I'm sure love stories have been discussed before but anyway.

Has anyone else read "The Hottest State" or "Ash Wednesday" by Ethan Hawke?

I like them both but when I read "The Hottest State" I thought it was like every first (unrequited) love affair anyone had ever had. OK - circumstances vary obviously - but I felt he really captured what it felt like to be there.

Also love the description of what marriage is like in "Ash Wednesday" - EH seems to have a talent for voicing uncomfortable thoughts. I'm thinking of his line in the film, "Before Sunset", marriage after children fading to "running a small nursery with someone I used to date". Ouch!

Anyone else got any favourite love tales?

sarah

Launcelot and Guinevere, though one has to feel slighty sorry for poor old Arthur.

I'm also tempted to say Brokeback Mountain, but definitely My Beautiful Laundrette.

JB

I Capture the Castle

Emma

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And Vikram Seth's An Equal Music.

I was going to say I Capture the Castle but Emma beat me to it!

Charlotte Brontė's Villette.

Oh, and having read it recently, Camilla by Fanny Burney. The main plot isn't really a love story at all -- it's mostly about the cruel games men and women play with each other (and themselves), though effective as such -- but there's a wonderful, wonderful subplot with a wonderful, wonderful heroine and one particular wonderful scene that breaks my heart every time. I wish Burney had followed her original plan and given that heroine a novel of her own.

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By the way, I have an ongoing project to read every book with the title Love that I can possibly find, and it's fascinating how different, say, Elizabeth Von Arnim's Love is from Angela Carter's...

Oh!! And for something a bit more unusual, Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor (no, not that Elizabeth Taylor)...

I've mentioned this before but there's a short story called 'Alphabed' in Toby Litt's book of short stories, Adventures in Capitalism. It's not a love story, but just a description of how a couple banter and the intimacies between them. I love it, but Toby Litt said he thought it was depressing and looked at me strangely when I once told him so.

I also likeAlain De Botton's Essays in Love, which charts the development (and eventual decline) of a relationship.

This probably makes me seem like a miserable cow as neither of these are romantic or uplifting, but I like the stuff that has neuroses and authenticity.

Cath