Six Picks...Major Love Stories

  • FOR WHOM THE BELLS TOLLS by Ernest Hemingway

    Nearly everyone agrees that this is the best, the fullest, the deepest, the truest of  Hemingway’s novels. The frame of the story is a minor incident in the horror that was the war in Spain.  Robert Jordan is a fine portrait of a fighting idealist, and the Spanish characters are superbly done, especially Pilar .  This novel has simplicity, power, delicacy, and strength.
    BUY THIS BOOK

  • LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

    This shining novel may be one of the greatest love stories ever told.  Inspired by the long pursuit of Marquez’s mother by his father, it is the tale of a vow of love that takes fifty-one years to fulfill.
    BUY THIS BOOK

 

  • PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen

    The opening sentence of this novel is justifiably considered one of the most effective in English literature:  “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of  a wife.”  The two central characters, Darcy and Elizabeth, are also the two most dynamic characters in the novel.  They grow; they change, and so will you when you read this story.  The characters become a part of your life.
    BUY THIS BOOK

  • A PIGEON AND A BOY by Meir Shalev

    The acclaimed Israeli novelist, Meir Shalev has written a mesmerizing novel of two love stories, separated by half a century but connected by one enchanting act of devotion.
    BUY THIS BOOK

  • GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell

    This is without a doubt one of the most remarkable first novels written by an American author.  Mitchell  draws on the whole social fabric of ante-bellum, war-time, and Reconstructionist South as the backdrop of this love story.
    BUY THIS BOOK

  • Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

    From the opening chapter, where Jane  Eyre is unjustly punished by her unkind aunt, I was entirely on her side.  She was small, plain, and friendless; she was not especially talented, but she was appealingly passionate.  JANE EYRE speaks to the secret, vulnerable part of ourselves that has little to do with age, gender, race, or situation.  Every time I read that novel, I recognize a part of myself and feel recognized in turn.
    BUY THIS BOOK