Valentine's Day Reads: The Theme of Love

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.

Hijab Butch Blues

by Lamya H

Publication year 2023

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Religion & Spirituality, Hope, Love, Gender Identity, Race, Family, Friendship, Self Discovery, Community, Immigration, Equality, Justice

Tags Coming of Age, LGBTQ+, Gender & Feminism

... Read Hijab Butch Blues Summary

Hinds’ Feet on High Places

by Hannah Hurnard

Publication year 1955

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Religion & Spirituality, Fear, Love

Tags Christian, Symbolic Narrative, Psychology, Religion & Spirituality, Self-Improvement, British Literature, Fantasy, Classic Fiction

Hannah Hurnard’s 1955 novel Hinds’ Feet on High Places is an allegorical portrayal of purgation, progress, and ascent within the spiritual life. Born to Quaker parents, Hurnard struggled with her faith in her youth but experienced a powerful conversion at the age of 19. Inspired, she gained theological training in England and went on to author almost two dozen books over the course of her life, including a sequel to Hinds’ Feet entitled Mountain of... Read Hinds’ Feet on High Places Summary

Hippolytus

by Euripides

Publication year 428

Genre Play, Fiction

Themes Family, Justice, Fate, Truth & Lies, Sexual Identity, Daughters & Sons, Love

Tags Tragedy, Mythology, Ancient Greece, Classical Period

Hippolytus is a tragedy by Euripides, originally produced in Athens at the City Dionysia of 428 BCE. The tetralogy to which Hippolytus belonged earned Euripides the first prize that year. According to ancient authorities, this was Euripides’s second attempt at a play on the myth of Hippolytus, his earlier play having apparently horrified contemporary Athenians with its allegedly sensational depiction of Phaedra. Euripides’s original Hippolytus no longer survives, but the revised play quickly came to... Read Hippolytus Summary

Holiday Romance

by Catherine Walsh

Publication year 2022

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Loneliness, Love, Nostalgia, Shame & Pride, Gender Identity, Masculinity, Sexual Identity, The Past, Family, Self Discovery, Immigration, Fate

Tags Special Occasions, Romance

... Read Holiday Romance Summary

Home

by Harlan Coben

Publication year 2016

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Love, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Hope, Family, Mothers, Justice

Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Action & Adventure

... Read Home Summary

Home Front

by Kristin Hannah

Publication year 2012

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Marriage, War, Family, Love, Hope, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Grief, Mental Health

Tags Romance, Historical Fiction, Dramatic Literature, Military & War, Modern Classic Fiction

... Read Home Front Summary

Honor

by Thrity Umrigar

Publication year 2022

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Hope, Love, Loyalty & Betrayal, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Fear, Grief, Hate & Anger, Memory, Shame & Pride, Femininity, Family, Self Discovery, Social Class, Colonialism, Community, Justice, Safety & Danger

Tags Historical Fiction

... Read Honor Summary

Hooked

by Emily McIntire

Publication year 2021

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Love, Revenge, Family, Gender Identity, Self Discovery, Good & Evil

Tags Fairy Tale & Folklore, Romance, Horror & Suspense

... Read Hooked Summary

Hoot

by Carl Hiaasen

Publication year 2002

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Love, Perseverance, Hope, Gratitude, Conflict, Safety & Danger, Good & Evil, Animals

Tags Realistic Fiction, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Humor, Children`s Literature, Animals, Modern Classic Fiction

Hoot, by Carl Hiaasen, is a humorous adventure novel for middle-grade readers in which a group of children tries to save the habitat of a colony of owls from being bulldozed. Published in 2002, the book became a New York Times bestseller, won a Newbery Medal, and has been made into a motion picture. Author Hiaasen is an award-winning journalist and columnist for the Miami Herald. He has written nearly three dozen books, including six... Read Hoot Summary

House Made of Dawn

by N. Scott Momaday

Publication year 1968

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Justice, Apathy, Perseverance, Loneliness, Love, Place, Animals, Religion & Spirituality, Equality, Fate, Good & Evil, Order & Chaos, Colonialism, Community, Nation, Politics & Government, War, Memory

Tags Historical Fiction, Classic Fiction, American Literature, Addiction & Substance Abuse, Social Justice, World History

The novel House Made of Dawn, by N. Scott Momaday, was first published in 1968. Heralded as a major landmark in the emergence of Indigenous American literature, the novel won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. House Made of Dawn blends fictional and nonfictional elements to depict life on an Indigenous American reservation like the one where Momaday grew up.This guide uses an eBook version of the 2018 First Harper Perennial Modern Classics (50th Anniversary)... Read House Made of Dawn Summary