I, etcetera (1978), a collection of witty and inventive short stories by Sontag, concerns human behavior in the modern world.

In Sontag's AIDS and Its Metaphors (1989), she considers how society regards AIDS as a metaphor for invasion and pollution and argues against such symbolic ways of thinking about the disease.

The Plague (1913), a classic novel by French existentialist Albert Camus, is an account of an Algerian town leveled by the bubonic plague. It explores the themes of death and illness from a psychological and philosophical approach.

Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir (1988) is Paul Monette's moving memoir of his lover's twoyear struggle with AIDS. It offers an intimate glimpse into the author's confrontations with love and loss.

Tales of the City (1976) is the first volume of a six-book series by Armistead Maupin chronicling the life and times of the residents of a...