) is a military-themed memoir by former Navy SEAL, Marcus Luttrell, with the help of ghostwriter Patrick Robinson. Based on a 2005 mission in Afghanistan, the book examines the intricacies of warfare. The narrative explores themes such as valor, self-sacrifice, and the multifaceted nature of combat. The book became a New York Times bestseller and subsequently inspired a 2013... Read Lone Survivor Summary

Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim is an iconic story about the height—and folly—of the British imperial enterprise. Published as a serialized novel between October 1899 and November 1900, it details the adventures of a sailor turned trade agent who seeks his fortune and reputation on the outskirts of empire. After an incident with the Patna, one of the ships on which he sails, Jim flees to avoid the stain on his reputation. Eventually, he arrives in... Read Lord Jim Summary

Lord of the Flies (1954) is a classic novel by Nobel prize–winning British author William Golding. Golding was knighted in 1988 and was a fellow in the Royal Society of Literature. In 2008, The Times named him third on their list “The 50 greatest British writers since 1945.”The title of Golding’s young-adult fiction novel is a reference to Beelzebub, a prince of hell.During a wartime evacuation, an airplane crashes on a remote island. The only... Read Lord of the Flies Summary

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Written by American author Christina Henry, Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook is a 2017 dark fantasy retelling of J. M. Barrie’s original play, Peter Pan. Henry has written several dark retellings of fairy tales to date, including Alice, which is based on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll; The Girl in Red, which adapts the story of Little Red Riding Hood; and The Mermaid, which based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The... Read Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook Summary