Welcome to The List: A Few Books for Valentine’s Day
Welcome to The List. In this new subscriber-only feature, I dig into my reading archives to bring you 3-5 titles centered around a theme.
Today, I’m featuring three lovey dovey books for Valentine’s Day week. I don’t read romance, but I’m all for lighthearted rom-com books (who wouldn’t want Hitch in book form?!) and the occasional sentimental historical fic.
It should be noted that I considered adding a couple non-fic books to this list—particularly Scary Close and The First Love Story—but I’ve ultimately found, especially when it comes to relationship books, that novels occupy a deeper part of the psyche and stay with me quite a bit better.
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
This debut novel by Australian writer Graeme Simsion is as fun of a story as you’ll come across. It falls into the Odd Couple genre of stories: Don Tillman is a Type A (to the extreme) genetics professor who is ready to embark on his Wife Project; Rosie is a rambunctious, spontaneous woman who’s on the hunt for her biological father. Don is intrigued, even though Rosie doesn’t fit any of his strict, clearly written out criteria. Rosie finds out about said criteria and things don’t quite go how Don planned.
You can imagine where the story goes from there, and even though the ending is a predictable one (as with all rom-coms), you’ll have a ton of fun along the way. The Rosie Project is the first in a trilogy featuring Don’s attempts to find love, meaning, and ultimately, the good life. I’ve only personally read this first installment, but my wife says this one is the best of the bunch.
Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford
I first discovered Jamie Ford’s moving historical fictions when I grabbed his debut novel—Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet—on a Kindle sale a decade ago (I mentioned that book in an email a couple weeks back). His third and latest novel, Love and Other Consolation Prizes, typifies his work in all the best ways. As with his other stories, this one features remarkably sympathetic characters who are in the midst of remarkably difficult circumstances.
Ernest Young is the star of this one. At the start, he’s a 12-year-old orphan who ends up being raffled off at the 1909 World’s Fair in Seattle. (That particular angle was inspired by the real-life raffle of a young orphan at that fair.) The holder of the winning ticket? The madam of one of the Tenderloin district’s brothels. Over time, Ernest becomes a jack-of-all-trades for the girls, finds an unlikely sense of home and belonging, and even falls hopelessly in love, despite the obvious pitfalls of that scenario.
It’s a lovely story that’s well worth your attention.
Twenty-One Truths About Love by Matthew Dicks
This novel-in-lists is unlike anything you’ve read before. The entirety of the story is comprised of our protagonist’s OCD-driven, neurotic, and ultimately heartfelt list-making.
Daniel is a very normal guy who owns a bookstore, which is a choice he’s quickly coming to regret. He feels like a failure for still living in the shadow of his wife’s deceased first husband. And the cherry on top: there’s a baby on the way and he’s terrified.
Dan’s lists are intensely personal—he’s thinking things that we all think about our lives but don’t want to admit. Our fears, our insecurities, our irrational anxieties—all are on display in this novel.
Twenty-One Truths is a super fun, boldly original story that you’ll fly through and yet long remember.
(I also can’t wait to read his brand new novel, The Other Mother.)
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-Jeremy