February 2019: Be My Valentine!

Love! What is it? According to Webster’s : Love encompasses a variety of strong and positive emotional and mental states, ranging from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection and to the simplest pleasure.

February is a great month to focus on love. Dont’ run away guys, love does not have to be romance! It could be the “love” of a sport, the “love” of running, the “love” of tinkering with autos, etc. Or you might want to read up on the history of St. Valentine.

Possibilities:
Fiction:

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
Love and Bullets by Peter Branvold
Enchanted April Elizabeth van Armin
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfield (A modern day Pride and Prejudice)
The Thorn Birds by
The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Black Beauty
Love in the Time of Cholera
Love, Lies, and Spies
Enduring Love Ian McEwan
Old Yeller
Where the Red Fern Grows
Rebecca
Outlander
Antony and Cleopatra

Non-Fiction
Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love
Love in the Western World
The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis
Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century
Shadow of a Century: An Irish Love Story
The Tenth Island: Finding Love, Beauty, and Joy in the Azores.
Bridge to the Sun: A Memoir of Love and War

Sigh...says no touchstones available...Perhaps they will pop up later!

Every once in a while I love to curl up with a romance book, and if I am in the right mood for that I will probably reach for Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn, a romance series that I am currently reading.

Hmmm, I might try (as long as my library has it):
Marriage: a History / Stephanie Coontz

Although I may look again closer to the time to see what my other options are, as well.

I have 3 Nicholas Sparks on my shelf; I'll pick one! I also need to go buy a box of tissues if I read Sparks.

I have decided to read Suddenly Love by Aharon Appelfeld. I came across the title browsing the Internet for a book in this month's theme. The book has a lovely cover which made me want to read it then and there. Thankfully, my library has a copy.

Shoot!
>3 LibraryCin: "Marriage: a History" is not available at my library.

I really do try to stick with the history portion of each of our themes in this group, so I'm not sure what else on my tbr really fits. I use tagmashes to pick things, but people tag things oddly sometimes, so I'm not really sure which ones will fit!

ETA: I've put in an ILL request on it, but it usually takes a month or two. Sigh. I guess I should have checked into it when I first posted it as an option!

My library has a juvenile non fiction book; Saint Valentine / retold and illustrated by Robert Sabuda.
And another one by doing a search of Saint Valentine was The Maid of Perth by Sir Walter Scott which is tagged historical fiction.

I'm not all that "romantic" but I may do a good bit of reading on this month's topic. I've never read either Madame Bovary (I've got both the Lydia Davis translation and the Norton Critical) or Anna Karenina (Norton Critical), and The Enchanted April will let me get to a Virago TBR. I've also got Love in the Time of Cholera.

I'm trying to stick to ROOTing as much as possible this year. I think I may get fifteen ROOTs completed just this month alone (except I've already bought about thirty so far this year!).

>8 CurrerBell:, that is awesome, 15 roots in a month. I think I am at 7. I really enjoyed Love in the Time of Cholera.

>9 Kristelh: I'm actually currently at 11. Still to go for the rest of the month, I'm planning a reread of Dubliners (first read in the Norton Critical with its supplementary materials) and I'm about halfway through The Fifth Season, first book in N.K. Jemisin's The Broken Earth Trilogy. I'll probably claim each of the three books as a separate ROOT rather than combine the entire box-set trilogy as one ROOT (which would let me claim the trilogy on the 2019 "Big Fat Book" challenge).

I've set a ROOT goal of 100 for this year (previous years was 75) since I read 140+ books overall last year except that close to half of them were non-ROOT. I've done some major household cleanup and gotten books boxed and catalogued (currently just short of 3,600) which should leave me plenty of ROOTing.

Problem is, I've bought nearly thirty books so far this month!

>10 CurrerBell: amazing. That is a lot of books. I enjoyed The Broken Earth Trilogy a lot. Read it last year. I haven't read The Dubliners yet but it is a ROOT if I ever get to it.

I read Nicholas Sparks' The Longest Ride. Not nearly as good as The Notebook, but also not nearly as sad!

I don't do romance, but I cant resist a good love story. My favorite: The Far Pavillions. Also by one of my fav writers, a tragic love story that takes place in the middle ages The Marriage of Megotta. Then there is Here Be Dragons, about the love affair of the Prince of Wales with King John's daughter - filled with history of Wales and England, and a love story for the ages.

Not sure what I will read for this one yet. Whats your favorite love story?

>13 cindydavid4: My favorite love story is for sure Dr. Zhivago; which I've read about 3 times in 60 years. Also love The Thorn Birds. They are both tragic, but profound, nonetheless. I also read the Far Pavillions in 2016; which I liked.

I have finished Le bal de Sceaux, one of the earliest bits of Balzac's Comédie Humaine, where young aristocratic Émilie insists that she will only marry a peer and loses out on love. She is not a very likeable person, spoiled by her father and very arrogant. Her father's story makes up a large part of the novella which reminded me that I also want to read Les Chouans.

