Weekly Geeks 2010.6: Romancing the Tome

In celebration of Valentine's Day, Weekly Geeks asks us some romantic questions:

• What literary couple is your favorite?
• How do you define romantic literature? Does it always involve sex? or the hint of sex?
• What author/s do you think writes romantic scenes particularly well?
• Do you have a favorite romantic scene in a book?
• Do you find you read romantic literature at certain times of the year?
• Tell us your favorite romantic quote.
• Do you have some favorite romantic poetry?

Okay, so NOW I realize these are some hard questions! I can't pick just one answer!

-I have a gazillion favorite couples. Let me just rattle off a few: Anne and Gilbert, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, Ash and Anjuli, Katherine and John of Gaunt, Catherine and Heathcliff, Jane and Mr. Rochester, Beauty and the Beast, Cosette and Marius, Molly and Roger, Robin and Marian, Tristan and Isolde......

-I think romance is best in books when sex is not involved... I think the romantic parts are the couple overcoming whatever obstacles they are facing to get together. And the highly charged emotional and physical attraction that's going on as it all unfolds is romantic. Once they are together, it's nice and satisfying, but the fun, or intensity, is gone. That's quite a generalized statement, so I'm sure I can find lots of examples where this isn't the case, but that's my first impression of this question.

-Well, I think it's quite obvious that I love the Bronte's, Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell, etc. for their quiet, yet intense way of writing romantic scenes.

-My favorite scene in Twilight is when Edward first touches Bella by brushing the back of his hand down her face. I love when Anne recites The Highway Man, and Gilbert is moved to the core. I love the scene in Wives and Daughters when Molly is running from window to window watching as Roger leaves. I love it when Mr. Thornton wishes with all his heart that Margaret will look back at him. Then there's scene when Mr. Rochester takes Jane's hand after the fire, and says "Oh my cherished preserver!" And of course, when Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy run into each other at Pemberley.

- I like romance all year long!

- A quote from Les Miserables: "To love another person is to see the face of God."

- I'm not familiar enough with poetry to know any great romantic poems. The first thing to come to mind would be Shakespeare's sonnets, of course. I'm sure they are quite perfectly romantic!

Bottom line: For me, a book is incomplete unless there's a bit of a romantic element to it. And as one dude (Clint Johnson I think it was) said at the thing I was at this weekend, romance is not about the flowers and candy and chocolate, but in fact romance is often the underlying motivater behind some pretty powerful events, both good and bad. (That's paraphrasing of course, I really wish I had his exact quote because I loved it.)