The SO and I usually keep it pretty simple. Nice dinner and a movie at home. While I do like a nice romantic dinner out, not on Valentine's Day. In fact, I think one of the perks of being in a long time relationship is NOT having to go out on Valentine's Day.
I remember when Love Story was THE book. It was supposed to be so very romantic. (I found it mostly irritating -- there were a lot of sweary words and I was more easily offended then.) I bet it's as dated now as Ali MacGraw's crocheted hats -- wait, those are probably back in style! I'm trying to remember if there was any particular book that I found really, really romantic when I was college age or early twenties. It's a vulnerable age, but it's also a cynical age.
Do you remember a particular romance novel that influenced you -- or just really stayed with you?
What's your best ever Valentine's Day memory?
What's your worst ever Valentine's Day memory?
Maybe we'll give some stuff away -- OH! We ARE giving stuff away. Head on over to my Facebook Fan Page tomorrow for a celebration of love in all its varieties. We'll have games, goodies and giveaways. But mostly we'll just have a lot of fun. :-)
Hi Josh,
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy the holiday, but first you have to get through Friday the Thirteenth! :) And will that "nice dinner at home" be a Blue Apron special?
Here in NYC today it is an undelightful 8 degrees and the weekend is forecast to be the coldest of the season. Therefore I also plan to enjoy the holiday at home where it is warm and toasty.
As for your questions: I have no memory of a past influential romantic novel. I didn't start reading any romance until 2008, and that was in the m/m genre. And sorry, no particular best/worst Valentine's Day memories either. Right now I'm counting that as a plus. :)
You had to say that, didn't you, Susan? You had to bring up the black cats and walking under ladders thing. As though you had read my medical records yourself. :-D
DeleteI think the reason you don't remember your past Valentine's Days is because of wild adventures that left you with amnesia. Yes, that is my theory and do not dare interrupt it with the facts! ;-)
Ha! I wouldn't dream of it. There just might be a shred of truth in what you say! :-)
DeleteI'm a little sentimental about the first category romance I ever read. It was purple, Silhouette I think..I can't remember the name of it, but I still have it sitting on a shelf of the bookcase. It opened up a whole new world for me. I filched it from my mom's house. And older English man teaching a younger English girl the ways of the world. SIgh...it was so romantic. It makes me cringe now, but at the time, it opened up a whole new world of reading for me.
ReplyDeleteHere's my rule: NO ONE needs to feel guilty about their early years reading choices. DO NOT APOLOGIZE. DO NOT EXPLAIN. ;-)
DeleteBut then I have a real softness for those early sweet Harlequins myself. Do not get me started on Charlotte Lamb! Love. Her. Craziness.
And how funny is it that nowdays we consider Charlotte Lamb "sweet" romance. :-D
DeleteIn my younger days I spent a lot of time reading Ian Fleming, Stephen King and Henry James. Not the stuff of romance, for sure, but I do remember I loved Jane Eyre and Love Story made me cry. I think my favorite Valentine gestures have to do with flowers. I was a florist for many years and worked like mad getting flowers delivered to others every Feb. 14th. During those years no one ever gave me flowers. I think they thought I would be sick of them, or of the holiday, but it never worked like that for me. I started working with flowers because I loved them. The smell, the color, the symbolism. Today when someone hands me a rose I melt a little. True love.
ReplyDeleteAww.
DeleteYou know, Love Story was quite an influential book for me. I too cried at the end -- even though I mostly detested the story. And that's where I figured out how easy it was to make readers cry -- and how very difficult it was to make them laugh.
Ah...that is so true. But, you have seriously mastered the humor.
DeleteJane Austin and Bronte sisters. I was quite smitten with their books in my teenage years. That kind of romance was my getaway. Now I find it a bit naive and a lot of archaic. And yet, I do love it.
