Book Miscellany - Saturday Night

It has been quite a few days since I've been able to post. I was in SF this week speaking at a social media conference. It was a very interesting conference - lots of presentations about social media strategy from a number of well-known companies - Zappos, Facebook, Coca-Cola, NCAA, and more. I talked about Shark Week and how we at Discovery use social media to build brand engagement with fans and customers. It was a long way to go, but lovely to be back in SF and to enjoy some warm(er) weather.

I am still listening to Sag Harbor on audio. I am not loving it. I will try to get through it, but I find an audiobook even tougher than a book to get through when I don't love it. I find my mind wandering too much. I am over halfway done with Andre Agassi's autiobiography Open and really enjoying it. Can't wait to finish and review it.

In other book related news - I was at a library book sale yesterday and picked up Carolyn Parkhurst's The Dogs of Babel and a book by Rachel Pastan called This Side of Married. Anyone read either of them? I still haven't read Pastan's last one - Lady of the Snakes - but I want to.

So, on the eve of Valentine's Day, I've been thinking about romantic books. The Washington Post just did a column on five recent books for Valentine's Day (other than #1, none of them appeals to me). It got me thinking - what are the most romantic books I've ever read?  It's an easy answer - there are two: Pride and Prejudice and The Time Traveler's Wife.

How about you? What's the most romantic book you've ever read? Why?

 

Comments

[Nancy Shohet West]

I've read both the Rachel Pastan books (she is a friend of my sister). I think I wrote a review of "Lady of the Snakes" for you a couple of years ago. (If not, I probably wrote it for Amazon or our local paper.) It's one of those books that seemed more important at the time I read it than it does in retrospect.

[Amy W.]

I read the Dogs of Babel years ago and I'm pretty sure I liked it. Enjoy.

[Kim Lam]

I really enjoyed The Time Traveler's Wife. For me it was a great blend of supernatural and romance. I still have seen the movie.

[Len]

I read Dogs of Babel and really enjoyed it, but parts of it were tough for a dog lover. An excellent book though!

[TheBookGirl]

I agree with your comment about audiobooks -- the narrator has to really engage me, or I tend to drift off -- literally, fall asleep if I'm listening in bed, lol.
I see that you are reading The False Friend...I read it last year, and will be interested to see what you think about it.

[Karen]

One of the best romantic books I've read was Here Be Dragons by Sharan Kay Penman. It's historical fiction, and it's not described as a romance, but it's got a particularly powerful one at its heart!

[Kelly Currie]

I read The Dogs of Babel and loved it. I picked it up because Anna Quindlen had favorably blurbed it, and anything that's good for Anna is good for me. :-)

My vote for most romantic book is also The Time Traveler's Wife, which Kim Lam already mentioned. The book is so much better than the movie, and it brought me to tears.

[Jenelle]

I love Dogs of Babel! I agree that some parts are a little difficult but overall a very thought-provoking story.

I absolutely adore library book sales. I love books that are dog-eared and a little beat up. I love books with history :)

[Ti]

I haven't read Sag Harbor but I read another book by the same author and had a tough time getting through it. His writing style is a bit different than what I'm used to. I never really engaged with the characters.

I can't remember the last romantic book I've read.. Perhaps Major Pettigrew falls into that category.

[Kiki]

Dogs of Babel, not my favorite book. One I was happy to put in the to go pile after reading.

Love P&P and TTTW! A Room With a View (EM Forster) is my favorite, though.