For me, Valentine’s Day is a time to honor love in all of its various forms. This, of course, includes romantic love — but also platonic love and even the love we hold for those who are no longer with us.
This month’s Words on the Street is here to shine a light on the many definitions of love. Whether it’s slowly finding yourself drawn to someone who you’ve always thought of as a rival or finding ways to embrace affection that are healthy and healing, these books show there are many ways to celebrate love.
“If Beale Street Could Talk” by James Baldwin
This book centers on Fonny Hunt and Tish Rivers, lifelong best friends who have sworn they’ll get married. Fonny, 22, is a sculptor who comes from an emotionally distant family and is treated as an outsider by his mother and sisters. Tish, 19, comes from a loving family that embraces Fonny with open arms. Given the coldness with which his own family treats him, Tish’s family’s love for him is that much more special for Fonny — especially when a vindictive police officer falsely accuses him of assaulting a woman and detains him. The Rivers family is determined to do whatever they can to free Fonny and reunite him with Tish.
Though this book is a love story, it’s one that reflects not just joy and adoration but heartbreak and despair. Tish and Fonny are head over heels for each other, but it’s clear that the justice system they’re fighting against is determined to keep them separated. The writing echoes blues music, as does the book’s Harlem setting, a neighborhood that historically was tied to the explosive popularity of the musical genre.
“Book Lovers” by Emily Henry
Nora Stephens, our protagonist, is hardworking, harsh and the opposite of laid back. She works as a literary agent and is known for being cutthroat in service to her clients. When her sister, Libby, insists the two go to small-town Sunshine Falls in North Carolina so Nora can take a break, Nora seems to constantly bump into her nemesis, editor Charlie Lastra, who has just moved back to his hometown. As the trip goes on, Nora and Charlie begin to see they have more in common than they thought. They’re both dedicated to their families and love witty banter, and it’s possible each initially made too many harsh assumptions about the other.
Henry is obviously poking fun at the Hallmark movie trope of the big-city girl who finally slows down and finds love. At home, Nora is constantly dumped because she prioritizes work over relationships. It’s not until she finds Charlie, whose attitude and work ethic match hers, that she eventually finds someone who understands her. Unlike the typical Hallmark protagonist, Nora doesn’t have to sacrifice her career for love. She is not punished for who she is, and, in fact, Charlie appreciates her dedication to her work. As someone who identifies with Nora, Henry’s refusal to succumb to the trope was refreshing to see.
“Firefly Lane” by Kristin Hannah
Kate and Tully — friends for 30 years — are complete opposites. Kate is shy and responsible while Tully is outgoing and adventurous. Kate dreams of the confidence Tully possesses, and Tully wants a family that is loving and warm, like the one Kate grew up with.
From elementary school to adulthood, we follow the two women and watch as they grow and follow different dreams. Tully becomes a bigtime reporter while Kate gets married and builds a family. Their friendship is tested throughout the decades, and even though they sometimes drift apart, they always find their way back together. That is, until one act of betrayal threatens to tear them apart.
Kate and Tully are not written to be perfect. Instead, they’re human, which means a reader can often be frustrated with some of the choices they make. Kate can be irritating because of her meek nature, while Tully can sometimes feel selfish or too impulsive. Still, the twists and turns of their long friendship show the strength of their platonic connection. Both are flawed, but the love they have for one another overpowers their imperfections.
“All About Love” by bell hooks
Love is one of the most universally discussed ideas, yet it feels nearly impossible to nail down. In this self-help book, hooks sets out to provide readers with a framework for what love is. Her goal is to help love feel less like an insurmountable destination and more like a rewarding journey.
One of her central arguments is that love is intersectional. So much of how we think about love has to do with outside factors like the environment we’re raised in or how love is portrayed in the media. She mostly focuses on the negative impacts of those experiences, such as how growing up in a lonely household may result in connecting love with solitude.
The biggest piece of advice hooks offers her readers is to think of love not as a noun but as a verb. She urges us to think of love as something we are constantly feeding and nurturing, not an unchanging endpoint. Love, both platonic and romantic, should be visible through acts of affection and commitment. We should trust that healthy love, where trust and effort are reciprocated, will be mirrored in the relationships we build.
“Obit” by Victoria Chang
Love is not always about romance, or even friendship. Sometimes it’s the tenderness we find with loss. One of my favorite quotes, in a blog post by Jamie Anderson, is that grief is just love with no place to go. This idea is perfectly encapsulated in this poetry collection by Victoria Chang.
In “Obit,” Chang reflects on the loss of her mother and the declining health of her father. She uses the traditional newspaper obituary form, which is characterized by long, skinny blocks of text, to shed light on the unexpected parts of people we grieve when they’re gone. Some of the subjects of her poems include losses that are tangible, like her mother’s teeth, as well as those that are intangible, like approval or time.
Grief does not come out of nowhere. It is the end result of loving someone. The fact that it is unavoidable doesn’t make it hurt less. Chang writes about loss in a way that feels personal to her, yet the way she describes the buildup and aftermath of her mother’s death allows us to feel like we’re also sitting with her by her father’s hospital bed or alongside her, dropping off flowers at her mother’s grave.
“Chicka Chicka I Love You” by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
My parents read to me every night before tucking me into bed, which probably led to me being an avid reader. One of the books I have fond memories of them reading was “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom,” by Martin and Archambault. The goal of that book is to help readers from birth to 5 years old recognize how different letters come together to make sounds, then words. “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” in particular does this by showing the letters of the alphabet racing each other to get to the top of a coconut tree. Since the original, there have been many versions of this spirited picture book, including “Chicka Chicka I Love You.”
“Chicka Chicka I Love You” shares the same goals of instilling a love for language, but it does so by showing young readers just how many ways there are to tell someone you love them. This is done by spelling words like “sweet pea” and “cute” and showing readers how they can use these words to express their appreciation for those around them. Like the original, “Chicka Chicka I Love You” also uses rhyming words and a cheerful tone to keep readers engaged.