At Shmoop, the attitude is basically, “Hi, we know you’re not going to make time to read this book, but you really should, because it’s amazing, but since you’re not, here is everything you need to know about it.” Plus there are YouTube videos, .gifs, and pop culture references. I call it literary smart-assery.

Each reading guide contains an overview, a plot summary, character analysis, symbolism, themes, discussion questions and more, all intended to open up a conversation about these popular books.

These are not book reviews. If you’re interested in my personal reviews, check out my Goodreads page to the left.

So, if you’re not going to make time to read these awesome (and some not-so-awesome) books (even though you should), check out these reading guides (in no particular order, although my favorites are closer to the top):

* Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander

* David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas

* Stephen King’s Carrie

* Piper Kerman’s Orange is the New Black

* Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken

* Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower

* Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex

* Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible

* Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club

* Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire

* Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

* Veronica Roth’s Insurgent and Allegiant

* Emma Donoghue’s Room

* Shannon Hale’s Austenland

* Guy Delisle’s Pyongyang

* Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines

* Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies

* Stephanie Meyer’s The Host

* Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One

* Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron“

* Lauren Oliver’s Delirium

* Joseph Delaney’s Revenge of the Witch

* Dan Simmons’s Hyperion

* Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone

* Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones

* James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces

I also help design the most awesome high school lit courses known to man.