Valentine’s Day gets a
bad reputation. It seems like every year, more and more people take it as a day
to complain about being single, and hate on people who aren’t. People say it’s
just a day created by candy and card companies, or a day to make people feel
bad for being single, or it puts tons of pressure on couples to have a perfect Valentine’s
Day. Personally, I never got that. Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be about expensive
dates and flowers. It’s just a day to take some time out of your busy schedule
to remind the important people in your life how much you care. It can be your
significant other, friend, parents, siblings, roommates, pets, or the guy who
makes your coffee perfectly at Starbucks. Love is about more than romance and
date nights, so just have fun and spend time with someone you love, even if they
happen to be a goldfish. And really, what’s wrong with a little more love? Even
when I’m not in a relationship, I’m happy for people who are! In fact, it
really is a time when I tend to get a little mushy about love and romance, so
here are a few books and videos to check out from the library, if you want to
get in that lovey dovey Valentine mood!
Nicholas Sparks
Come on, you had to see
this one coming. Nicholas Sparks is our premier writer of romance stories that
will inevitably become movies that come out in February. Nicholas Sparks has
written 17 novels in his career, with 8 of them being turned into movies. His
books almost always strongly feature a love story, either of first love, or of
older characters finding a second chance for love after being divorced or their
spouse dying tragically. Oh, that’s the other Nick Sparks thing. His books
basically are about love and death. People fall in love, there are
complications, and someone dies, all in a small town somewhere in the South.
Two of his books are The Last Song,
and Message in a Bottle, which both
pretty much nail the Sparks formula. The
Last Song (the one with the Miley Cyrus movie) is about a teenage girl
connecting with her estranged father while falling in love for the first time. Message in a Bottle is about a woman
who while jogging on a beach finds…well, guess what. She reads the romantic
letter a man wrote to a woman, and decides to find him. Both stories deal with
love, loss, and moving on from tragedy. Sparks’ books do tend to be somewhat
formulaic, but they know what they are. Grab up a bag of tissues, pull up a
comfy chair, and get ready to be Sparked (even if you’re a guy- I won’t tell).
But Sparks was not the
first person to write about romance. Ever since the 1940s, people have been
eating up dramatic, steamy romances. Back before they invented HBO or the
internet, romance novels were the only outlets that repressed, 1950s women had to
release some of their…romantic tension. This online book looks at the history
of the romance novel, distinguishing between steamy romances, and love-filled
pre-Sparks books. While the book is about the history of romance novels,
it also is about the story of how women and men have related to each other,
and women’s place in society. And it also has some hysterically cheesy old
time covers, from a time when you couldn’t even show a couple kissing, so take
a peek! History and romance, what’s not to like?
Hear me out on this one.
When you think V-Day movie, you might not think about the wacky misadventures of
a neurotic clown fish that meets up with a blue tang fish and searches the sea
to find his missing son Nemo. But remember what I said up in the first
paragraph, about different kinds of love? Well, Finding Nemo is basically a movie about the honest to God power of
love. It’s about parental love, and friendship love, and how much someone will
go through for love. While this movie doesn’t really have a love story, the two
main relationships, between Marlin and Nemo (father and son), and Marlin and
Dory(friends/travel partners) are ten times more meaningful then most generic
romantic flicks. Oh, and funny talking fish. And bubbles. MY bubbles.
Oh- you want a little bit
more romance in your V-day movie? Then check out the granddaddy of all romantic
comedies, The Philadelphia Story. The
movie is a classic comedy of class conflict, farce, and partner swapping. The
basic plot is that Katherine Hepburn plays a rich girl about to get married,
only her ex-husband, played by Cary Grant shows up, as well as a couple of
reporters who are trying to get the dish on a possible scandal within Hepburn’s
family. There’s even a meddling younger sister- anyone have one of those? Really,
it’s all about the performances, and the dialogue, which is whip smart and
sassy. It’s a very classy romance, where the characters look great, they sound
cool, and everything works out in the end. Alright it’s from the early 40s, so
some aspects haven’t aged well, but still, it’s amazing how much modern day
romance movies have been influenced by this one flick that came out so long
ago. I don’t want to say much more, just give it a try!
Hope you all enjoyed this
blog, and that it can help you have a happier Valentine’s Day! I know it can be
a touchy time for some people, but hopefully this will help you have a fun
time, whether or not you have a Valentine! Call someone you love, watch some
Finding Nemo, eat some chocolate, and feed your goldfish. Just have fun!
CP
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