10 Classical Romance Novels to Read

Sometimes classic novels provide more poignant love stories than bestsellers. Classic romantic novels are those books that we read over and over, those tales of passion and desire (and maybe just a touch of steam) that have stood the test of time as great manuals of what romance really is.


1. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.

This massive work of genius, often relegated to the role of a doorstop, encompasses the totality of love. Through the characters search and trails with both God and romantic love, we see many takes on the purpose of life. Anyone looking for a good romantic read will find Natasha’s forays into love, coupled with the depth of the many characters relations the paradigm of romance.


2. Swan in Love (Un Amour de Swan) by Marcel Proust.

Perhaps, the greatest romantic tale of literature hides within Proust’s magnum opus. Swann in Love, a small fragment of his lengthy masterpiece, demonstrates the destruction love ravishes upon us. Swann, a French aristocrat, falls deeply in love with his mistress who holds very little affection for him in return. Unlike the classic fairytale, love mars both his social life and his happiness as his attachment to his mistress increases.


3. Madam Bovary by Gustave Flaubert.

The always classic Madame Bovary brings us another example of love’s destructive power. Here we see a woman ruined by flightiness and dreams of happiness. The very fairy tales we secretly devour destroys a simple woman looking for grandeur beyond her means. At the same time, her husband maintains a simple, obtainable love.

4. The Tale of Genji, Murasaki Shikibu

trans. into English by Royall Tyler) Some literary types tell us that this text is considered the “first novel”, or at least the first “romantic novel” – it was written sometime between 1002 and 1020 CE by a Japanese noblewoman. The text tells the story of Genji the son of a Japanese emperor, who is relegated to citizen status for political reasons and has to work hard to attract women. There is no traditional “plot”, rather the text simply tells stories over time, in succession. We read about Genji’s early loves, his first unsatisfying romantic experiences, even his marriages and divorces. A powerfully romantic and ancient text, The Tale of Genji is also not very popular or well read. Treat yourself to a unique reading experience, and pick of the translation by Royall Tyle.

5. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

This novel from the mid-19th century is still a classic romantic tale because the story is so powerful, and the characters incredibly vibrant. Featuring many elements of the classic gothic novel (a kind of theme on this list of classic romantic novels) Jane Eyre tells the story of the title character’s life in the form of a simple narrative divided into parts. We see Jane Eyre in her childhood, her education, her first love, separation from love, and reunion. Studied in schools all over the world, there is perhaps no better known example of gothic romance.

6. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

This list would not be complete without including Jane Austen, whose books have stirred our hearts for almost two centuries. This novel follows the romantic adventures of the Bennet sisters, whose relationships grow from flirting and courting to proposal and marriage. This is a “classic romantic novel” by anyone’s definition, and is often considered to be the prolific Jane Austen’s best novel.


7. The Fox by D.H. Lawrence

Set in Berkshire, England during the first world war, this novella by one of the West’s great romantic writers is often overlooked as a wonderful piece of literary romance. The story revolves around two sisters who have taken over a farm – they survive hardship after hardship against all odds. The farm is their entire world and their safe place until a young and attractive soldier walks in and upsets their normal lives. If you’re in the mood for a shorter classic romance, Lawrence’s fascinating novella will satisfy you.


8. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

This is the quintessential tale of obsessive love and jealousy. It's about Gatsby, who loves Daisy, who is married to someone else, and how Gatsby does everything to win back her love. Sad and romantic!!

9. Othello, by Shakespeare.

This one isn't exactly a book, it's a play. This is by far my favorite Shakespeare play- I think it's ten times better than Romeo and Juliet! It's about Othello, who goes crazy with jealously when his frenemy Iago convinces him that his wife Desdemona is having an affair. Tragic! Romantic! Beautiful!

10. 5. Tristan and Isolde, (various)

A classic myth available in many different novels and books (as well as in Hollywood), this tale handed down to us from Celtic traditions centers on chivalry and meditations on doomed love and romance. There is plenty of action, including plenty of jousting and swordfights, and the unforgettable scene of our hero Tristan’s death at the hands of six knights. Looking for a classic romantic romance set in the Middle Ages? Pick up any of the hundreds of versions of the story of Tristan and Isolde.

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Books About Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda

THE LONGEST WAR: THE ENDURING CONFLICT BETWEEN AMERICA AND AL-QAEDA (2011). By Peter L. Bergen. This volume by CNN’s national security analyst provides a succinct overview of the war on terror, giving the reader a sharply observed portrait of Bin Laden, whom Mr. Bergen interviewed in 1997. Mr. Bergen argues that Bin Laden over-reached with the 9/11 attacks and that Al Qaeda has a growing list of enemies, including Muslims who don’t share its “ultra-fundamentalist worldview.” The book also provides a harrowing account of Bin Laden’s escape from American forces at Tora Bora in December 2001, after the C.I.A.’s request for more troops was turned down by Gen. Tommy Franks.

