Wyatt’s World: Valentine’s Day Reading

This Tuesday, don’t give a standard token, overpriced just for the day. Give books! To celebrate all kinds of love, consider the following:

• Classic love: It has to be Jane Austen. Be daring; skip the standard Elizabeth/Darcy and go straight to Persuasion (Oxford World Classics).
• Familial love: Plainsong by Kent Haruf (Vintage). Tender and gorgeously conceived, Haruf’s ode to family-as-you-find-it is a gem.
• Modern love: The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides (Farrar). Smart, engaging, and simply brilliant, it is a novel that offers its own kind of sparkle.
• Nostalgic love: Judy Bloom is in the running, but you cannot go wrong with Beverly Cleary’s The Luckiest Girl or Fifteen (both HarperCollins).
• Romantic love: It is a day for the grand gesture, so a series gift seems appropriate. Give Lauren Willig’s nine “Pink Carnation” books. The newest is The Garden Intrigue (Dutton).