Books Like Braveheart

Hi all!

I have loved stories like Braveheart, the Patriot, Gladiator. I feel these are stories that reveal real morality, ethics, and human traits that are worthy of digesting and applying to my life. I would love recommendations that are like those movies, and that make me a better person/man.

However, those stories I shared are movies of course, and I haven’t been a reader until the last 3 months of my life. I started with the Road, then All Quiet on the Western Front, and am about to finish Dorian Gray. I would like to be a better reader and try a book in the vein of the movies above.

Thanks for any recommendations!

Also a side piece. I am a husband and would actually like book recommendations on romance. I’ve never been a romance viewer at all. However, applying the same logic to “being a better man,” I want to be a better husband. I know I’m lacking in romantical expression for my wife. I think fiction novels may be able to help me with that. I’m not looking for graphic sex novels, but novels that display examples of true respectful men, respecting and loving women. I would like a book that shows examples of that side of romance. I picked up Pride and Prejudice off amazon but haven’t read it yet. Thanks!