Marriage

"It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages," said philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The texts in this collection depict happy and unhappy marriages—and those that fall somewhere in between.

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus

by John Gray

Publication year 1992

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Marriage, Fear, Forgiveness, Love

Tags Self-Improvement, Psychology, Relationships, Love & Sexuality, Philosophy, Philosophy, Psychology, Romance

Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus (1992) is a self-help and personal development book by American author John Gray. The book is designed to help couples improve their relationships by accepting how different men and women are. Although the book was initially met with critical acclaim, it has lost popularity due to critiques about sexist content and the book’s worldview. Although this is Gray’s best-known work, Gray has published many similar books concerned... Read Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus Summary

Mere Christianity

by C. S. Lewis

Publication year 1952

Genre Essay Collection, Nonfiction

Themes Forgiveness, Shame & Pride, Religion & Spirituality, Marriage

Tags Religion & Spirituality, Christian, Philosophy, Philosophy, Classic Fiction

Mere Christianity by Clive Staples Lewis (more commonly known as C. S. Lewis) was first published in 1952 as an expansion of some radio talks Lewis gave during World War II. Though Lewis is best known for his children’s fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia (particularly The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), Mere Christianity is likely Lewis’s most famous work of Christian apologetics—a genre dedicated to addressing various critiques of Christian theology.  Lewis was... Read Mere Christianity Summary

Message In A Bottle

by Nicholas Sparks

Publication year 1998

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Love, Grief, Fate, Forgiveness, Guilt, Hope, Loneliness, Memory, Regret, Fathers, Friendship, Marriage, Self Discovery, Loyalty & Betrayal, Truth & Lies

Tags Romance, Southern Literature

Message in a Bottle (1998) is the second novel by Nicholas Sparks, the follow-up to his incredibly popular romance, The Notebook. It was inspired by Sparks’s father’s experience after the sudden and unexpected death of Sparks’s mother. They’d been married for 27 years when an accident on a horse led her to develop a cerebral hemorrhage. It was a fluke, a random accident, just like the one that claims Catherine’s life and that of her... Read Message In A Bottle Summary

Middlemarch

by George Eliot

Publication year 1871

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Marriage, Community, Social Class

Tags Classic Fiction, Victorian Period, Historical Fiction, British Literature, World History, Romance, Victorian Era

Middlemarch or Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life is a Victorian realist novel by George Eliot (the penname of Mary Ann Evans). Published over the course of 1871-72, the novel depicts the trials and tribulations of life in the small English town of Middlemarch. The novel has been hailed as one of the greatest works of English literature and has been adapted for radio, television, theater, and opera. Other works by Eliot include The Lifted... Read Middlemarch Summary

Mildred Pierce

by James M. Cain

Publication year 1941

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Loyalty & Betrayal, Social Class, Mothers, Daughters & Sons, Mental Health, Marriage, Gender Identity

Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Relationships, Parenting, Social Class, Business & Economics, Finance, Great Depression, American Literature, Love & Sexuality, Gender & Feminism, World History, Historical Fiction, Classic Fiction

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Moll Flanders

by Daniel Defoe

Publication year 1722

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Femininity, Good & Evil, Marriage, Social Class, Colonialism, Power & Greed, Truth & Lies, Gender Identity

Tags Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, British Literature, World History

Published in 1722, The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe tells the life story of a woman who carves her own path through late 17th-century England and North America. Like Defoe’s first novel, Robinson Crusoe, this work also tells the tale of a singular individual who overcomes adversity—in her case, extreme poverty—to become considerably wealthy. Moll Flanders is a wife, a thief, a sex worker, and an impresario. She is... Read Moll Flanders Summary

Mr Stink

by David Walliams

Publication year 2009

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Forgiveness, Loneliness, Coming of Age, Appearance & Reality, Family, Marriage, Mothers, Siblings, Social Class, Community, Justice

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Much Ado About Nothing

by William Shakespeare

Publication year 1598

Genre Play, Fiction

Themes Love, Marriage, Loyalty & Betrayal

Tags Classic Fiction, Elizabethan Era, Comedy & Satire, Modern Classic Fiction, Love & Sexuality, Relationships, Social Class, Gender & Feminism, Renaissance, Education, Education, Romance, Humor

Much Ado About Nothing, a comedy dating from the mid-career period of William Shakespeare was probably written just prior to 1600. The play has the trappings of a theatrical farce with its use of assumptions and misunderstandings. Main characters Benedick and Beatrice are duped into announcing their love for each other while Claudio is fooled into spurning Hero at the altar when he mistakenly believes that she has not been faithful to him. The theme of lovers being tricked... Read Much Ado About Nothing Summary

Murder at the Vicarage

by Agatha Christie

Publication year 1930

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Marriage, Social Class, Justice

Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Classic Fiction, British Literature

Published in 1930, Murder at the Vicarage is Agatha Christie’s first novel featuring the elderly detective Miss Marple. The character first appears in a 1927 short story entitled “The Tuesday Murder Club.” In Murder at the Vicarage, unpopular bully Colonel Protheroe dies from a gunshot wound in the study of St. Mary Mead’s Vicarage. All suspects have an alibi, including the victim’s wife and her lover, who each admits guilt to divert suspicion from the... Read Murder at the Vicarage Summary

New from Here

by Kelly Yang

Publication year 2022

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Fear, Forgiveness, Guilt, Hate & Anger, Hope, Love, Shame & Pride, Appearance & Reality, Environment, Place, Equality, Justice, Order & Chaos, Power & Greed, Trust & Doubt, Truth & Lies, Science & Technology, Safety & Danger, Race, Mothers, Siblings, Daughters & Sons, Fathers, Friendship, Marriage, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Social Class, Community, Nation, Regret

Tags Race & Racism, Historical Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Children`s Literature, Modern Classic Fiction

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Nine Parts of Desire

by Geraldine Brooks

Publication year 1994

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Religion & Spirituality, Politics & Government, Femininity, Gender Identity, Marriage, Community

Tags Religion & Spirituality, Gender & Feminism, Politics & Government, Sociology, Women`s Studies, World History, Travel Literature

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