Reading, Romance, and Relationships

As we enter the shortest month of our calendar year, I take stock of the many books I read in 2024 and look ahead to reading, writing, and bookish things in 2025.

So many good books (and a fair amount of weak ones – but that’s a subject for another column), so little time to get them all on my shelf. I’ve not completely abandoned purchasing, after all, there are some  I simply have to hold and cherish. However, no room remains on my the shelves, so I visit the library frequently. Often, when a book I want is not available locally, I take full advantage of the Interlibrary Loan System. That’s how I acquired The Time in Between by María Dueñas. I intended to read it in the original Spanish, but that edition wasn’t available. So, I settled for the English translation and enjoyed the novel immensely while learning so much about the Spanish Protectorate of Tetouan during the Spanish Civil Was. Then there was Held (https://www.amazon.com/Held-novel-Anne-Michaels/dp/059353686X) by Anne Michaels, an exquisitely challenging read, and All the Colors of the Dark (https://www.amazon.com/All-Colors-Dark-Chris-Whitaker/dp/0593798872 ) by Chris Whitaker, which consumed me for two days and remains with me weeks later. I definitely plan to read this book again.

How many novels have you read that captured your imagination long after you read the last page? The aftermath of a well-written work coupled with a compelling a story can resonate for weeks, months, even years. Case in point for me personally: All the Light We Cannot See. Then there are the other-world novels that find a place in my personal canon of well-loved literature.  Tolkien’s Hobbit stories, of course. Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series, Pierce Brown’s works., to name a few. I’m currently re-reading the first two books of the Fourth Wing series by Rebecca Yarros before I dive into the third – Onyx. Gosh, I’d love to find an idea to rival that of this romantasy based on the Riders’ Academy at Basgiath in the fictional kingdom of Navarre. Immersion in a totally different world helps alleviate some of the angst of the very real world we’re living in now.

Segue to romance…Valentine’s Day rattles free many memories – good and bad.

Remember those card boxes in grade school where everyone was supposed to give a card to all the others in the class? Or the possibility of finding a white knight at a teen dance? the longing for flowers, candy, or jewelry that the ad world swore you needed, wanted, should give/get? Have our expectations exceeded reality and left us with longings that can never be fulfilled? I have rarely received flowers of any kind for the occasion, so the rare times I did stand out in memory. The most memorable of all? The spray of red roses on the bed of a cheap motel outside Fort Benning, GA, when I took my very first airplane ride to visit my husband after his basic training. Romance novels, well-written and with strong plotting, can fill our hearts with those Happily-Ever-After feelings we all crave in a time of angst and unease. No matter your choice – cozy or dark – you never need to apologize for enjoying a bit of escapism. I don’t.

Then there are relationships…every kind of connection, from friendship to kinship, and even the attraction between creatives and their work. I am in a relationship with words and with story. The need to craft a poem, essay, short story, or novel is a craving I can’t deny. Were I an artist, I’m certain I would feel the same calling to draw, paint, sculpt, or sew, to bring idea into form and share it with an audience.

As February bleeds into March, may you find your three R’s seductive, compelling, and fulfilling!