Literary theme analysis, by a book like {foo}
Books about Social Expectations
Adulthood Is a Myth
by Sarah Andersen
Collection of humorous comic strips about the realities of being an adult.
The hilarious debut, Sarah's Scribbles, collection from Sarah Andersen, winner of three consecutive, Goodreads Choice Awards, for Graphic Novels and Comics These casually drawn, perfectly on-point ... (Barnes & Noble)
Persuasion
by Jane Austen
A story of love, second chances, and the power of persuasion.
The story begins seven years after the broken engagement of Anne Elliot to Frederick Wentworth. Having just turned nineteen years old, Anne fell in love and accepted a proposal of marriage from ... (Wikipedia)
Death of a Salesman
by Arthur Miller
Tragic story of a man's attempt to find success and happiness in a world of false promises.
'For a salesman, there is no rock bottom to life. He don't put a bolt to a nut, he don't tell you the law or give you medicine. He's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a ... (Goodreads)
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
by Helen Fielding
A humorous journey of self-discovery for a thirty-something single woman.
Lurching from the cappuccino bars of Notting Hill to the blissed-out shores of Thailand, Bridget Jones searches for The Truth in spite of pathetically unevolved men, insane dating theories, and Smug ... (Goodreads)
I Capture the Castle
by Dodie Smith
An unconventional family living in a crumbling castle navigate life, love, and the pursuit of happiness.
The novel takes place between April and October in a single year in the 1930s. The Mortmain family is genteel, poor, and eccentric. Cassandra's father is a writer suffering from writer's block who ... (Wikipedia)
Revolutionary Road
by Richard Yates
An American couple's struggle to stay afloat in suburban conventions and expectations.
Set in 1955, the novel focuses on the hopes and aspirations of Frank and April Wheeler, self-assured Connecticut suburbanites who see themselves as very different from their neighbors in the ... (Wikipedia)
The Age of Innocence
by Edith Wharton
A romantic drama set in the high society of 19th century New York, exploring the limits of love and longing.
Newland Archer, gentleman lawyer and heir to one of New York City's most illustrious families, happily anticipates his highly desirable marriage to the sheltered and beautiful May Welland. Yet he ... (Wikipedia)
Lady Chatterley's Lover
by D.H. Lawrence
A working-class man's affair with an aristocratic woman, and their coming to terms with the strictures of society.
Lawrence's frank portrayal of an extramarital affair and the explicit sexual explorations of its central characters caused this controversial book, now considered a masterpiece, to be banned as ... (Goodreads)
Devil in Winter
by Lisa Kleypas
A battle of wits between two strong-willed people who must choose between marriage and pride.
"I'm Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent. I can't be celibate. Everyone knows that." Desperate to escape her scheming relatives, Evangeline Jenner has sought the help of the most infamous scoundrel in ... (Barnes & Noble)
Bookends
by Jane Green
Two women's friendship and life journeys, exploring the joys and challenges of adulthood.
On the heels of her national bestsellers, Jemima J, and, Mr. Maybe, British sensation Jane Green delivers a sparkling tale of old friends reunited and old jealousies rekindled. Catherine Warner and ... (Goodreads)
The Mill on the Floss
by George Eliot
A story of a young woman's struggle to reconcile her inner life with society's expectations.
Spanning a period of 10 to 15 years, the novel details the lives of Tom and Maggie Tulliver, siblings who grow up at Dorlcote Mill on the River Floss. The mill is situated at the junction of the ... (Wikipedia)
A Northern Light
by Jennifer Donnelly
A young girl's journey of self-discovery, reconciling her dreams with family expectations.
The novel centers on a feisty and smart sixteen-year-old narrator Mathilda "Mattie" Gokey with strong morals. The novel takes place in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York (the "North ... (Wikipedia)
Beastly
by Alex Flinn
A modern retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" following a high school student's transformation.
