Books By Theme: Love on the Page

 

Photo: Bob.Fornal

Censoring an Iranian Love Story

by Sharihar Mandanipour

Beautiful black-haired Sara and fiercely proud Dara fall in love in the dusty stacks of the library, where they pass secret messages to each other encoded in the pages of their favorite books. But Iran’s Campaign Against Social Corruption forbids their being alone together. Defying the state and their disapproving parents, they meet in secret amid the bustling streets, Internet cafés, and lush private gardens of Tehran.

Yet writing freely of Sara and Dara’s encounters, their desires, would put Shahriar in as much peril as his lovers. Thus we read not just the scenes Shahriar has written but also the sentences and words he’s crossed out or merely imagined, knowing they can never be published.

My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead
by Jeffrey Eugenides

It is perhaps only in reading a love story (or in writing one) that we can simultaneously partake of the ecstasy and agony of being in love without paying a crippling emotional price. I offer this book, then, as a cure for lovesickness and an antidote to adultery. Read these love stories in the safety of your single bed. Let everybody else suffer."—Jeffrey Eugenides, from the introduction to My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead
 
All proceeds from My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead will go directly to fund the free youth writing programs offered by 826 Chicago. 826 Chicago is part of the network of seven writing centers across the United States affiliated with 826 National, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

Valentines
by Olaf Olafsson

The stories in Valentines capture the most candid moments between lovers, husbands and wives, parents and children, when truths and true feelings surge to the surface and everything changes. A wife realizes her closest confidante is much more than that. A father tries to make his new lover into the image of his late wife. A husband, a wife, a child, a boating accident: no harm done . . . or is there? Olaf Olafsson's fans will recognize the perfect restraint and precision—and quick wit—with which he explores these dark epiphanies, when the heart is suddenly laid bare, whether by love or betrayal, disenchantment or the shock of loss. Valentines is a powerful work of fiction from one of our most gifted and subtle international writers at work today.

What are your favorite books about love?

~ For more themed book lists, check out Listless by One Librarian's Book Reviews and Listed by Once Upon a Bookshelf ~