I had read about half these books but decided to read the other half for a 2012 goal. It is very heavy on Hemingway and American literature, in general. I like the diagrams that show the characters and how they interact. The summaries are good, but I don't like how the gist of the book at the beginning gives away the plot sometimes! I would suggest reading the summaries AFTER finishing a book or when you get totally stuck.

I question some of the choices, but it is good for someone wanting a basic literature course. I agree with a previous review that there are other books that dive much deeper.

This reference is probably most useful for refreshing your memory on plots, characters and themes of books read long ago, perhaps in college (so you don’t have to read them again). It also serves when you want to know something about the book but don’t care to read it yourself (The Jungle springs to mind, as does anything by Dickens). I would suggest this list as a good beginning point for building a basic library.

A wonderful book. Great literature summarized and analyzed. Plot summaries, main characters, symbols, themes and ideas, background, style and structure, critical overview, and author materials present a wealth of material for every title. ( )

I probably would never have bought this book if I hadn't purchased it at a discount price. If you imagine a stack of SparksNotes bound together, you get an idea of what this book has to offer. It's useful as a general tool, especially for high school or lower-division literature studies. However, some of the information is questionable and I wonder at some of the titles selected/omitted for this book. If you can pick a copy up for a few bucks and you're interested in overviews of some major works, I'd say, 'go for it.' However, more advance literary students might turn their noses up. ( )

A great resource for recalling info about books you have read, such as character names and basic plots, a well as to plan what to read next. ( )