Great Valentine’s Day Reads

Flowers and candy may be traditional Valentine’s Day gifts, but for writers, nothing says love like a great book. In honor of the holiday, two local bookstore managers shared their list of recommended love stories.

Jenny Dwenger from Indy Reads Books, 911 Massachusettes Ave

Unknown-1♥ This Is The Story of A Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett. It’s not just about marriage, not at all. It is about the loves of Patchett’s life, and her authorial talent transcends her own experience to describe our universal experience of love in many forms. I can’t think of a more appropriate pick for Valentine’s Day.

 

♥ 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. This is a collection of letters between the author herself, living in NYC, and the London booksellers who supply her with rare book requests. There is no romantic love storyline in this book. It chronicles a different kind of long-distance relationship, built on a mutual love of books, continuing through war and famine and spanning 20 years’ time. This rivals my Patchett pick.

 

Unknown-2♥ My Uncle Oswald and Switch Bitch by Roald Dahl. It amuses me more than it should that Roald Dahl wrote erotica. More people need to know this. Spread the word.

 

♥ All Our Names by Dinaw Mengetsu. This one I haven’t read myself, but I’ve heard great, great things. And it’s so appropriate for our context because it’s set in the Midwest, a love story between a man from Uganda and the social worker assigned to him. This one is high on my own reading list, in my celebration of ‘not another boring white people love story’ month/year/lifetime.

 

Looking for something to do on Valentine’s Day? A. L. Waddington will be at Indy Reads for a reading and signing February 14, 12pm – 4pm. Waddington writes two drastically different series. Eve is YA fiction with a cross over into time travel, paranormal mysticism, and romance. The With Honors series is a sultry psychological erotica series.

 

Kathleen Angelone from Bookmamas, 9 S. Johnson Avenue

Two books by Hoosier authors that I would recommend for Valentine’s Day are:

Unknown♥ Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole. Brockmole was a finalist for the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Emerging Hoosier Author award last year.  Letters from the Skye is an epistolary novel telling the story of two long distance relationships, one in World War I and the other during World War II. The writing is lyrical and creates wonderful scenes. Despite the wars, the book left me feeling hopeful.

♥ Noblesville by Kurt A. Meyer. A young man restoring a historic home in Noblesville is transported back to the house in 1893.  He falls in love with the daughter of the 1893 owner, and the couple travels between times, developing a deep and abiding love. It is a very pleasant book to read.

Looking for something to do on Valentine’s Day? Stop by Bookmamas for Love Local History Feb. 14, 2:00-4:00 pm. Talk to authors about the Indianapolis area history. Participating authors include David Williams(Indianapolis Jazz: The Masters, Legends and Legacy of Indiana Avenue), Julie Young (The Famous Faces of Indianapolis WTTV Channel 4Historic IrvingtonA Brief History of Shelby County,The CYO in Indianapolis and Central Indiana), Nelson Price (Indiana Legends and Indianapolis Then and NowForrest Bowman, Jr. (Sylvia:  The Likens Trial), Tom Rumer (A History of Westfield, Indiana: The Promise of the Land) and Fred Cavinder (Forgotten Hoosiers  and Historic Indianapolis Crimes.)