Forget Valentine's Day and real-life love and romance, read a book! Why concern yourself with finding a good and viable match or take careful pains to keep with the tradition of granting your significant other all of the associated attentions, when you can immerse yourself in works of fiction that feature all types of men and women. If know your type to be the perfectly polite gentleman, you'll find that Gabriel Oak is the actual epitome of the phrase. Perhaps your preference is the dependable hunk or the fierce, silent type, you'll find those caricatures reflected in Jamie Fraser and Dimitri Belikov, respectively. There are literal worlds of literature in which these men live. Take your pick! Incidentally, all three of the characters whose names I'd elected to serve as examples, can be read about in the books below. But let's make Valentine's Day about more than just romance. Let it be a day to indulge on heart-warming love, friendship, and the love of life. Read on and enjoy!
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Over the years, I've prattled on and on about Little Women and how it brought about my love for reading. This wholesome, timeless story celebrates love for all things in all of its forms: the love that exists between four radically different sisters and their unconditional devotion to each other, unrequited love, the end-all-be-all love, love lost and love found, love for literature and art, love borne out of necessity, and the love for and hope in humanity.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Who can honestly say they're surprised by this mention? I have given this series nothing but well-deserved praise. Gabaldon's writing is peerless (I might've even used the very same word to describe it), with well-incorporated tidbits of medical and historical facts, and an excellent she'll-come-around love story. I can now assuredly say that I know more Scottish history and Highland culture than the average fellow. To my Scottish friends: dinna fash, I wilna claim to know any more than that ;) (I'm cringing on your behalf)
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
On a serious note, if there's a lesson I learned that I can confidently attribute to my reading of Bridge to Terabithia it's that life is fleeting and, consequently, those that are loved must be cherished and appreciated while they can be. As I grow older, I realize the lesson (accidental or not) is deeper still: every human life has its ups and downs. This is no more clearly depicted than in the contrasted lives of the two main characters.
Sundays At Tiffany's by James Patterson
Including Sundays at Tiffany's on this list is strictly on the basis of nostalgia. That is to say, I remember of the general plot of the book, but honestly don't remember enough to extrapolate an informed opinion. I read this book during a time that I look back at very fondly and I distinctly remember feeling all warm and cozy after reading it, that is why it's here and that's all she wrote.
Passion by Lauren Kate
This particular book is the third in a series that revolves around the eternal love story of a Lucinda Price and Daniel Grigori. I read the Fallen series in high school, loved it for what was in my head and what it could have been on paper, and wasn't all that impressed with Daniel's infatuation with Luce and the latter's unbelievable stupidity. Once again, I will freely admit that this recommendation is a case of love for the concept of the story and its potential.
If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson
In what amounts to a little under two hundred pages, Jaqueline Woodson delivers a story about a love that transcends all boarders. Jeremiah and Ellie are kindred spirits, they know this as soon as they lay eyes on each other. They continuously seek each other out for the comfort of the other's presence and seem to have an unspoken and profound understanding of the other's internal and external struggles. Again, kindred spirits.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
In spite of its daunting size and its very formal wording (in the way the language of translated classical works typically are) Anna Karenina is a guilty pleasure because it indulges my fantasy of being a member of the Russian aristocracy.
Blood Promise by Richelle Mead
Remember my Russian fantasy? Well, I introduce to you, dear reader, the source of all of my dismissible anguish for not having been born with any detectable Russian ancestry as well as my unattainable high standards. As an aside though, Russians seem to have this very unapologetic ruggedness, an inexplicable air of reserved dominance, and age of culture that I find charming...from a distance. It's no coincidence that Dimitri Belikov embodies all of the above.
Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
I gave Bathsheba heat for her abysmal decision-making some time ago, and I don't mean to do the same here. Suffice it to say that I vehemently disapproved. But I'm here to gush over Gabriel Oak. Honest, loyal, hardworking, reliable Mr. Oak is the first of Bathsheba's three suitors to make his intentions clear, only to be swiftly rejected on the basis of lack of justification for the marriage. Sorry, I said I wasn't going to be bitter.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
I'm going make a revelation so earth-shaking that it might potentially get me axed from the Jane Austen book club. Ready? Here goes, I don't like Mr. Darcy all that much. I can watch Colin Firth do his thing for days, but Mr. Darcy just doesn't float my boat. His excessive pride and condescending manner is explained away by the end as having been perceived so by Elizabeth by virtue of her own prejudices, but there were simply a few too many instances in which he was unnecessarily high-handed and furtive.
I might have been on the Darcy train that every other self-proclaimed Austenian seems to be on, once upon a time, but a recent reread threw him under my scrutiny and I deemed him thus...unsettling. That said, Pride and Prejudice is a guilty pleasure because it feeds into my perhaps unwittingly audacious fancy that I am like Lizzy. She can be a little quick to judge at times, but is well-intentioned, witty, and a good judge of character.
* Honorable Mentions *
- Honorable Mention #1: Celebrations by Maya Angelo
Celebrations is a collection of some of Maya Angelou's most well-known and acclaimed poetry. Taken separately, each poem tells its own story and was written to commemorate an event in the public sphere (e.g former President Clinton's inauguration; the UN's fiftieth anniversary) and milestones in her private life (her nephew's Bar Mitzvah; her mother on Mother's Day). Together, the poems serve as a love letter to the human condition.
- Honorable Mention #2: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
If you've read When Breath Becomes Air or even happen to know its premise, you may be asking why I included it as a recommended guilty pleasure. For those of you who haven't come across this book, it's a gut-punching, tear-jerking, and heart-wrenching read that is the furthest from a guilty pleasure you can get. The voice of the story is the author himself, a neurosurgeon documenting his view on life as he is diagnosed with a terminal illness after having relieved innumerable patients of their own complications for many years. As he posthumously relates what may very well be the cruelest twist of fate, Paul Kalanithi reflects on what he discovered is the meaning of life and the swiftness and seeming finality of death, but not in the presumptuous way that suggests pomposity. This book reads as grim and melancholy, almost painful to get through because of the subject matter, but- after my initial profound sadness- left me so awe-inspired at both Kalanithi's insights and the ephemerality of a single human existence and the extent of the impact such a whisper can have on the world. I included this book in this list and chose to end with it because while it's always nice to flirt with love and romance, When Breath Becomes Air throws into sharp perspective what the bonds we create with others mean in the grand scheme of things.
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