Valentine's Day Reads: The Theme of Love

Anne Tyler’s The Accidental Tourist is a literary fiction novel that follows the character-driven story of Macon Leary, who must navigate life following the death of his son and the dissolution of his marriage. The Accidental Tourist was originally published in 1985 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. The Accidental Tourist is Anne Tyler’s 10th novel and one of her most recognized works. This study guide follows the paperback Berkley edition released in... Read The Accidental Tourist Summary

American writer Edith Wharton’s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel The Age Of Innocence (1920) was a post-armistice reflection on the 1870s New York society of her youth. Wharton, an American who lived abroad in Paris, was already the successful author of other novels, including The House of Mirth (1905) and Ethan Frome (1911).In a The New York Times article, Elif Batuman reflects that “eventually, each classic tells two stories: its own, and the story of all the... Read The Age of Innocence Summary

The Amen Corner (1954) is the first play by American author, orator, and civil rights activist James Baldwin. The play critiques Christian religion as a means of reinforcing oppression and poverty, specifically in Black communities. It also covers the rift between men and women in religious settings by examining the fall of its protagonist, a Black preacher named Margaret. Hollywood actress Juanita Moore, who was friends with Marlon Brando, asked Brando to loan $75 for... Read The Amen Corner Summary

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Published in 2011, The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach is a work of literary fiction depicting the interwoven journeys of characters at Westish, a fictional small liberal arts college in Wisconsin. Henry Skrimshander is a talented baseball shortstop whose future is jeopardized by an errant throw. His development intersects with that of his teammate Schwartz; his roommate, Owen; college president Guert; and Pella, Guert’s daughter and a newly enrolled student of Westish. The novel... Read The Art of Fielding Summary

Originally written in German and published in 2002, Jan-Philipp Sendker’s debut novel, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, was translated into English by Kevin Wiliarty in 2006. An international bestseller, the novel received the Indies Choice Honor Award for Best Fiction Novel in 2013. In response to such acclaim, Sendker penned a sequel, A Well-Tempered Heart, in 2012. The novel is international in scope—being written by a German journalist who lived in upstate New York, detailing... Read The Art of Hearing Heartbeats Summary

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The Ballad of the Sad Café and Other Stories (1951) is a collection of short stories and a novella by Carson McCullers. The author, a seminal part of the Southern Gothic Literature genre, rose to fame with her first novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940), which shares many themes with the stories in the collection. Other notable works by McCullers include the novels Reflections in a Golden Eye (1941) and The Member of... Read The Ballad of the Sad Cafe Summary

The Basketball Diaries: The Classic About Growing Up Hip On New York’s Mean Streets is an autobiography written by Jim Carroll and published in 1978. The book comprises a series of short diary entries which serve as anecdotes and insights into his daily life as a teenager on the streets of New York City in the 1960s. Jim Carroll became a celebrated writer and poet, overcoming his addiction to heroin in the mid-1970s and publishing... Read The Basketball Diaries Summary

W. D. Wetherell’s short story “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant,” first published in 1983 and later anthologized in 1985’s The Man Who Loved Levittown, has been popular ever since for its gently humorous depiction of youthful infatuations. Wetherell reaches into his own past to present a tale that’s both lyrically beautiful and achingly funny. In the story, a 14-year-old boy gets a crush on an older girl and must make a painful decision... Read The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant Summary

The Bean Trees (first published in 1988) is the first novel by Barbara Kingsolver. Kingsolver is an American novelist, essayist, and poet who holds degrees in ecology and evolutionary biology, and her work often addresses biodiversity, social justice, communities, and people’s interactions with their environment. The Bean Trees is a work of realistic adult fiction that follows Taylor Greer as she leaves her rural upbringing in Kentucky, drives across the country to Tucson, Arizona, and... Read The Bean Trees Summary

“The Bear Came Over the Mountain” is one of Alice Munro’s most popular works and tackles themes of infidelity, love, and hypocrisy. The short story was first published in The New Yorker in December 1999 and was later included in Munro’s Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage short story collection in 2001, her 10th collection. “The Bear Came Over the Mountain” received a movie adaptation titled Away from Her in 2006. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage... Read The Bear Came over the Mountain Summary

The Beast in the Jungle by Henry James, first published in 1903, centers on the relationship between John Marcher, a man haunted by the premonition that his life will be defined by some catastrophic event, and May Bartram. James’s narrative dissects the psychological effects of fear and anticipation by focusing on his characters’ inner lives and existential musings. The tale is an internalized ghost story wherein Marcher’s fears become self-fulfilling prophecies of loss. The third-person... Read The Beast in the Jungle Summary