Pony by R.J. Palacio (2021)
A young boy embarks on a treacherous quest across the Midwest to find his dearly beloved Pa who has been taken by three horsemen in the dead of night. Silas Bird is accompanied by his loyal companion, a ghost boy named Mittenwool, and the most extraordinary pony.
No plot spoilers from me but as the author explains, “Ultimately, this is a book about love, which never dies, and the invisible connections that exist between people, both the living and the dead.” It is also a damn fine little western!
My Life in France by Alex Prud’homme and Julia Child (2006)
“This is a book about some of the things I have loved most in my life: my husband, Paul Child; la belle France; and the many pleasures of cooking and eating.” So begins the joyous Julia Child’s My Life in France. Then there’s finding a short letter circa 2017 inside from Grandma in Suffolk saying that she can’t wait to see you at Christmas, and she’s off to give Grandad his tablets. If that’s not endless love in a book, I don’t know what is.
She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs by Sarah Smarsh (2020)
Sarah Smarsh does an amazing job of examining our “endless love” for this larger-than-life icon. Coming from a somewhat similar background in rural Kansas, she draws on her own experiences and those of the women around her to create an honest and heartfelt portrait of this legendary woman. Like Dolly herself, it’s insightful, intelligent, and wildly entertaining.
The Sad Book by Michael Rosen (2004)
Endless love sounds more like a women’s deodorant from the 80s than an aspirational category of literature. The very best books about love acknowledge its failures, limitations and inevitable finitude, so I’ve chosen The Sad Book by Michael Rosen, a picture book based on the death of Rosen’s 18-year-old son to meningitis. This book is infinitely generous in its honesty and rage and love. Not endless, but enduring. If it doesn’t make you bawl your eyes out, what the hell is wrong with you?
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (2006)
A five-minute boyfriend turning into the possibility of so much more and an infinite playlist give this NYC teen romance the foundations of an endless love story.
The Women of Troy by Pat Barker (2021)
This most excellent sequel to The Silence of the Girls opens with the Trojan Horse rolling into Troy. The city burns, the women are raped and enslaved and the Trojan males, including the children, are slaughtered. (All because Menelaus loves Helen heaps and wants her back at his house.) Now the victorious Greeks await the winds to set sail for home. But those petty, vindictive gods aren’t finished messing with the mortals. The paranoid, traumatised soldiers must wait, trapped on the beach while the captive women do what they must to survive.
I Love Dick by Chris Kraus (1997)
If a ménage à trois were a game, failing artist Kraus and her husband Sylvère would be at the start line begging new acquaintance Dick to put his piece on the board. Thankfully he never replies to their letters – if he had we’d be without this artful, one-sided extramarital infatuation. A masterpiece of memoir, essay and fiction, this is essential reading for every romantic, feminist and voyeur.
The Adventures of China Iron by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara (2017)
Yes, it’s September but did you know August is “Women in Translation Month”? So why not celebrate by reading The Adventures of China Iron, which was shortlisted for the 2020 International Man Booker Prize and rudely didn’t win. Think of Carol by Patricia Highsmith but instead of a road trip (or escape) across America 1950s, imagine Carol and Therese on a wagon pulled by oxen across the Pampas 1800s. Deeply queer and sapphic. Probably the sexiest book I’ve ever read.
Patience by Daniel Clowes (2016)
This strange love story, full of violence, tenderness and time travel, is one of the best comic books you will read. Tired tropes of the genre are avoided as the characters hurtle through each other’s lives, leaving memories like shrapnel. I read it in one sitting and it haunts me.
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (2017)
A brilliant portrayal of a mother’s never-ending love for their child. Based in a neighbourhood known for structure and order, multiple families find themselves intertwined in a tornado of secrets, love, and desperation. When a lawsuit breaks out over the rights to an innocent child, cracks begin to show in each family, and secrets spill out. This is an easy yet engaging read that you won’t be able to put down. A great example of looking at multiple perspectives, and how people’s actions, when done for love, are not so easy to pass judgement on.
Possession by AS Byatt (1990)
A slow-burn love affair develops over a series of letters between two literary scholars, who uncover connections romantically linking the objects of their studies. When does mutual inspiration mutate from collaboration to plagiarism? Who has the right to speculate about the works of previous generations? And is it better to be the possessor or the possessed? With lush language and a deliberately relaxed pace, this is a detailed, intellectually and emotionally stimulating novel.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (2011)
The Song of Achilles tells the story of the Greek lovers Achilles and Patroclus as they grow from boys to men, developing a tender and passionate bond. With Patroclus as our guide, we bear witness to the growth of their love through times of war. Miller reveals her characters in a manner that is gentle and profound. Her words tug on readers’ heartstrings and make tangible feelings sing from the page. From beginning to end, Miller celebrates dimensions of humanity we tend to neglect.
Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard (1980)
Two sisters, Grace and Caro Bell, emigrate to England from Australia in the 1950s in search of new lives. For Caro, whose destiny is to love and be loved, the price includes betrayal. For Grace, who risks less, knowledge tempered with anguish comes too late. A brilliant exploration of love and its power to transform and transcend.
