"The course of true love never did run smooth," wrote William Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night's Dream—and he knew what he was talking about. A text from this study guide collection might be just the thing to remind you of the bliss and pain of love.
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 2024
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Revenge, Relationships: Family, Society: Class, Society: Nation, Society: Politics & Government, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies
Tags Fantasy, Romance, Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, New Adult, Action / Adventure
Publication year 1871
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Marriage, Society: Community, Society: Class
Tags Classic Fiction, Victorian Period, Historical Fiction, British Literature, History: World, Romance, Victorian Literature / Period
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
Publication year 2019
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Regret, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Natural World: Animals, Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Natural World: Food, Relationships: Daughters & Sons, Relationships: Family, Relationships: Grandparents, Relationships: Mothers, Society: Class, Society: Community, Society: Economics, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies
Tags Romance, Southern Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Magical Realism, Fantasy
Publication year 2020
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Relationships: Family
Tags Romance, Fantasy, Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Religion / Spirituality
Publication year 2022
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Fate, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Identity: Mental Health, Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt
Tags Romance, Sports, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 2024
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Friendship, Self Discovery
Tags Romance, Humor
Publication year 2010
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Society: War, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Revenge, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed
Tags Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Action / Adventure, Fantasy, Romance
Mockingjay, published in 2010 by Scholastic, is the third novel in Suzanne Collins’s bestselling Hunger Games series. The series follows the life of Katniss Everdeen, an adolescent girl living in the futuristic dystopia of Panem. Mockingjay focuses on the civil war between the 13 districts of Panem and the oppressive government of the Capitol. Through Katniss’s experiences in the war, Collins explores cycles of oppression, the meaning of love in wartime, and the power of... Read Mockingjay Summary
Publication year 2015
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Tags Sociology, Humor, Psychology, Psychology, Relationships, Romance
Aziz Ansari’s Modern Romance, published in 2015, is a nonfiction work that combines statistics, interviews, and comedy to explore the current landscape of dating in the modern age. Ansari is an actor and comedian, as well as a writer. He got his start on television in the role of Tom Haverford in Parks and Recreation, which ran on NBC. He starred in Human Giant and went on to perform in several movies. His first comedy... Read Modern Romance Summary
Publication year 2019
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Values/Ideas: Music, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt
Tags Realistic Fiction, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Romance, Disability, Bullying, Children's Literature, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 2011
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance, Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Emotions/Behavior: Gratitude, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Identity: Mental Health, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Relationships: Family, Self Discovery, Society: Community, Values/Ideas: Literature, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt
Tags Modern Classic Fiction, Japanese Literature, Asian Literature, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Romance
Publication year 2015
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Identity: Sexuality, Emotions/Behavior: Memory
Tags LGBTQ, Romance, Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Mental Illness
More Happy Than Not (2015) is Adam Silvera’s debut novel. It was well received and marked Silvera’s entrance into the growing field of queer young adult fiction. In the Author’s Note, Silvera speaks about his own sexuality and the difficulty of feeling “wrong” when surrounded by his straight friends. This insight and a deft writing hand have allowed him to produce several books featuring young queer protagonists, such as the acclaimed They Both Die at... Read More Happy Than Not Summary
Publication year 2016
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Society: Class, Values/Ideas: Literature, Emotions/Behavior: Memory
Tags Romance, Historical Fiction, British Literature, History: World
Mothering Sunday is a 2016 novella written by British author Graham Swift. Like much of Swift’s writing, it has a psychological bent, exploring the relationship between history and memory. Swift won the Booker Prize for his 2006 novel Last Orders and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. This guide uses the 2016 Scribner edition of the text.Plot SummaryIt is March 30, 1924 in the upper-middle-class house of Beechwood in Berkshire, Southern England... Read Mothering Sunday Summary
Publication year 2017
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Life/Time: Coming of Age, Self Discovery, Values/Ideas: Equality
Tags Gender / Feminism, Bullying, Realistic Fiction, Romance, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 2013
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Identity: Sexuality, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Society: Community
Tags LGBTQ, Romance, Race / Racism, British Literature, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 2017
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Mothers
Tags Modern Classic Fiction, Romance, Humor
Mrs. Fletcher is a 2017 comic novel by American author Tom Perrotta. It follows the sexual reawakening of middle-aged divorcée Eve Fletcher after her son, Brendan Fletcher, departs for college. Meanwhile, Brendan finds the campus environment inhospitable to his unthinking “lacrosse bro” misogyny. Mrs. Fletcher is the seventh novel by Perrotta, best known for 1998’s Election (adapted into a movie of the same name, starring Reese Witherspoon) and 2011’s The Leftovers, which was adapted into... Read Mrs. Fletcher Summary
Publication year 2021
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Family, Identity: Race, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Society: Community, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice
Tags History: World, Historical Fiction, Romance, Humor, Great Depression, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction
Publication year 2022
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Family, Self Discovery
Tags Romance, Humor
Publication year 1598
Genre Play, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Marriage, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal
Tags Classic Fiction, Elizabethan Era, Play: Comedy / Satire, Modern Classic Fiction, Love / Sexuality, Relationships, 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
Publication year 1901
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Art, Values/Ideas: Literature, Identity: Femininity
Tags Historical Fiction, Gender / Feminism, Romance, History: World, Classic Fiction