Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston -- My favorite thing about this novel is that I read it in school and in our discussion it quickly became obvious that everyone had a completely different opinion on which man was Janie Crawford's one true love. This one's all about love as life-long journey.

Middlemarch by George Eliot -- Three different central love stories, each very distinct. Everyone has their favorite, and Fred Vincy's struggle to demonstrate his worth to Mary is definitely mine. Not just a great love story, one of the best novels ever written.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton -- Does not qualify for everyone's definition of a "love story," but I think there's something really beautiful and admirable about the central relationship between Newland Archer and his wife May Welland. Her cousin the Countess Olenska shows up and Newland wastes about 400 pages in a cloud of passion and lust but still marries May in the end; they have a very long, happy marriage and several lovely children. Some people hate this ending, but I'm a huge fan of it because it feels very possible, plus, Winona Ryder is May Welland in the film adaptation and I will never not take her side.

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez -- A widow revisits her first love after the death of her husband and the results are beautiful and sad. There is a stillness to this novel that absolutely knocks you to the floor.

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling -- Because there is no greater literary love than the slow-burning relationship between [SPOILER ALERT] Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. She gives him up to fight the greatest darkness the world has ever known and a part of me was secretly mad that she didn't divorce him before the epilogue scene.

Persuasion by Jane Austen -- Because there has to be a Jane Austen on the list and this one is very quietly the best Jane Austen novel.

It is no secret I am a devoted Jane Austen fan. I try to stay above the fray of that nonsensical, romantic-comedy obsessed side of her fandom, but that isn't always possible (Example: I watch all the movie adaptations, good, bad or otherwise). But I do credit myself a bit for having read all of her novels along with much of her other writing (unfinished novels and letters), as well as a healthy portion of Jane Austen biography and criticism.

One of the distinct pleasures of Jane Austen is the subsequent re-readings that most fans indulge in throughout their lives. You cannot read a Jane Austen novel once and consider yourself a fan; instead you must semi-annually dive back into the world of Regency England and plunder the depths of her novels for new discoveries, for which you are always richly rewarded.

Many people can plot their devotion to Jane via their changing preferences for her characters and novels; everyone begins with Pride and Prejudice, and everyone fancies themselves to be a Lizzie Bennet {Side Note: Why are women so obsessed with identifying themselves with specific characters, as if woman characters in novels were all archetypes of female personalities? That said, I am totally a Jo March of Little Women, and in Anne of Green Gables I am obviously a Marilla Cuthbert). Along with everyone else, I adored P and P and identified very strongly with the "coltish" bookworm Lizzie, but as I made the transition into young adulthood I started to love and admire and detest and empathize more and more with Emma. Like so many young adults, Emma is supremely confident in her abilities, and everyone around her constantly reinforces that confidence, although her actions are constantly contradicting everyone's faith in her. She does not do anything half-way and when fails, she fails spectacularly; but because she is a Jane Austen heroine, she inevitably learns her lesson and tries her best to do better, although Austen knows and we know that Emma will probably fail many more times in her life. Of all the Austen novels, I think it's the funniest, and the peripheral characters are really hilarious and awful, but it's easy to laugh at them and then realize that you are no better or different from Emma, who is doing the exact same thing. I have a strong hunch that in a few years I'll make the switch to preferring Persuasion (as all women over 30 must do eventually), so in the meantime, I'm going to savor these last few years with my Austen avatar, Emma.

The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.