It's Valentine's Day; and whatever that means for you at the moment, you're probably finding yourself forced to think about love.  The good news: whether you're happy or sad or bitter or wistful or just baffled about love, literature's got you covered. 

We've asked library staff for their recommendations on what to read this time of year, and they've delivered. From sweeping epics to anxious ruminations, from heartwarming favourites to books to help you ugly cry after a breakup, here are two dozen books about our most perplexing emotion:

For Adults

Valerie 

• The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
• Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
• Reader, I Married Him, edited by Tracy Chevalier
  
  I recommend Nicole Krauss’ "The History of Love", a heartbreaking, stylistically brilliant and exquisitely written novel about the lifelong search for love. Told through multiple perspectives and voices (including that of a long-lost novel also called "The History of Love") and sweeping across time and geography, the book reveals the tangled histories of these characters, their memories and their unresolved and long-remembered loves.
  
  If you are interested in reading the classics, you absolutely can’t go wrong with "Jane Eyre". I would also recommend a recent collection of stories from a fantastic group of female writers – including Tessa Hadley, Elif Shafak, Lionel Shriver and Audrey Niffenegger – called "Reader, I Married Him: Stories Inspired by Jane Eyre". 
  
  

Cathy

• So Sad Today: Personal Essays, by Melissa Broder
  
  I love this book because of its modern, unconventional style and the great personal power of Broder's writing. She is willing to lay it all bare  – to be completely honest – and she manages to do so while being very funny, insightful and astute at the same time. (Check out her short story, "Help Me Not Be A Human Being", to see what I mean). I'd say her work is ushering in a new era for the personal essay, a format I have always adored. I found her first through her poetry and her Twitter which is so brilliant: @sosadtoday

Ab. 

 

• My Brother's Husband, by Gengoroh Tagame
  
  I really like "My Brother's Husband", a recently published graphic novel by Gengoroh Tagame that looks at love and loss from a different and unique perspective. 

 

Mike 

• High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby
  
  I've read "High Fidelity" probably five times – it's a great book about relationships from a male perspective (and particularly a male music fan's perspective). Here's a blog post with a playlist of love songs inspired by the book.

 

Natalie

• It Ended Badly: 13 of the Worst Breakups in History, by Jennifer Wright 
  
  If you like gossip and history, and you are going through a bad breakup, then this is the book for you. The Oscar Wilde chapter made me ugly cry. 
  
  
  

Christina

 

• The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion

   

  "The Rosie Project" is a sweet and funny story that shows that everyone is deserving of love, and that love is out there for anyone, no matter your personal challenges.

    

Anne

    

• Who Do You Love, by Jennifer Weiner
• First Comes Love, by Emily Giffin
  
  In "Who Do You Love", Rachel and Andy meet as children and then, through the course of their lives, meet over and over again. It's honest, witty – and not your typical love story ending.
  
  "First Comes Love", by Emily Giffin, is a story about family, tragedy, sisters, forgiveness and the courage to follow your own heart.

Wendy

• Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert, translated by Lydia Davis
  
  Too many books about love take feelings at face value. Not "Madame Bovary", though! Flaubert sees the social and psychological forces that shape our most intimate decisions; and he manages to be both merciless and sympathetic in his dissection of an adulterous French housewife's descent, via love, into (spoiler alert!) despair and death.
  
  (Sorry to be a downer.)

 

For Teens

Alice

• Anatomy of a Boyfriend, by Daria Snadowsky
• Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
  
  "Anatomy of a Boyfriend" breaks down in a really realistic way how a relationship develops, peaks and fades in the late teen years. It's not high drama, the sexual aspect of it unfolds as they get more ready, she is neither in a rush nor reluctant, neither painted as a slut nor a prude... It seemed so average, non-dramatized and healthy, which we don't see enough of.
  
  "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist" is still my favourite for the way the two characters come together bonding over painful moments and shared experiences and love of music, in one whirlwind night that leaves them sure they want to see more of each other, to feel more of what they shared. It avoids melodrama and plot lines that stretch credulity past breaking, but bursts with the excitement of those fun, ridiculous nights that happen sometimes with good friends, and it is steeped in the atmosphere of downtown Manhattan. More recently, "Kiss Me In New York", by Catherine Rider, tries to capture the same thing, and doesn't fall far short.

Betty

     

• The Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series, by Louise Rennison
  
  I simply loved this ten-part series of teen books by Louise Rennison. It starts with "Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging" and completes with "Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me?" Over the course of the journey, we laugh, we cry and we cringe along with our heroine as she navigates the murky waters of teenage life and love. Who will she ultimately end up with? Robbie the sex god or Dave the Laugh or Massimo the Luuurve God? Read and find out!

 

Elsa

 

• Say I Love You, by Kanae Hazuki
• Soulless: A Novel of Vampires, Werewolves and Parasols, by Gail Carriger
• Soulless: The Manga, by Gail Carriger

 

Sheilah

 

 

• Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein
  
  I think "Code Name Verity" (set in Europe during World War II) counts as a romance. These two women – one a pilot, one a wireless operator – may be "only" friends, but they have a relationship that many of us could only dream of.

Kara

 

• Trouble is a Friend of Mine, by Stephanie Tromly
  
  “When there’s an end-of-the-world cult living next door to you, make it your business to find out what they’re up to,” he said. “That’s, like, a basic life rule.” This pretty much sums up Digby, the weirdest person Zoe has ever met...  Zoe's sarcasm complements Digby's dry sense of wit perfectly, and I spent the majority of the book dying of laughter. While I heartily enjoy the characters and the series, I would probably end up strangling Digby if I knew him in real life.

 

For kids

Linda

• Rotten Ralph's Rotten Romance, by Jack Gantos 
  
  Ralph the cat hates drippy Valentine's Day parties, and tries to ruin them by rolling in garbage and putting stink bugs in greeting cards. So, pretty relatable.