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Love Stories We Love

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Valentine’s Day has got me thinking of my favorite love stories in fiction. There are so many of them, and I’m sure even more favorites will spring to mind as soon as I publish this post. Here are just a few that stand out for me. You’ll see they are just as varied in genre as they are in publication date. What can I say? Love takes many forms.

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.  This book weaves a love story through time, as Henry journeys in and out of Clare’s life. It sounds fantastical—and it is—but Niffenegger makes the time travel element both plausible and enchanting. Her descriptions of Chicago neighborhoods and landmarks are spot-on.

Love Story, by Erich Segal. I found my mom’s old copy of this book and tore through it in a day when I was nineteen. I’ve read it several times since, and the ivy league setting and the age-old story of WASPy boy falls in love with working class girl gets me every time.

Stiltsville by Susanna Daniel.  What I love about this book is that it is a real-life love story about ordinary people, made extraordinary in the beautiful way it is told. Frances and Dennis meet on a weekend trip when they are in their twenties. Francis falls in love with both Dennis and his family’s vacation home, built on stilts in the waters of Biscayne Bay in Miami. They build a life and a marriage that, like the stilt houses, must endure unpredictable perils and strive to remain standing.

Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding. Most people probably don’t think of this as a love story, but it is. Especially with all those allusions to Pride and Prejudice. And who doesn’t love the line where Mark Darcy tells Bridget: “I like you very much. Just as you are.”

What favorite love stories are on YOUR list?

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