Celebrating the love of literature!

Ah, February! More than just the cold, snowy month that stands between us and spring, it’s the month of Valentine’s Day, and a celebration of love. Here at Godine, we’re sharing our love of everything books with some lovely gift ideas.

For your book-loving sweetheart, either of these two reading-centric finds is sure to send sparks flying: 

 

1. The Open Door: When Writers First Learned to Read, edited by Steven Gilbar - This entertaining book is a reader's delight. Steven Gilbar has selected twenty-nine well-known writers, from Dickens to C.S. Lewis, Steinbeck, Stephen King and more, who share the memory of their first book. 

 

2. Reading in Bed: Personal Essays on the Glories of Reading, selected and edited by Steven Gilbar. Another collection by Steven Gilbar, Reading in Bed features passionate essays on books and reading from literary greats such as Nabokov, Calvino, Proust, and many, many more.

And if you're looking for something to inspire a little romance, take a look at these books: 

 

1. A Corner in the Marais: Memoir of a Paris Neighborhood, by Alex Karmel. If you can't dash off to Paris for a romantic weekend getaway, let Karmel lead you through the Marais, a charming and historic neighborhood in the heart of the City of Lights, and share his unique and engaging view of a well-loved city. 

2. Lovers of the Lost, by Wesley McNair. What could possibly be more romantic than poetry? Take a page from this collection of poems by McNair, a New England native, and read his "Love Poem" out loud to your beloved. How could you not fall in love to these words? 

"In the beautiful double light of the pond,

our day together has seemed more

than a single day, and now the sunset

clouds of the pond's second sky stretch

all the way from our dock chairs..."

Also keep an eye out for McNair's latest poetry book, The Lost Child, to be published this spring.