Written by Alexia Roumanas and Eleni Papaioannou

We love reading about love. Writers love writing about love. It is the perfect love story, story tellers from Homer to Cecilia Ahern have spun epic, romantic tales of love in a willful attempt to express, in a mere 300 pages, the roaring, complicated highs and lows of the heart.

As readers we take comfort by reading these fictional love stories; these are the ones that begin in Chapter One and end neatly on the very last page of a book with a broken down spine. No matter where you are ranked on the love milestone list: whether you’re falling in love, in love, falling out of love or happily single; love in real life is rarely that simple.

The truth is that love rarely starts and ends on a rigid timeline. The truth is that love comes and goes in all shapes and forms. It can be exquisitely painful and joyously life affirming. It is as equally beautiful as it is baffling.

The following ten books will uplift and enchant you. They will make you cry and they will make you laugh out loud. Either way, they’ll definitely make you feel something.

First off there is The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank. Do not let the title fool you; this is not a handbook to finding or keeping love; rather it is an admission that there are no rules. This is original, high quality chick lit that was written before the genre adopted such negative connotations. The protagonist is at once plain and charming; something of an anti-hero in her awkward pursuit of love. She says all the wrong things at all the wrong times. This book makes you feel normal; this book tells you that there is still hope even if you don’t act like the perfect heroine in a Love Story.

Having said that it is always wonderful to read a story in which the love flows seamlessly; Erich Segal manages to weave a tale where the relationship unfurls smoothly, despite the apparent antipathy between the two protagonists. The love between Oliver and Jennie is enviable despite this (or perhaps because of it). Their initial mutual dislike, accompanied by witty comebacks, melts into an unconditional love. It is the type of love that makes you want to glue your own face onto theirs and make their words, their story, their love, yours. It is the promise of this kind of love that keeps you going even when you’re plagued by doubts that maybe, just maybe, He’s Just Not That Into You.

The revolutionary self-help book by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo may seem like a peculiar choice to include on this list; let’s face it: it is a book that strips its readers of any romantic notions one might harbour as we struggle to decipher men’s (and love’s) baffling behaviour. The ex Sex and the City writers bare the uncomfortable truth that, sometimes, it is you! However at the core of this book is a simple message: love thyself. This is the greatest, and most challenging, love story of all.

Yes, it is even greater than Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. The story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy is well-known and much-loved. Its themes are so universal that they have been the inspiration of numerous interpretations (Pride, Prejudice and Zombies anyone?) Austen’s delicate tale reminds us that we all enter relationships with fears, expectations, biases and baggage but she also shows us that these are stumbling blocks, not unconquerable obstacles. She reminds us that even in the most problematic courtships, love can indeed flourish, and it can do so between the most unlikely people in the most unlikely places.

Behold one of the most heart-wrenching war novels ever written: few women would not yearn to be likened to the protagonist of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. Louis de Bernieres’ tale of the endurance of love is exemplified in this exquisite quote (and wedding speech favourite) “Love is a temporary madness… Love is not breathlessness …Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away …roots that [grow] towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms [have] fallen from our branches we [find] that we [are] one tree and not two.” Enough said.

If you are in need of more beautiful words to fall in love with while you’re falling in love (or perhaps for more wedding speech ideas), sneak a peak at Love Letters of Great Men. At first your worst fears will be confirmed. Romance is indeed dead. How many letters, or emails for that matter, have you received that address you as ‘Most divine’? However the message here is that, even though the expression of love alters over time, love itself does not.

For something a little bit more contemporary, there is no better example than Alain de Botton’s Essays in Love which chronicles a relationship from beginning to end. De Botton doesn’t simply deliver a love story; he dissects it, from that first chance encounter right through to the devastating break up; he analytically reminds us that love is not always enough. It is not black or white no matter how absolute it feels.

Yet, even when there is no doubt of the love, it can still be excruciatingly complicated. In no other love story is this more evident than in Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveller’s Wife.  Admittedly, time travel is not the most common problem in relationships, but who hasn’t experienced that annoying obstacle referred to in the dating game as bad timing. But, if Clare and Henry can make Chrono-Displacement Disorder work, then surely we must let love in; even if sometimes it may feel like an inconvenience in our busy lives.

For the best pick ‘n’ mix of love stories, look no further than My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead. Don’t let the title scare you, this is a charming collection of short stories edited by Jeffrey Eugenides.  These are stories of lovers and their beloved. There is no doubt that you will find a message for you in one of its pages concealed like a forgotten bookmark.

If you have to choose one book from this list to read while falling in love then it has to be The Notebook.  Nicholas Sparks’ navigates through an intense, all consuming love. This is the kind of ardour that we talk about when we are falling in love. The kind of love that forgives, that endures, and never ever forgets.

When you find yourself alone with a cup of tea, sighing at the sheer power of  the love exemplified in these ten books do yourself a favour: throw on a pair of your highest heels, take a chance and go out and find this crazy -not at all little- thing we call love. It won’t be easy. It will most likely be uncomfortably awkward, but in the end it will have all been worth it because you will realize that the most important love story of all is yours.