This post is mostly for my sweet friend Tonya, whom I met when I worked at the library in L****. She would come in and ask for book recommendations, and then it turned out that we had pretty much the exact same taste in books. Soon I was smuggling her all the best stuff and we were having lunch and braiding each other's hair on a regular basis. (Note: this is why you make friends with your librarian. She might be an excellent hair braider.)
But now I'm not in L**** anymore and she's mad at me for leaving her recommendation-less. Also I keep refusing to sign up for Goodreads. Because yeah, I need to be spending more time on the Internet. Tonya says she'll let me off the hook for at least the next couple of weeks if I do a post about what books to read for the Valentine's season, much like I did at the start of Christmas.
Not all (read: any) of these are about Valentine's Day, but they are some of my favorite books about romance and/or love.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
As if that wouldn't be on here. Best when followed immediately by Colin Firth. Also brie and Cadbury Whole Nut Bars.
Bridget Jones' Diary, even the mother of all Brit Chick Lit. Please don't blame me for the swearing. Or if you fall off your couch laughing and hurt yourself.
Confessions of a Shopaholic. Yes, by the end of the 2nd one in the series I wanted to strangle Becky for having learned absolutely nothing. But this first one is frothy fun, I tell you. Also, the movie looks like it's going to be beyond stupid. She
liked to shop in the book, she wasn't a
clown in training.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by
Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. I just read this a couple of weeks ago and really loved it. There's a bit of romance in it, but mostly it's about this amazing community and the people in it and by the end you just love them all and want to go live there.
The Magic of Ordinary Days by Ann Howard Creel. Sweet, cozy story about finding love in unexpected circumstances (like, when you're an unwed pregnant girl in 1940s Colorado and your minister dad ships you off into an arranged marriage with a stranger).
I Like You by
Sandol Stoddard and Jacqueline Chwast. Yes, this was one of those books your RA read to your entire floor your freshman year at BYU during bonding time. And??? Hug Time by Patrick McDonnell. I just read this picture book for the first time and possibly ovulated at how cute an' sweet it was.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos. Not romantic at all, but great if you're in the mood for something snarky.
The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot. You may think (rightly) that this series has gone on about 8 books too long, but nobody does hilarious & clueless teen romantic angst like Mia Thermopolis. Plus she gets it about Ioan Gruffudd. Enough said.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Because Jane is awesome and stands by her principles and totally gets everything in the end. Then
go watch the movie and sob your face off during that part where she and Mr. Rochester are on the bed (!!!!!!) and he's begging her not to leave him. Sob, puppets,
Sob!!
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emma Orczy. I'm sure if I were to read this for the first time today I would have issues with it. After all, there are lines in it that read, "she was weak; she was a woman."
Issues. But I saw the movie version with Jane Seymour when I was 7 years old, I read the book when I was 12, I've seen the musical like 4 times, so yeah. There's really nothing to be done for it. It's totally swoony. I am weak, I am a woman.
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim. Four depressed women leave rainy 1920s London to share a castle in Italy for a month. While there, they have hijinks with pasta and rediscover their capacity for love and happiness.
The movie is great too.
Possession by A.S. Byatt. For when you like your lovers star-crossed and poetic.
What are some of your favorites? And if you don't care for my list,
The Independent published its
50 Best Romantic Reads in 2002 with the tagline, "Alone again?"
Nice one,
Independent.
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