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.

Publication year 2021

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Self Discovery, Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: Fame, Values/Ideas: Music, Emotions/Behavior: Love

Tags Historical Fiction, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Humor, Music, Modern Classic Fiction, History: World


Publication year 2023

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Identity: Race, Relationships: Marriage, Society: Community, Society: Politics & Government, Values/Ideas: Equality

Tags History: U.S., Race / Racism


Publication year 2023

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Emotions/Behavior: Regret, Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Life/Time: The Future, Relationships: Teams, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt

Tags Fantasy, Romance, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, LGBTQ, Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Religion / Spirituality


Publication year 1971

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Identity: Sexuality, Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Society: Class

Tags Romance, Modern Classic Fiction, LGBTQ, Arts / Culture, Class, Love / Sexuality, British Literature, History: World, Historical Fiction, Classic Fiction

Maurice (1971) is a coming-of-age novel and love story by English author E. M. Forster. Like much of Forster’s work, it straddles the realist and modernist eras; stylistically, it resembles the literature of the 19th century, but its themes—in particular, its depiction of unconscious experience—anticipate the work of writers like Virginia Woolf and D. H. Lawrence. Drafted between 1913 and 1914, it was not published until 1971—one year after Forster’s death—because of its subject matter;... Read Maurice Summary


Publication year 2015

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Relationships: Marriage, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Values/Ideas: Fate

Tags Romance, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction


Publication year 2023

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Relationships: Marriage, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Gratitude, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Emotions/Behavior: Joy, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Life/Time: Midlife, Relationships: Daughters & Sons, Relationships: Family, Relationships: Friendship, Self Discovery, Society: Community, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Values/Ideas: Order & Chaos, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies

Tags Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Magical Realism, Romance, Fantasy


Publication year 2014

Genre Novella, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Life/Time: The Past

Tags Romance


Publication year 2018

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Relationships: Friendship, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Self Discovery

Tags Romance, Music


Publication year 2014

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love

Tags Romance, Music, Love / Sexuality, Education, Education, Modern Classic Fiction


Publication year 1988

Genre Play, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Identity: Gender, Identity: Sexuality, Relationships: Marriage, Relationships: Teams, Self Discovery, Society: Colonialism, Society: Politics & Government, Values/Ideas: Beauty, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies

Tags Historical Fiction, LGBTQ, Play: Drama

Originally published in 1988, M. Butterfly is a postmodern play by Chinese-American dramatist David Henry Hwang, who also wrote Yellow Face and Bondage. Hwang drew from two sources to compose his text: the 1904 opera Madame Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini and the historical espionage scandal involving French diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Chinese opera singer Shi Pei Pu. The play became Hwang’s best-known work and subsequently received the Tony Award for Best Play in the year... Read M. Butterfly Summary


Publication year 2012

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Self Discovery, Relationships: Family, Life/Time: Mortality & Death

Tags Romance, Grief / Death, Love / Sexuality, Depression / Suicide, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Drama / Tragedy

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes chronicles the burgeoning romance between Will Traynor, a quadriplegic man, and Louisa Clark, his caregiver. Published in 2012, Me Before You is the first novel in Moyes’s trilogy and is followed by After You (2015) and Still Me (2018). The novel was adapted into a 2016 film starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin. Written from various perspectives, Me Before You explores the complexities of disability, love, and euthanasia.This guide... Read Me Before You Summary


Publication year 2024

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Identity: Gender, Identity: Race

Tags History: U.S.


Publication year 1845

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Identity: Sexuality, Natural World: Climate, Values/Ideas: Beauty

Tags Victorian Literature / Period, Poetry: Dramatic Poem

“Meeting at Night” is a lyric love poem by English Victorian poet Robert Browning. It was published early in Browning’s career, in his 1845 collection Dramatic Romances and Lyrics, where it appeared as the first part of a poem titled “Night and Morning.” In 1849, Browning separated it into two poems, titled “Meeting at Night” and “Parting at Morning.” Browning’s poetry is often difficult, but “Meeting at Night” is straightforward to understand. The poem describes... Read Meeting at Night Summary


Publication year 2023

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Life/Time: The Past, Relationships: Mothers, Emotions/Behavior: Regret, Identity: Mental Health

Tags Romance, New Adult, Relationships, Love / Sexuality, Modern Classic Fiction


Publication year 1987

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Relationships: Marriage, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Life/Time: The Past, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Nostalgia

Tags Lyric Poem, Free verse, Confessional, WWII / World War II, Relationships


Publication year 2025

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Identity: Mental Health, Life/Time: Mortality & Death

Tags Memoir / Autobiography, Grief / Death


Publication year 1992

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Relationships: Marriage, Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Love

Tags Self Help, 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


Publication year 1996

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Relationships: Family, Identity: Mental Health, Values/Ideas: Equality, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict

Tags Realistic Fiction, Romance, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Health / Medicine, Modern Classic Fiction, Drama / Tragedy


Publication year 1998

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Values/Ideas: Fate, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Emotions/Behavior: Regret, Relationships: Fathers, Relationships: Friendship, Relationships: Marriage, Self Discovery, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Values/Ideas: 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


Publication year 1947

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Natural World: Place, Society: War, Society: Class, Emotions/Behavior: Love

Tags African Literature, Heinemann African Writers, Historical Fiction, Education, Education, History: World, Classic Fiction

Midaq Alley (1947) is a historical realist novel by Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, the 1988 Nobel Prize laureate in Literature. In this work, Mahfouz addresses the changes taking place in Egyptian society of the 1940s. The book tells the story of a group of neighbors living in Midaq Alley, a bustling market street, in the poor quarter of Cairo’s historic city center. The story is set at the end of World War II, during Britain’s... Read Midaq Alley Summary