I've read All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor. I had read this book as a child many years ago, and enjoyed rereading it. It is about an immigrant Jewish family living Lower East Side of New York City around 1912; many Jewish customs are explained. Although the family was poor, they were rich in love for each other. This love shines through the story.

I think Goth Girl and the fete worse than death also fits here. It is very Gothic in style, and in this instalment Ada's maid is reunited with her constant lover, while the governess falls in love with a spy who must return to his job. Gorgeous illustrations, and for a children's book it has amazing literary allusions that make it fun for adults.

Mary Renault, The Charioteer. Gay relationships set in Britain just after Dunkirk. This book conveniently fits in with the VMC's monthly topic-read on Relationships.

I have completed Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn and this light and frothy regency romp was perfect both for this month's theme and for my mood which is rather dark as I am having computer problems.

Oh I just remember one of my favorite love stories from a few years ago: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand (and my copy has a cover that is one of the most ccreative one Ive seen) Lovely story of a friendship, and who knows, maybe more?

Another English series by Jane Gardam Old Filth about an Englishman in prewar Hong Kong. Fine book with a love story, and its sequel and prequel are just as good.

I have just finished Suddenly, Love by Aharon Appelfeld, the beautifully told story of the growing love between Ernst, an ill, older man, and Irena, his 36-year-old caretaker. The story is set in Israel. I found much to ponder and savor in this profound and poignant book.

I finished A tale of two cities which is a great story of the French Revolution and of course a wonderful love story.

I read til death do us part by Amanda Quick.
Not her best. :|

>22 MissWatson: I reread that every now and then; so powerful, and yes a great love story!

>24 cindydavid4: Yes, I can imagine myself picking this up again soon.

I have quite a few romances on my shelves that could have fit the theme but I wanted a book that said “Love”. The Hypnotist's Love Story fit the bill. It was a fun, contemporary love story set in Australia involving a young single female hypnotherapist and a widowed young man with a son and a stalker.

It was well done as the stalker and the implications of that kind of scrutiny were delved into from the pov of the girlfriend, the guy, the son and the stalker. Not everything was black and white.

Finished The Far Pavilions by MM Kaye. A re-read from the 1990s.

I think its time for a re-re-re.....read on that one. Loved it, hope I still do!

I'm still waiting on the nonfiction book I wanted (ILL through my library): "Marriage: A History".

I just got word that a fiction book The French Lieutenant's Woman is in for me at the library. I won't get a chance to pick it up till Tuesday, so I may not finish this month, but I will post here when I'm done. I'll likely also post "Marriage: A History" here when I finally get my hands on it, as well!

! French Lieutnants Women was one of my favorite movies, with a very young Meryl Streep. Didn't read the book until a few years ago, and enjoyed it

>30 cindydavid4: I've not seen the movie. I did really like The Collector, and it's the only book I've read by him, so I hope I like this one, as well!
(Hmmm, touchstones don't appear to be working at the moment...)

Stefan Zweig's biography of Marie Antoinette has quite a lot of room for Axel Fersen and his devotion to her.

The French Lieutenant's Woman / John Fowles
2.25 stars

In the 1860s in Lyme Regis, England, we have a love triangle. Ernestina is in love with Charles, but Charles falls for some mysterious woman, Sarah (apparently the “French Lieutenant’s Woman” of the title… though in my skimming I never did “get” that).

Started off badly, just based on the cover – very creepy, in my opinion – a woman’s eyes and top half of her face are whited-out and there are branches growing from her head. Wtf is that!? Anyway, when the first bit appeared to be a lot of description, I almost immediately lost interest. When I lose interest, I skim. I don’t put books aside, as I hope they will get better, but I know that because I’m skimming, it’s hard to notice if it improves. I do try to slow myself down every so often to see if it helps. And I did find, with this one, with about ¼ of the book left, I got more interested (that’s the extra .25 stars) – most of the time. There were odd parts where the actual narrator, who was set in the 1960s commented for a chapter or so. Oh, I did enjoy the couple of mentions of Mary Anning, finder of fossils in Lyme Regis during the time the novel is set. “The Collector” was so much better; however given this book, I don’t know that I’ll read more by this author.

Ok, I put this on hold sometime in January, and it finally came in at the library for me last week! This was originally what I'd planned to read for this one:

Marriage: A History / Stephanie Coontz
3.5 stars

Love has only been a precursor to marriage the past couple of hundred years or so. Before that, marriage was mostly for financial or political reasons. Love may or may not have come later. So what many call “traditional marriage” is not really as “traditional” as some might have one believe. What’s often seen as traditional or ideal was really only what marriage was (seen as) in the 1950s for just over a decade. Of course, what went on behind closed doors is not exactly what “Ozzie and Harriet” would have us all believe, either.

The author is a family studies professor. The book takes a look at the history of marriage during different times and cultures in history (though the focus, certainly for modern marriages, is on the Western world). I found this quite interesting. The book has an extensive “Notes” section at the end for those of us who also like to peruse through it for extra tidbits of information. As someone who has never been married, for some reason, I added this to my tbr ages ago!