Kyle Kingsbury is rich, handsome, and popular; he is also selfish, shallow, and cruel. He plays a mean practical joke on an outcast girl in his class. The girl is really a witch named Kendra in ... (Wikipedia)
Catherine, Called Birdy
by Karen Cushman
An adolescent girl's story of rebellion, seeking freedom in a restrictive society.
The following is a description of the novel as it appears on the cover: "[T]he fourteen-year-old daughter of an English country knight keeps a journal in which she records the events of her life, ... (Wikipedia)
Villette
by Charlotte Brontë
A young woman's journey of self-discovery in a foreign land, overcoming societal constraints.
Villette begins with its famously passive protagonist, Lucy Snowe, age 14, staying at the home of her godmother Mrs. Bretton in "the clean and ancient town of Bretton", in England. Also in residence ... (Wikipedia)
Between the Lines
by Jodi Picoult
Teenage girl must come to terms with her parents' past while struggling to find her place in the world.
Delilah is a bit of a loner who prefers spending her time in the school library with her head in a book—one book in particular. Between the Lines may be a fairy tale, but it feels real. Prince Oliver ... (Goodreads)
The Lonely Polygamist
by Brady Udall
An exploration of the difficulties of a man trying to balance the demands of four wives and 28 children.
Beautifully written, keenly observed, and ultimately redemptive, The Lonely Polygamist is an unforgettable story of an American family—with its inevitable dysfunctionality, heartbreak, and ... (Goodreads)
Zelda
by Nancy Milford
Biography of Zelda Fitzgerald, exploring the tumultuous life and times of the iconic figure.
Zelda Sayre began as a Southern beauty, became an international wonder, and died by fire in a madhouse. With her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald, she moved in a golden aura of excitement, romance, and ... (Goodreads)
Ethan Frome
by Edith Wharton
Tale of doomed romance set against a harsh New England winter.
The novel is a framed narrative . The framing story concerns an unnamed male narrator spending a winter in Starkfield while in the area on business. He spots a limping, quiet man around the village, ... (Wikipedia)
Little Children
by Tom Perrotta
A suburban couple's struggle with the everyday dramas of marriage and parenting.
Sarah, who once considered herself a radical feminist , wonders how she allowed herself to be reduced to a common housewife , constantly at the playground with three other neighborhood Stepford ... (Wikipedia)
The Yellow Wall-Paper
by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
A woman's descent into madness due to oppressive social expectations.
A woman and her husband rent a summer house, but what should be a restful getaway turns into a suffocating psychological battle. This chilling account of postpartum depression and a husband's ... (Goodreads)
Romancing Mister Bridgerton
by Julia Quinn
A forbidden romance between a wealthy gentleman and a lower-class woman in Regency England.
,, From, New York Times, bestselling author Julia Quinn comes the fourth novel in the beloved Regency-set world of her charming, powerful Bridgerton family, now a series created by Shonda Rhimes for ... (Barnes & Noble)
An Offer From a Gentleman
by Julia Quinn
A story of two star-crossed lovers, struggling against the odds to be together.
Will she accept his offer before the clock strikes midnight? Sophie Beckett never dreamed she'd be able to sneak into Lady Bridgerton's famed masquerade ball—or that "Prince Charming" would be ... (Goodreads)
Slightly Dangerous
by Mary Balogh
A woman's struggle to rebuild her life after a scandalous past.
BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Mary Balogh's The Secret Mistress. All of London is abuzz over the imminent arrival of Wulfric Bedwyn, the reclusive, cold-as-ice Duke of Bewcastle, at ... (Goodreads)
Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong - and What You Really Need to Know
by Emily Oster
Evidence-based look at pregnancy and its associated medical advice, challenging conventional wisdom.
What to Expect When You're Expecting, meets, Freakonomics,: an award-winning economist disproves standard recommendations about pregnancy to empower women while they're expecting. ... (Goodreads)
The Woman Upstairs
by Claire Messud
The story of a woman's inner turmoil as she struggles with feelings of dissatisfaction and longing.
