The Readers Society

Writing about taboo themes in the 1920s? Virginia Woolf did it fearlessly in this magnificent novel. Feminism, mental illness, bisexuality and depression are some of the topics she immortalized. The theme of depression was near and dear to Woolf, who suffered from bipolar disorder and made her first suicide attempt at 22 years old.

In this novel, Tolstoy lays out his opinion on history, war, philosophy and religion. He does it through five Russian aristocratic families during the Napoleonic invasion and by mixing fictional characters with historical ones like Alexander I, blurring the line between fiction and history to get close to the truth.

Frankenstein came to be one summer in Geneva, when Mary Shelley and her husband stayed in a villa rented by the poet Lord Byron. Bad weather confined them there for days, and as a distraction, Byron challenged his guests to create a story about ghosts. A few months later, the author wrote one of the most acclaimed terror novels of all time, whose monster causes both terror and affection.

In this novel, Austen strays from the typical romance novels of her time and uses irony to poke fun at aspects of her society, giving a humorous touch that stands in contrast to the more formal tone then expected of romance novels. The author also creates a main character who is intelligent and rational while also being romantic and non-conformist—traits that were not typical in female romance novel characters.