With endless manifestations of red and pink on every corner, and commercials for chocolate and diamonds assaulting us outside and in our homes, I don’t think anyone needs a reminder that the infamous Day of Love is closing in on us. Each year as Valentine’s Day draws near, numerous camps inevitably arise supporting or opposing the saccharine holiday, creating a 24-hour period so polarizing that fights break out in the street.
Regardless of whether you’ll be basking in flowers and candy or burning love letters from your exes come next Tuesday night, we’re here for you—with books in tow. We’re firm believers that books are both a cause and conduit for celebration, and that reading can cure any ill. Who said your one true love can’t be books? (We’re allowed to be cheesy—it’s almost Valentine’s Day...)
FOR THE LOVERS:
Evangeline by Ben Farmer
If you’re a hopeless romantic willing to travel to the ends of the earth for love, you’ll find a kindred spirit in the heroine of this epic love story. Based on the famous poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline is the tale of an Acadian girl who embarks on a cross-country journey in order to find her long lost fiancé. The story begins as the young French lovers are separated during the British invasion of present day Nova Scotia, creating a story full of fascinating historic detail and passion.
The Relationship Dictionary by Mattias Goransson
We’ve all heard the famous Marilyn Monroe quote, “If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything,” a truism that can apply to both sexes. So why not gift your sweetie (or yourself) this hilarious and irreverent guide to love and relationships? Packed with dating terminology that can apply to every relationship scenario imaginable, this pocket-sized handbook is sure to entertain and delight singles and couples alike.
Teaser: The Chips Munching Phase: That period when the niceties are dropped and your loved one reveals all his or her nasty habits.
No Angel by Penny Vincenzi
With her impressive record of page-turning romances, Penny Vincenzi could not escape this list. No Angel, the first in the Spoils of Time Trilogy, is an irresistibly sweeping story of passion and family: a riveting drama and a fervent love story. Romance readers rejoice: Vincenzi’s dramatic plotlines and literary quality combine for compelling sagas you won’t want to put down, Valentine’s date or no date.
FOR THE HATERS:
It’s Not You It’s Me: The Poetry of Breakup edited by Jerry Williams
Going through a breakup? Think that no one can quite understand the exquisite sort of pain you’re experiencing? Think again; we’ve all been there. And in this eclectic volume of poetry, you’ll hear from 38 fellow broken-hearted souls who have loved and lost—and survived. Therapeutic and transformative, edgy yet sincere, enlightening and wide-ranging, Its Not You, Its Me explores heartbreak of every variety and what it takes to move on.
Pyscho by Robert Bloch
Nothing says, “I hate Valentine’s Day” like a good slasher flick—and what’s even better than seeing the Hitchcockian classic on screen? Reading the book that spawned it, of course. Read Robert Bloch’s chilling story of a psychotic murderer and his mother, and we guarantee you won’t have any recollection of what day it is.
Between the Sheets by Lesley McDowell
Recently released in paperback, this provocative exposé delves into the lives and loves of famous female writers, exposing the dysfunctional romantic entanglements that impacted their careers. Whether analyzing the ties between Rebecca West and H.G. Wells, Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, Martha Gellhorn and Ernest Hemingway, or Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, each unique relationship raises difficult questions while exposing liaisons wrought with abuse, neglect, and infidelity. Suddenly your love life doesn’t seem so bad, does it?
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