Books about love to read on Valentine's Day
From psychology to the great authors of the 20th century
G-Club
February 13th, 2024
February 13th, 2024
Love has always been one of the most treated and explored themes in countless forms of art and writing. Whether in poems or songs, writing about love allows us to grapple with this powerful emotion that is inherent in every human being. Love is not an act that only manifests itself within a couple, but a much broader concept that exists in an infinite number of forms. The literary medium has often been used to tell stories about it and explore its countless facets. Below I present some books that I think deal with this topic very well. If you are looking for a possible answer to the question "What is love?", you may find your own answer in the pages of these texts.
A book to learn to love, including yourself: The Art of Loving - Erich Fromm
ERICH FROMM The Art of Loving
13,50€
In this treatise, the psychologist and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm explains what love means to him, assuming that one must be equipped with humility, faith and courage to experience it successfully. The theory he outlines in the first part of the book must be known and put into practice by fully recognizing love as an art. According to him, the development of one's personality is essential in order not to fail in the attempt to love.
A romance to experience a love of yesteryear: A Girl from Another Time - Felicia Kinsley
FELIACIA KINGSLEY A Girl from Another Time
If a coming-of-age romance is a satisfying source of entertainment for you, Felicia Kingsley's new novel might be for you. A young girl from our century is suddenly catapulted into 19th-century London. There she experiences her entrance into society and loses her head over a mysterious and charming buccaneer amid balls and receptions.
A book if you think loving is a political act: Love Capital. Manifesto for a political and revolutionary Eros - Jennifer Guerra
JENNIFER GUERRA Love Capital
15€
While our imagination is steeped in love - a false, romanticized version conveyed in novels, movies and advertising - our society behaves like a broken-hearted lover: it is cynical and rejects love because it thinks it is a stupid, useless or boring emotion. We are focused on ourselves and see how the time we could use to nurture relationships with others is stolen from us by a capitalist society that demands that we do more and more at work. In a time when relationships are based on exchange, utility, convenience and compatibility, perhaps one of the most anti-systemic, revolutionary and courageous actions we can take to change our society - a true act of resistance in these increasingly divided times - is to instead make space for unconditional and free love to spill over from the individual to the community.
A book to read if you've just been through a breakup: I Can't Believe It'sNotBetter: A Woman's Guide to Coping with Life - Monica Heisey
MONICA HEUSEY I Can't Believe It's Not Better: A Woman's Guide to Coping with Life
18€
Separating from her husband causes the protagonist of this novel to ask herself countless questions about her life choices. Why did we get married? Did I fail before I even started? How many more late-night binges do I need before I'm happy? This funny and edgy story describes the pain of divorce in a way that's easy to relate to. Now that Maggie has taken back ownership of her time, she can "get back in the game," thanks in part to her friends who support her during this time of transition.
A book for when you want to be alone: Separate Spaces - Pier Vittorio Tondelli
PIER VITTORIO TONDELLI Separate Spaces
13€
Who decided that loving each other means sharing the same bed every night, living in the same city or striving to do so? In this novel with the flair of autofiction, the love story between two boys is traced in three macro-chapters. It's a nostalgic story about the innermost and unconventional thoughts of the 1970s generation and at the same time a story about a painful coming-of-age.
A book if you don't care about love: Someone who loves you in all your ruined glory - Raphael Bob-Waksberg
RAPHAEL BOB-WAKSBERG Someone who loves you in all your ruined glory
12,50€
Contrary to what the title might suggest, this short story collection is not about love, at least not in the canonical sense. From the creator of BoJack Horseman, one recognizes the humor and bitter irony useful in hiding our weaknesses, the desire to be loved, to be acknowledged by the other, our search for something to illuminate the shadows we carry within.A man and a woman who skip all the subway stops in their lives, waiting for the right opportunity.Two newlyweds forced by their relatives to sacrifice goats to ensure their future happiness. A scientist jumping between a parallel in which he only made the right choices.It's the right read if you're looking for stories that are out of the ordinary.
A book if you're super in love and looking for the right words: Love Letters. Letters from writers of the twentieth century.
56,05€
From the solemnity of Gabriele D'Annunzio's prose to Salvatore Quasimodo's emphasis, from Erich Maria Remarque's sentimentality to Franz Kafka's unusual associations, from Colette's reticence to James Joyce's eroticism and Edith Wharton's warmth, these letters tell a private and ineffable side of their worlds and personalities. Above all, this collection is an attempt to answer, through the heartbeat of great writers, the question that has haunted people since the dawn of their history: Is it possible, will it ever be possible, to explain love in words?
A book to love /to love yourself: All about love - bell hooks
BELL HOOKS All about love
19€
This essay attempts to understand why we are afraid to talk about love... This question often triggers embarrassment, reticence and even anger, although love is the most spontaneous and universal feeling that characterizes the existence of every human being.To ward off this hatred of love, it is important to learn to take care of oneself and reclaim love as a space where each individual feels free to speak and listen without fear about what moves him or her inside. To love is not to suffer, to love is not to be afraid. To love means to take care of oneself, to do good to oneself and to others, to love means not to destroy. To love means to build up.
