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

The Pilgrim's Progress
John Bunyan

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1678

The Pillars of Creation
Terry Goodkind

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2002

The Pillars of the Earth
Ken Follett

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1989

The Pillow Book
Sei Shōnagon

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1002

The Pillowman
Martin McDonagh

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 2003

The Pilo Family Circus
Will Elliott

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2009

The Pilot's Wife
Anita Shreve

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1998

The Pinballs
Betsy Byars

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1976

The Pioneers
James Fenimore Cooper

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1823

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels
Ree Drummond

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2011

The Pisces
Melissa Broder

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018

The Places in Between
Rory Stewart

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2004

The Places I've Cried in Public
Holly Bourne

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2019

The Plague
Albert Camus

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1947

The Plague Of Doves
Louise Erdrich

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2008

The Plains of Passage
Jean M. Auel

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2002

The Planet of Junior Brown
Virginia Hamilton

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2006

The Plant
Stephen King

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2000

The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch
Hui-Neng

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1978

The Play
Elle Kennedy

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019

The Playboy of the Western World
J.M. Synge

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 2004

The Player of Games (Culture, #2)
Iain M. Banks

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1997

The Playground
Jane Shemilt

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019

The Playmaker
Thomas Keneally

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1987

The Playroom
John Connor

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1995

The Play that Changed My Life
Ben Hodges

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2020

The Pleasure of My Company
Steve Martin

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003

The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
Alain de Botton

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2009

The Pledge
Kimberly Derting

Fiction | Novel | Published in 2011

The Plot
Jean Hanff Korelitz

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

The Plot Against America
Philip Roth

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2004

The Plum Tree
Ellen Marie Wiseman

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2012

The Poacher's Son (Mike Bowditch, #1)
Paul Doiron

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2010

The Pocket Wife
Susan Crawford

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2015

The Poem of the Cid (The Song of the Cid)
Anonymous

Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Adult

The Poe Shadow
Matthew Pearl

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2006

The Poet
Michael Connelly

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2002

The Poetics of Space
Gaston Bachelard

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1957

The Poet of Tolstoy Park
Sonny Brewer

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2006

The Poet's Dog
Patricia MacLachlan

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2016

The Poet X
Elizabeth Acevedo

Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | YA | Published in 2018

The Point of Return
Siddhartha Deb

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2004

The Poisoner
Stephen Bates

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2008

The Poison Tree
Erin Kelly

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2010

The Poisonwood Bible
Barbara Kingsolver

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1998

The Pole
J.M. Coetzee

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023

The Polished Hoe
Austin Clarke

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2004

The Political Unconscious
Fredric Jameson

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2002

The Politics of Aesthetics
Jacques Rancière, Gabriel Rockhill

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2006

The Politics of the Administrative Process
Donald F. Kettl, James W. Fesler

Nonfiction | Reference/Text Book | Adult | Published in 2008

The Ponder Heart
Eudora Welty

Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1954

The Poorhouse Fair
John Updike

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2012

The Poppy War
R. F. Kuang

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018

The Porcupine of Truth
Bill Konigsberg

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2015

The Porpoise
Mark Haddon

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019

The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever
Christopher Hitchens

Nonfiction | Reference/Text Book | Adult | Published in 2007

The Portable Beat Reader
Ann Charters

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1992

The Portable Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1977

The Portable Veblen
Elizabeth Mckenzie

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2016

The Portable Virgin
Anne Enright

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1995

The Portrait of a Lady
Henry James

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1881

The Positronic Man (Robot, #0.6)
Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1994

The Possessed
Elif Batuman

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2010

The Post-Birthday World
Lionel Shriver

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2007

The Postcard
Anne Berest

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023

The Postcard Killers
James Patterson, Liza Marklund

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2010

The Postman
David Brin

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1997

The Postman Always Rings Twice
James M. Cain

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1934

The Postmistress
Sarah Blake

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2010

The Postmistress of Paris
Meg Waite Clayton

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

The Postmodern Condition
Jean-François Lyotard

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1979

The Postmortal
Drew Magary

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011

The Post-Office Girl
Stefan Zweig

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2008

The Postscript Murders
Elly Griffiths

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

The Potted Gardener
M.C. Beaton

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018

The Potter's Field (Inspector Montalbano, #13)
Andrea Camilleri

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011

The Poverty of Historicism
Karl Popper

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2002

The Poverty of Philosophy
Karl Marx

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2005

The Power
Naomi Alderman

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017

The Power and the Glory
Graham Greene

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1940

The PowerBook
Jeanette Winterson

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2001

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
Robert A. Caro

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 1974