ReplyDeleteGoge
The Scarlet Pimpernel...though I think that has more to do with swords than the romance. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAs for Valentine's Day, the SO and I don't do anything special. Neither of us go for the commercialization of it or the fact that there is only one day to show someone you love them. Plus neither of us really go for chocolate. We like doing little unexpected things all year long....he just bought me the softest sheets in the world a couple weeks ago.
Oh, one year I did buy him a coffee mug shaped like a fish that says "I'm hooked on you"...couldn't resist.
Have a very nice weekend and Valentine's Day.
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ReplyDeleteOh are you about to laugh at me... I did not read romance in my young years. Not at all. It was science fiction and fantasy all of the way. However, I DID discover a romance in the appendix of one of my favorite fantasy novels, Lord of the Rings. I was in heaven. My favorite character had a romance plot to it! So from then on when I read Lord of the Rings (and I read it many, many, MANY times...) I would read up to the Arwen bit, flip to the appendix, read that, and then read onwards. So by my flipping back and forth I integrated the romance into the rest of the book. Just like Peter Jackson did in the movies decades later.
ReplyDeleteOh another romance I loved was the Odyssey. I loved how Penelope fended of her horrible suitors. Of course I was also a bit miffed at Odysseus for taking so long and cheating on his way home.
ReplyDeleteNo, I'm not a book geek, not one bit... ;)
I'm glad to be past the days of school valentines. Do you give a card to everyone? How many valentines did you get? Anxious times.
ReplyDeleteAlthough any holiday that you celebrate with special chocolates is okay by me. Tomorrow it's pizza, salad, and chocolate cupcakes with some little candy hearts on them (bakery not homemade--I'm not crazy).
I don't know where you classify it but I have always found Mary Renault's "The Charioteer" to be very romantic, which is why I was so thrilled when you used it as the basis for two novellas!
I loved (and still love) the novels of Mary Stewart - plot and romance with gritty heroines who wouldn't be pushed around. Her books are still in print, which says a lot about them.
ReplyDeleteThe Thorn Birds. Because nothing says "uphill battle" like falling in love with an ambitious priest.
ReplyDeleteValentin's Day is here in Germany a more commercial affair; after the war came the tradition with the American soldiers to us. For me feels it unreal, so we do nothing special on Valentin's Day and alas no Valentin's Day experience, neither good nor bad :-) .
ReplyDeleteMy first romance novel was Georgette Heyer's Venetia. But before I had read Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers. My imagination of a romantic hero was also a mixture of Lord Damerel and Lord Peter Wimsey. You can figure, that I thought that the boys in my class at school were not very cool.
I agree - Valentines Day, like New Years Eve, is a night we don't usually go out. The boys let me sleep in, went out to get me breakfast, and now they have made themselves scarce so I can enjoy some peace and quiet without having to hide from the TV noise. It's really the nicest gift.
ReplyDeleteEarliest romance novels? In college, it was Jayne Eyre and Anna Karenina (I know - not technically a romance, but the atmosphere!). Otherwise, it would have to be Whitney My Love by Judith McNaught. I still like the way she writes, although my tastes have definitely changed!
coming from an abusive family, then shuffled thru foster homes, I learned books carried me into another universe. I can remember hiding behind the couch with a neighbor kids copy of the elephant with saggy skin, and a partially mutilated book i found on dinosaurs.
ReplyDeleteI still love dinosaurs { man who doesnt? } my tastes are eclectic. As for romance , i guess mb the first would be Adrienne Wilder's to adam with love. It was my first discovery of Gay books. and the fact that the dude was from a bad place and insufferably poor, yet still obtained a HEA was enheartening[ packed in a fantasy sorta world } from there i discovered adrien English mysteries and I was hooked. There is no recovery , nor do I want one. Happy Valentines day
Alexandre Dumas both father and son, different kinds of romantic stuff, but i found both inspiring back then.
ReplyDeleteHello, I just read The Palest Ink and have to tell you I love it! I hope you do the Big Bang again this year! Thank you and best wishes, Irina
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm glad the story is still being enjoyed. :-)
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