Nora Elridge is an elementary school teacher living in Cambridge, Massachusetts who was raised by her frustrated stay at home mother to have artistic ambitions, ambitions which she was never able to ... (Wikipedia)
Splendid
by Julia Quinn
A romantic tale of two star-crossed lovers, navigating family drama and secrets.
There are two things everyone knows about Alexander Ridgely. One, he's the Duke of Ashbourne. And two, he has no plans to marry anytime soon... That is until a redheaded American throws herself in ... (Goodreads)
When He Was Wicked
by Julia Quinn
A tale of forbidden love between a duke and a governess, testing societal conventions.
Everything was so much simpler... when he was wicked. In every life there is a turning point. A moment so tremendous, so sharp and breathtaking, that one knows one's life will never be the same. For ... (Goodreads)
Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter
by Kate Clifford Larson
An exploration of the life of Rosemary Kennedy, uncovering the heartbreaking story of her family's secret.
One of, People,’s Top Ten Books of 2015, "[Larson] succeeds in providing a well-rounded portrait of a woman who, until now, has never been viewed in full.",—Boston Globe, “A biography that chronicles ... (Barnes & Noble)
Fathers and Sons
by Ivan Turgenev
A story of generational divide, exploring the differences between fathers and sons.
Arkady Kirsanov has just graduated from the University of Petersburg . He returns with a friend, Bazarov, to his father's modest estate in an outlying province of Russia. His father, Nikolay, gladly ... (Wikipedia)
Anybody Out There?
by Marian Keyes
A woman, struggling with depression, searches for love and acceptance.
Anna Walsh is officially a wreck. Physically broken and emotionally shattered, she lies on her parents' Dublin sofa with only one thing on her mind: getting back to New York. New York means her best ... (Goodreads)
Excellent Women
by Barbara Pym
A shy spinster's journey of self-discovery, exploring the limitations of life as a single woman in 1950s England.
The book details the everyday life of its narrator, Mildred Lathbury, , a spinster in her thirties in 1950s Britain. Perpetually self-deprecating, but with the sharpest wit, Mildred is a part-time ... (Wikipedia)
Etiquette & Espionage
by Gail Carriger
An orphaned teen discovers a secret world of manners and espionage while attending a finishing school.
Like the Parasol Protectorate books, Etiquette & Espionage is set in an alternate history version of Victorian era Britain where supernatural creatures such as vampires and werewolves are part of ... (Wikipedia)
Whitney, My Love
by Judith McNaught
A sweeping romance of two lovers from opposite sides of society, struggling against impossible odds.
Fresh from her triumphs in Paris society, Whitney Stone returns to England determined to win the heart of her childhood love. However, in order to save himself from ruin, her father has come to an ... (Goodreads)
Blackmoore
by Julianne Donaldson
A woman's journey of discovering her true identity, set against the backdrop of the 19th century.
At eighteen, Kate Worthington knows she should be getting serious about marriage, but her restless heart won't let her settle down. To escape her mother's meddlesome influence, she dreams of ... (Barnes & Noble)
Sex, Lies, and Online Dating
by Rachel Gibson
A woman's journey of love, heartbreak, and growth while navigating the online dating world.
SEX... What is it about men anyway? Bad cars, bad jobs, even bad teeth – nothing convinces them that they can't snare a Size Two Babe with a D-cup chest. And after way too many internet dates with ... (Goodreads)
Hedda Gabler
by Henrik Ibsen
A woman's struggle against societal expectations and a search for freedom.
Hedda, the daughter of an aristocratic and enigmatic general, has just returned to her villa in Kristiania (now Oslo) from her honeymoon. Her husband is George Tesman, a young, aspiring, and reliable ... (Wikipedia)
Love in the Afternoon
by Lisa Kleypas
A young woman struggling to reconcile her ambitions with the conventions of society finds solace and passion in an unexpected romance.
