Welcome to bookchat where you can talk about anything...books, plays, essays, and books on tape. You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us.
It is the time of year that we consider stories about lovers in books and film. Jennifer Malin sent me three romances she wrote a while back, Lord St. Leger’s Find, The Artful Miss Irvine, and As You Wish. (And autographed them, too!) I enjoyed them very much. She is our DKos member melpomene1. I am going to re-read them shortly just for fun.
Emmet and others got me to read several stories by Georgette Heyer in which high-spirited young women stand up for themselves. I enjoyed them, too. My favorite was The Masqueraders.
I don’t read many romance books, but of course, many if not most books have a romance in them.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon is one of my favorites.
One of the most disappointing things in books is when the hero or heroine marries the wrong person…well, in my opinion it is the wrong person. You may disagree.
My examples:
Jo March saying no to Laurie in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women
Scarlett and Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind (I detest Rhett Butler and all he stands for). (I liked Will who also married the wrong woman, Suellen)
Adam Trask marrying Cathy/Kate Ames in East of Eden by John Steinbeck.
Charlotte Lucas marrying Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
Dorothea Brooke marrying the Rev. Edward Casaubon and Tertius Lydgate marrying Rosamond Vincy in Middlemarch by George Eliot.
Pierre marrying Princess Elena (Hélène) Kuragin in Tolstoy’s War and Peace. In the end all is well, but in between…
Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter books.
Tatyana being dismissed by Eugene Onegin until it is too late and she marries someone else…by Pushkin.
In some books I am more sympathetic:
Cathy could not have married Heathcliff, imo.
There are some that are good matches with happy endings:
Rosalind and Orlando in As You Like It
Elizabeth Bennet and Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. I have always felt sorry that Colonel Fitzwilliam could not marry for love. Why not have him marry Charlotte?
Mary Garth and Fred Vincy in Middlemarch.
Buttercup and Westley in the Princess Bride by William Goldman
I am impressed by mystery writers who allow a husband and wife to be detectives.
Lindsey Davis does such a good job with Falco and Helena Justina.
Sayers has Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey.
Nick and Nora Charles are from The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
There are some famous real life lovers who are inspiring:
Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning
I like books about people who are good friends, too. I have to admit that Jo and Laurie stayed good friends in the three books by Alcott. That did help.
Who do you think married the wrong person? Who are you glad for marrying the right person? Who are some characters who stayed good friends?
Diaries of the Week:
Write On! Lather, Rinse, Repeat
by not a lamb
http://www.dailykos.com/...
University of Idaho Premiere of "Any One of Us: Words From Prison" Opens Thursday
by The Book Bear
http://www.dailykos.com/...
NOTE: plf515 is taking a break from WAYR. I am sending him best wishes and hoping he will be back soon.