7 books for book lovers for Valentine’s Day #LoveWeek
If you love someone who loves books, first of all, you’re making excellent choices. Second of all, the ideal way to show them how much they mean to you is to buy them a(nother) book. And not just any book. Here, we’ve selected seven of our favourite books about books for the ultimate book lover’s Valentine’s Day.
So what are you waiting for? Grab your credit card, get your coat on and head for your favourite indie or high street bookshop this very afternoon. Buying an extra copy for yourself is strongly encouraged…
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84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
A slim but wonderful memoir in letters, legendary New York author Hanff wrote to (and ordered books from) Frank Doel and the other staff at Marks and Co in London from 1949 to 1968. This book collects some of those letters and it adds up to one of the loveliest tributes to friendship and reading of all time. Buy it for your bestie.
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The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
A perfect little volume that imagines what would happen if the Queen discovered a local mobile library and became obsessed with getting her next literary fix. It’s neither Royalist nor Republican, but it will make you want to rush to a bookshelf immediately. Everyone I’ve given it to has loved it.
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The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure
Wendy McClure follows in the footsteps of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the iconic Little House on the Prairie series. Along the way, she churns butter, makes corn cob dolls, and sleeps in a wagon just like Laura. She also reflects on what the books mean to her and why she wanted to revisit them. Ideal for anyone who grew up reading the Little House books, or anyone who’s ever loved a book.
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Betty Smith’s first novel was this inspiring (yet somehow never maudlin) story about a young girl who escapes the poverty and difficulty of her Brooklyn childhood through reading. It’s all about family, determination, immigration, and how books can change your life.
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So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson
Subtitled ‘A Year of Passionate Reading’, Sara Nelson uses each month to not only discuss what she reads, but how it fits into her life, reflecting on what books mean to us at different moments and adding significantly to any fellow reader’s to-be-read list.
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The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Another book in letters, this one a novel, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is set during World War II, when the Nazis had taken control of the Channel Islands and there’s only one book club for miles. Juliet Ashton starts writing to the members of this quirky society, and her life changes as a result. It’s a delight.
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The Complete Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
If you’ve missed out on Nick Hornby’s long-running column in The Believer, you can catch up with his first (and arguably best) collection of columns here. He focuses on the positive, highlighting books he loves and only briefly mentioning (but never naming) those he doesn’t. Unlike other books about books, it helpfully includes short sections to illustrate what he’s discussing. It’s the kind of book that makes you desperate to crack open a spine or fire up a Kindle, and it might even convince someone to embrace Dickens. Maybe.
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