the book that defined your love

No posts here yet? damn. well it might sound cheesy but a guy i liked for a looong time read the da vinci code a lil while ago and i read it immediately upon discoverin this... so now everytime someone mentiones that book (and it happens quite often) i think of him... and his wonderful heart and his amazing brain... :)

i love you jankec - cmok -

slow learner writes "everyone has on their shelf a book or poem that embodies a past love".

I don't. The two guys I was maybe in love with before marrying my delicious, incredible husband were not readers, which is a good part of why they didn't last. I have several books that hold great meaning in my relationship with my current love, however. The Bemelmans Madeline book starring the boy next door who was a bad hat, (when we were apart, we told each other to watch out for bad hats) "The Broom of the System", (I had not heard of David Foster Wallace when we met) and a lovely OOP Lucius Beebe railroading book that showed me my intended understood me and my hobby horses.

Ahha. The Collected poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay..."What lips my lips have kissed," oh yes, and "the rain is full of ghosts tonight that tap and sigh and listen for reply." Kinda schmatlzy stuff I'll admit. But there it is. "I had a little sorrow, born of a little sin... and little sorrow weep said I, and little sin pray God to die, and I upon the floor will lie and think how bad I've been... Alas for pious planning, my little sorrow would not weep, my little sin would go to sleep... etc." It's been a while but I think it ends: "If I can't be sorry, I might as well be glad!"

"Quinns Book" by William Kennedy.

Er, probably Being Dead in that I've never seen the reality of people falling together and then falling in and out of love as they live their life together. There are some brutally honest moments in the book, when he's desiring her and she's not desiring him - painful to read, but real. I think it's something that should be given to teenagers who want to wed, actually. Love's not all flowers and balloons and pitter-pattering hearts and lust and all that other stuff it's gritty and painful and heart-breaking and horrible and completely wonderful and beautiful.

My lover gave me the Everyman's Library Pocket Poets volume of Christina Rossetti; the poem "Somewhere or Other" always brings back very tender, sweet memories. He was my first, adult love affair and yes, we're still close friends.

Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Raymond E Feist's Riftwar Saga. Of course I took them over and now they define me, not him. or us.

There are songs that kill me but I don't think I can relate any book to past love. I think "Bridge Across Forever by Richard Bach" comes close cuz two of my ex-gfs took it from me to read and my last ex is yet to return it.

My current S.O. gives me wonderful books year-round, so I have many tomes on the shelves that bring him to mind, from Ravens in Winter to Crimson Petal and the White to Please Kill Me to ... .

We've actually been talking about getting tattoos to signify our commitment (we're not the marrying types) and seem to keep coming back to the idea of a raven image - from the books by Heinrich (which are some of my all-time favorite books on natural history) to the reference to Poe (whom we both love and my S.O. lived near the cemetary when he's buried) to my (never got around to completing) minor in folklore, concentrating on North-western Native American creation legends [which revolve around Raven and his opening a large clamshell and bringing forth humans]) to the playfulness of the birds (they roll down hillsides in the snow) to their intelligence and curiosity and incredible beauty. So I'd have to say Mind of the Raven and Ravens in Winter and "The Raven" all bring my S.O. to mind, in a very fond way.

"I think "Bridge Across Forever by Richard Bach" comes close cuz two of my ex-gfs took it from me to read and my last ex is yet to return it. "

I think this is a good way to filter girls. If she likes it, dump her, if she gives it back and says 'bloody new age nonsense' you should get in there.

In bed reading "The Changing Light at Sandover" by James Merrill while the late spring rain hits the window is what I remember most from a fling ten years ago.

Lethem's As She Climbed Across the Table is a great break-up book.

I think this is a good way to filter girls. If she likes it, dump her, if she gives it back and says 'bloody new age nonsense' you should get in there.
Haha, yeah that book *IS* my girl-filter.

Or maybe you should check her ID- she's probably only 14 or so if she likes it.

The only guy I ever really got passionate about was a Jane Austen buff. When we were well into the disagreement that ended our relationship, he sent me a crisp letter that began, "Dear Mary Crawford." Fortunately I had read "Mansfield Park" just a couple of months before, and to tell the truth, I was flattered--though the idea of my being after him for his money was pretty ridiculous, considering that I was earning more than he was at the time.

Bloke hates Jane Austen largely because his previous girlfriend liked her so much. It makes things difficult for me, because I quite like the Austens myself.

Boxy an Star was a special book for me and my ex-husband and so it has some pain associated with it for me, mostly because it is such a great book.

Me and Bloke don't really have a special book. We're more song people.

A girl once gave me a copy of Susan Minot's Monkeys in which she had written a mushy inscription. We broke up a few years ago, and although I've wanted to read it ever since, I haven't gotten myself to pick it up because seeing the inscription just depresses me.

I'm embarking on a new love affair... I'm grateful for this thread in giving me ideas.