Love in the Afternoon, continues the Hathaways series by Victorian romance author Lisa Kleypas., As a lover of animals and nature, Beatrix Hathaway has always been more comfortable outdoors than in ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Vegetarian
by Han Kang
A woman's radical decision to pursue a vegetarian lifestyle, leading to unexpected and far-reaching consequences.
The Vegetarian tells the story of Yeong-hye, a home-maker who, one day, suddenly decides to stop eating meat after a series of dreams involving images of animal slaughter. This abstention leads her ... (Wikipedia)
Hangsaman
by Shirley Jackson
A young woman's descent into madness and isolation at college. A haunting exploration of the human psyche.
On the verge of leaving for college, Natalie Waite feels oppressed by the expectations of her pompous, overbearing father, who imposes his personality on her, and by her miserable, defeated mother, ... (Wikipedia)
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive
by Alexander McCall Smith
A humorous and heartwarming tale of an African family's daily life, tackling the issues of modern society.
Mma Ramotswe meets her second cousin, who comes to the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency for help. Tati Monyena works for the hospital in Mochudi, where a series of three deaths in the same bed in the ... (Wikipedia)
Désirée
by Annemarie Selinko
A young woman's journey to find her place in a world of conflicting expectations and social expectations.
The stunning, massively bestselling story of Napoleon's first fiancé, First published in 1953, this riveting true-life tale comes to life in diary form, giving readers an inside glimpse at the young ... (Goodreads)
Fortune's Rocks
by Anita Shreve
A forbidden summer romance between a married woman and a young man.
In the summer of 1899, Olympia Biddeford, a privileged, intelligent 15-year-old, and her parents have retired from the heat of Boston to the coastal resort of Fortune's Rocks. When the celebrated ... (Wikipedia)
Sons and Lovers
by D.H. Lawrence
A young man's struggle between his loyalty to his family and his desire for independence.
The refined daughter of a "good old burgher family," Gertrude Coppard meets a rough-hewn miner, Walter Morel, at a Christmas dance and falls into a whirlwind romance characterised by physical ... (Wikipedia)
Playing Easy to Get
by Sherrilyn Kenyon
A captivating romance between two people with dark secrets, full of unexpected twists and turns.
New York Times bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon and rising stars Jaid Black and Kresley Cole unlock the pleasures and perils of embracing the boldest and most powerful of lovers — 100% alpha males ... (Barnes & Noble)
Hunger: A Memoir of
by Roxane Gay
A candid and raw exploration of body image and its effects on a woman's life.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist : a searingly honest memoir of food, weight, self-image, and learning how to feed your hunger while taking care of yourself. “I ate and ate ... (Goodreads)
The Danish Girl
by David Ebershoff
A journey of transformation, exploring the power of courage and acceptance.
Now a major motion picture starring Eddie Redmayne and directed by Tom Hooper, THE DANISH GIRL is a shockingly original novel about one of the most unusual and passionate love stories of the 20th ... (Goodreads)
Quicksand
by Nella Larsen
A mixed-race woman struggles to find her place in society, grappling with issues of identity, race, and class.
Nella Larsen introduces the educated mixed-race , protagonist, Helga Crane who struggles to find her identity in a world of racialized crisis in the 1920s. The novel begins with Helga teaching at a ... (Wikipedia)
The Deal
by Elle Kennedy
A romantic comedy about a businesswoman and a professional hockey player who make a pact to have a no strings attached relationship.
New York Times, bestseller Elle Kennedy brings you a sexy new standalone novel!, She's about to make a deal with the college bad boy…, Hannah Wells has finally found someone who turns her on. But ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Stolen Marriage
by Diane Chamberlain
A small-town woman faces societal pressure to make a difficult choice between family and her own dreams.
