SparkNotes is hands down my favorite resource when I read a book. When I read To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984, Lord of the Flies, Heart of Darkness, A Separate Peace, Moby Dick, The Jungle, and The Scarlet Letter, I constantly pulled up SparkNotes because they were so confusing and I didn't want to miss anything important.
I haven't read Beowulf, Animal Farm, A Brief History of Time, Catcher in the Rye, Canterbury Tales, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, or pretty much any Shakespeare, because they seem so daunting to me, like I need a translator. But after discovering SparkNotes, I'm so excited to expand my reading and start trying out new books that I wouldn't otherwise read. I'm ditching my Lunar Chronicles books and moving on to reading real literature that will broaden my horizons and deepen my appreciation for good writing and literature that shaped our culture (or at least future books).
I like SparkNotes so much I sound like I'm sponsored by them lol
Project Gutenberg Self-Publishing Press is a great way to read about the books. I always use this for Agatha Christies (particularly the "series"s that I read - rn I'm going thru her Hercule Poirots so that's what I'm using the site for), because it talks about recurring themes and characters, books those characters first show up in, the plot and book summary, new characters, the next book, etc. I prefer using this instead of SparkNotes for the Agatha Christies because it's more in-depth in that way.
