Our Valentine's Day Reads: The Theme of Love Collection features titles centered on love and all of its complexities. This Collection represents authors who have grappled with romantic, familial, and other forms of love through writing. With titles ranging from contemporary romance picks to works by Shakespeare, this Collection has something to offer any reader who has ever lost or found love.
Publication year 2024
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Identity: Gender, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Self Discovery, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality
Tags Fantasy, Romance, New Adult
Publication year 1855
Genre Novel/Book in Verse, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Identity: Language, Identity: Race, Life/Time: The Future, Life/Time: The Past, Natural World: Environment, Natural World: Place, Relationships: Family, Society: Colonialism, Society: Community, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality
Tags Narrative / Epic Poem, Fairy Tale / Folklore, American Literature, Romanticism / Romantic Period, Agriculture, History: U.S., Science / Nature
Publication year 1774
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Identity: Mental Health, Self Discovery
Tags Classic Fiction, Romanticism / Romantic Period, German Literature, Education, Education, History: World, Romance
The Sorrows of Young Werther (in German, Die Leiden des jungen Werthers), written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, is a semi-autobiographical epistolary novel published in 1774. The story unfolds through a series of letters penned by the eponymous protagonist, Werther, and mainly chronicles his experiences in the small town of Wahlheim. Werther, a sensitive and idealistic young man, arrives in the town and becomes enamored with Lotte, a local magistrate’s daughter. His unrequited love becomes... Read The Sorrows of Young Werther Summary
Publication year 2022
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Marriage, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Self Discovery
Tags Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 2021
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Daughters & Sons, Relationships: Mothers, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Love
Tags Romance, Humor, Love / Sexuality, Relationships, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 2021
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Marriage, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt
Tags Romance, Gender / Feminism, Love / Sexuality, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 1976
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Life/Time: Aging, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Natural World: Environment, Society: Immigration, Emotions/Behavior: Regret
Tags American Literature, History: World, Classic Fiction
The Spectator Bird, Wallace Stegner’s 11th novel and winner of the 1977 National Book Award, takes a hawklike view, both expansive and intimate, of such things as aging, death, love, loss, temptation, and regret. A sequel to his novel All the Little Live Things (1967), Bird follows the same protagonist and narrator, the retiree Joe Allston, but interlaces past and present, death and rebirth, memory and mythology. Stegner, who was 67 when Bird was published... Read The Spectator Bird Summary
Publication year 2024
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Natural World: Flora/plants, Society: Class
Tags Fantasy, Romance, Mystery / Crime Fiction
Publication year 1997
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Identity: Disability, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt
Tags Health / Medicine, Science / Nature, Sociology, Immigration / Refugee, American Literature, Education, Education, Anthropology, Anthropology, History: World, Biography
Anne Fadiman’s nonfiction book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures chronicles the life of Lia Lee, a Hmong girl who lives with her family in Merced, California, in the 1980s and 1990s. The book examines the cultural misunderstandings and conflicting belief systems that result in Lia’s poor medical treatment after she is diagnosed with a severe form of epilepsy, Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome... Read The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Summary
Publication year 1923
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Natural World: Nurture v. Nature
Tags Lyric Poem, Relationships
Publication year 2019
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Marriage, Society: Politics & Government, Society: Immigration
Tags Historical Fiction, Romance
Publication year 2012
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Family, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Relationships: Fathers, Relationships: Marriage, Self Discovery, Values/Ideas: Fate
Tags Romance, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction
Jennifer E. Smith’s The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight (2012) is one of nine books that she has written for young adults to date. In an interview with Buzz Magazine, Smith said, “I’m kind of obsessed with moments in time that act as hinges, days where there’s a really clear split between before and after—where yesterday, your life was one way, and tomorrow it will be entirely different” (“Author Interview: Jennifer E. Smith.”... Read The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight Summary
Publication year 2023
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Win & Lose, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt, Values/Ideas: Safety & Danger, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Relationships: Family, Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger
Tags Romance, Fantasy, Fairy Tale / Folklore
Publication year 1989
Genre Short Story Collection, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Friendship, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Identity: Femininity, Values/Ideas: Literature, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed
Tags Magical Realism, Historical Fiction, Latin American Literature, Romance, Classic Fiction
The Stories of Eva Luna is a collection of short fiction by best-selling Chilean author Isabel Allende. The collection—first published in Spanish in 1989 and in English in 1991—is a follow-up to Allende’s 1987 novel, Eva Luna. Eva is the narrator of the stories in the collection, which is structured as a frame story with the Prologue harkening back to Eva Luna.Isabel Allende is famed for her work in the genre of magical realism and... Read The Stories of Eva Luna Summary
Publication year 2017
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Identity: Mental Health, Life/Time: Aging, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Relationships: Family
Tags Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction
The Story of Arthur Truluv is a 2017 novel by Elizabeth Berg that revolves around the stories of three unlikely companions: Arthur Moses, an elderly widower who finds solace in visiting his wife’s grave, Maddy Harris, a troubled teenager who feels out of place in her own life, and Lucille Howard, Arthur’s elderly neighbor grappling with her own loneliness. The novel is narrated in the third person omniscient point of view. These three unlikely friends... Read The Story of Arthur Truluv Summary
Publication year 2018
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Society: Colonialism, Society: Class, Relationships: Friendship, Society: Community, Values/Ideas: Literature, Relationships: Mothers, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Marriage
Tags Realistic Fiction, Indian Literature, History: Asian, Gender / Feminism, Relationships, Modern Classic Fiction, History: World, Historical Fiction, Romance, Arts / Culture
Publication year 2024
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Fathers, Relationships: Teams, Self Discovery, Values/Ideas: Fame
Tags Romance, Modern Classic Fiction, Sports, Contemporary Literature
Publication year 1972
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Natural World: Nurture v. Nature, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Natural World: Place, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Relationships: Grandparents, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Life/Time: Aging
Tags Grief / Death, Scandinavian Literature, Science / Nature, Modern Classic Fiction, Classic Fiction
Publication year 2009
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Friendship, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Relationships: Daughters & Sons, Emotions/Behavior: Love
Tags Romance, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 2021
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Friendship, Relationships: Family, Self Discovery, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Siblings
Tags Romance, Modern Classic Fiction