Steeped in history and filled with heart-wrenching twists,, The Stolen Marriage, is an emotionally captivating novel of secrets, betrayals, prejudice, and forgiveness. It showcases Diane Chamberlain ... (Barnes & Noble)
Married by Morning
by Lisa Kleypas
A young woman and her guardian discover a powerful love as they face unexpected challenges.
He's everything she wants to avoid., For two years, Catherine Marks has been a paid companion to the Hathaway sisters—a pleasant position, with one caveat. Her charges' older brother, Leo Hathaway, ... (Goodreads)
Squire
by Tamora Pierce
A young girl's quest to become a knight, proving her strength and courage in a traditionally male-dominated profession.
Squire tells the story of Keladry of Mindelan 's years as a squire, between the ages of fourteen and eighteen. Having passed the "big examinations", Kel becomes a squire without a knight -master. ... (Wikipedia)
The First Part Last
by Angela Johnson
A teenage girl's journey of self-discovery, coming to terms with teen pregnancy.
Bobby's a classic urban teenager. He's restless. He's impulsive. But the thing that makes him different is this: He's going to be a father. His girlfriend, Nia, is pregnant, and their lives are about ... (Goodreads)
Letter to a Child Never Born
by Oriana Fallaci
A woman reflects on her life and contemplates the implications of motherhood.
Published by Rizzoli in 1975, Letter to a Child Never Born was quickly translated and sold in twenty-seven countries worldwide, becoming an extraordinary success. It is the tragic monologue of a ... (Goodreads)
Dumplin'
by Julie Murphy
A story of self-love and acceptance, challenging societal expectations and beauty standards.
Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini ... (Goodreads)
Girls of Riyadh
by Rajaa Alsanea
Four young Saudi women navigate love, tradition, and societal expectations in a conservative society. A modern-day Arabian Nights tale.
The novel describes the relationship between men and women in Saudi Arabia . Girls of Riyadh tells the story of four college-age high class friends in Saudi Arabia, girls looking for love but stymied ... (Wikipedia)
Vampire Kisses
by Ellen Schreiber
A young teen's romance with a mysterious vampire in a small town.
In her small town, dubbed "Dullsville," sixteen-year-old Raven a vampire-crazed goth-girl is an outcast. But not for long... The intriguing and rumored-to-be haunted mansion on top of Benson Hill ... (Goodreads)
Knulp: Three Tales from the Life of Knulp
by Hermann Hesse
Die drei Geschichten aus dem Leben des Landstreichers Knulp, einem Nachfahren von Eichendorffs Taugenichts, zählen zu den reizvollsten Stücken der frühen Prosa Hermann Hesses. In der Folge seiner ... (Goodreads)
Rose in Bloom
by Louisa May Alcott
A young woman's journey of faith and self-discovery, while struggling with societal expectations.
The story begins when Rose returns home from a long trip to Europe. Everyone has changed. As a joke, Rose lines up her seven cousins to take a long look at them, just as they did with her when they ... (Wikipedia)
The Rogue Not Taken
by Sarah MacLean
Spirited Lady Sophie flees her aristocratic family and finds herself on a wild adventure with the handsome and roguish King of London's underworld.
Lady Sophie’s Society Splash When Sophie, the least interesting of the Talbot sisters, lands her philandering brother-in-law backside-first in a goldfish pond in front of all society, she becomes the ... (Barnes & Noble)
This Is How It Always Is
by Laurie Frankel
A family's journey of acceptance and love, as they navigate their child's gender identity.
New York Times, Bestseller The Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick ,“Every once in a while, I read a book that opens my eyes in a way I never expected.” —Reese Witherspoon (Reese’s Book ... (Barnes & Noble)
Maitreyi
by Mircea Eliade
A passionate story of two star-crossed lovers from different backgrounds who are determined to make their relationship work.
Allan is an employee of the company run by engineer Narendra Sen. When sent to work in a rain-abundant region of India, Allan becomes ill with malaria. He is returned to Calcutta and admitted into a ... (Wikipedia)
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