The Bibliophile's Compass

1659 Crusoe starts to salvage items from the wreck 1868  Little Women by Louisa May Alcott The story follows the lives of the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—and details their passage from childhood to womanhood. 1960  A Dance of the Forests by Wole Soyinka It explores the themes of tradition, history, and the challenges of postcolonial Africa. 1985 Saints and Strangers by Angela Carter (UK) Drawing on American history, literary legend, and folk tale, Angela Carter transports us to that shadowy country between fact and myth in this book of short stories. 1989  Daddy by Danielle Steel Oliver Watson's world suddenly dissolves around him when Sarah, his wife of eighteen years, returns to Harvard to get her master's degree. Oliver is left on his own, with three children and a freedom he never wanted and doesn't completely understand. His family's needs and demands suddenly consume his life. 1994 When Lightning Strikes by Kristin...

2009 Heaven by Mieko Kawakami It is told in the voice of a 14-year-old student who subjected to relentless torment for having a lazy eye. Winner of the 2010 Murasaki Shikibu Prize Shortlisted for the 2022  International Booker Prize 2014 The Children Act  by Ian McEwan (UK) A fiercely intelligent, well-respected High Court judge in London faces a morally ambiguous case while her own marriage crumbles in a novel that will keep readers thoroughly enthralled until the last stunning page. 2014 The Bone Clocks  by David Mitchell (UK) The novel is divided into six sections with five first-person point-of-view narrators. They are loosely connected by the character of Holly Sykes, a young woman from Gravesend who is gifted with an "invisible eye" and semi-psychic abilities, and a war between two immortal factions, the Anchorites, who derive their immortality from murdering others, and the Horologists, who are naturally able t...

1843 The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe published ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ An unnamed narrator, who suffers from alcoholism, has a strong affection for pets, until he perversely turns to abusing them.  1914 Elmer Rice's play "On Trial" premieres in NYC It was the first play to employ on stage the motion-picture technique of flashbacks, in this case to present the recollections of witnesses at a trial. 1999 Ghostwritten by David Mitchell is published (UK) The story takes place mainly around East Asia, but also moves through Russia, Britain, the US and Ireland. It is written episodically; each chapter details a different story and central character, although they are all interlinked through seemingly coincidental events.