OSAMA: THE MAKING OF A TERRORIST (2004). By Jonathan Randal. This book by a former Washington Post correspondent is less a biography of Bin Laden than a history of the contemporary jihadi movement, which Mr. Randal argues was inadvertently strengthened by American hubris, ignorance and missteps in the Middle East and Persian Gulf. Mr. Randal chronicles Bin Laden’s combat experiences as an anti-Soviet jihadi, the role that various surrogate father figures played in his evolution, and his discovery of an “ability to talk to everyday Muslims in a simple language,” despite his family’s wealth.

THE BIN LADENS: AN ARABIAN FAMILY IN THE AMERICAN CENTURY (2008). By Steve Coll. In this family epic, Mr. Coll, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, creates a psychologically detailed portrait of Bin Laden and his relationships with his father, Muhammad, who made a fortune in Saudi Arabia as the king’s principal builder; and his older brother Salem, a British-educated, music-loving playboy, who used to organize family expeditions to Las Vegas. It also illuminates the important role that Osama Bin Laden’s relatives and their relationship with the royal house of Saud played in shaping his thinking, his ambitions and his technological expertise.

HOLY WAR, INC.: INSIDE THE SECRET WORLD OF OSAMA BIN LADEN (2001). By Peter L. Bergen. In an early study of Al Qaeda, this CNN analyst emphasizes the crucial role that the Afghan-Soviet conflict played in radicalizing many Islamic militants in the 1980s, giving fighters like Bin Laden confidence that they could defeat a superpower and replacing the notion of Arab nationalism with that of a larger Islamist movement. Mr. Bergen argues here that Bin Laden’s anger at the United States has little to do with Western culture — say, movies or drug and alcohol use — but rather stems from American policies in the Middle East, namely “the continued U.S. military presence in Arabia; U.S. support for Israel; its continued bombing of Iraq; and its support for regimes such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia that bin Laden regards as apostates from Islam.”

OSAMA BIN LADEN (2011). By Michael Scheuer. Mr. Scheuer, who once headed the C.I.A.’s Osama bin Laden unit, dissects the puritanical religious views that informed Bin Laden’s thinking. As he did in earlier books, Mr. Scheuer contends that Bin Laden was not an irrational terrorist, but a shrewd strategist and tactician who wanted to lure the United States into a financially draining quagmire in the Middle East.

THE LOOMING TOWER: AL-QAEDA AND THE ROAD TO 9/11 (2006). By Lawrence Wright. Based on more than 500 interviews, this book gives readers a searing view of the events of Sept. 11 and how that tragic day came about. Mr. Wright, a writer for The New Yorker, suggests that the emergence of Al Qaeda “depended on a unique conjunction of personalities” — that is, Bin Laden, whose global vision and compelling leadership would hold together the organization, and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, who promoted the apocalyptic idea that only violence could change history. In Mr. Wright’s account, we see how a shy young Osama bin Laden, who loved the American television series “Bonanza,” became a solemn religious adolescent, and how under the Machiavellian tutelage of Mr. Zawahri, he grew increasingly radicalized.

IN THE GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES: AMERICA’S WAR IN AFGHANISTAN (2009). By Seth G. Jones. This book by a political scientist charts several decades of relations between the United States and Afghanistan, focusing on what went awry after America’s successful routing of the Taliban in late 2001. Mr. Jones blames the invasion of Iraq for diverting resources and attention from the war in Afghanistan, and notes that there was a spillover effect in Pakistan, which offered a haven to many Taliban and Qaeda fighters. Among Mr. Jones’s conclusions is that the United States must “persuade Pakistani military and civilian leaders to conduct a sustained campaign against militants mounting attacks in Afghanistan and the region” and threatening the foundations of “the nuclear-armed Pakistani state.”

GHOST WARS: THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE CIA, AFGHANISTAN, AND BIN LADEN, FROM THE SOVIET INVASION TO SEPTEMBER 10, 2001 (2004). By Steve Coll. Mapping the long, mistake-filled road to 9/11, this book examines the C.I.A.’s covert role during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and America’s later neglect of the country during the post-cold war ’90s, when the Taliban and Al Qaeda took advantage of the political vacuum. Mr. Coll chronicles the failures of both the Clinton and Bush administrations to mount a serious attack on Al Qaeda and to implement a coherent counterterrorism strategy.[blog.nytimes.com]

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