Once the average person leaves school she no longer reads. Instead our lives become work, family and, if we’re lucky, the occasional adventure. If we do read, we often look for books with a flighty, romantic tale that makes us both smile and cry. Sometimes classic novels provide more poignant love stories than bestsellers. Most of my favorite novels, written by now dead men, are usually read by high school and college students even though their content is thoroughly adult.

1. If you were lucky enough to read all of War and Peace in college, I hope you loved it. 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. 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. 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.

This summer indulge in the classics. These novels endure in their ability to make us weep.