These Breakup Books Are The Antidotes To Valentine's Day Fever

Breakups are hard. They're also hard to live through. Suddenly, there's a vacuum where a person had been. And somehow, we must construct a new life around this startling fact. That's what breakups are all about, really: Constructing a new normal, learning who you are when you're on your own.

Ultimately, that takes time — and reading books is perhaps the best way to pass that time. Breakups are a paradox, in that they feel intensely personal and yet are a near universal experience. Some bright and brilliant minds have sorted through their own experiences with loss, grief, and separation on the page, and their insights are like guiding lights. Of course, maybe you're not in the mood to read more about break-ups. Fear not: Books are also the perfect portable escape from reality.

Using the insight of readers who also retreated into books during breakups, we've rounded up an array of books that will be companions as you rebuild.