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Original poster

I really fancy reading something properly romantic - suggestions?

72 replies

Pruners · 14/08/2007 16:21

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glitterkitty · 14/08/2007 21:09

For an intelligent read what about The English Patient? Very sad. But my all time favorite is Les Liasons Dangereuses, if you like the love letter style. I read it every holiday for my romance fix .

Joanna Trollope seconded, love her books. Also Jilly Cooper if you want trash!

Marina · 14/08/2007 21:09

I second Katherine by Anya Seton, that really is such a romantic novel pruners. And her research was very sound so it's not just a souffle of houppelandes and chivalry.
Also love the Dorothy L Sayers novels - Gaudy Night will almost make you expire with passion, although it is best if you read Strong Poison and Have His Carcase first
I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith, is sweetly romantic, and so is Elizabeth von Arnim's The Enchanted April

funnypeculiar · 14/08/2007 21:08

Prodigal Summer - Barbara Kingsolver is v sexy too, imho

funnypeculiar · 14/08/2007 21:08

mmmm, Lord Peter Wimsey

Original poster
Pruners · 14/08/2007 21:07

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flowerybeanbag · 14/08/2007 21:06

A bit of Anita Shreve, some of hers are v romantic, but not trashy

StrangeTown · 14/08/2007 21:05

Bronze Horseman definitely worth a go. Bit naff in places, but I think Alexander will do it for you.

aloha · 14/08/2007 21:04

Carmichael

aloha · 14/08/2007 21:04

Carmichael

aloha · 14/08/2007 21:04

He is so English and reserved and clever and decent and lovely. Sigh!
I even have a crush on Ian Charmichael as a result. It's very sad.

barking · 14/08/2007 21:04

oh pants! I shall try one more time,...
The Bronze Horseman

meandmyflyingmachine · 14/08/2007 21:00

Me too aloha

And it's all that pent-up passion suddenly released.

And a liberal sprinkling of John Donne.

I feel the need to dig it out again now...

barking · 14/08/2007 21:00

[http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/202-9256123-9911011?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Daps &field-keywords=the+bronze+horseman&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go BronzeHorseman]

bran · 14/08/2007 20:58

One of my favourite romance novels is Welcome to Temptation, it's Pride and Prejudice set in Ohio and is funny, sexy and well-written. Also good by the same author is Faking It, Fast Women and Bet Me.

aloha · 14/08/2007 20:58

I also have a HUGE crush on Lord Peter Wimsey!
I think Birdsong is unbelievably romantic, but also of course, full of horror and misery and tragedy!
I prefer films for romance I think. Funny Face and Roman Holiday are my absolute favourites. Though Jane Austen is terribly romantic too.
Making of a Marchioness is a lovely fairy story for grown ups too. that IS Cinderella.

Original poster
Pruners · 14/08/2007 20:56

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Original poster
Pruners · 14/08/2007 20:55

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meandmyflyingmachine · 14/08/2007 20:54

See for me, not Wuthering Heights...

And policywonk - that is my worry re the Thorn Birds.

That and Richard Chamberlain creeping into my imaginings uninvited...

policywonk · 14/08/2007 20:54

I was going to say P+P too, but surely Pruners has read that. It is the most romantic book EVER - basically Cinderella for adults, as Nancy Banks-Smith has pointed out.

policywonk · 14/08/2007 20:52

I remember A Town Called Alice as being very romantic, but I read it when I was about 13, and I thought that John Taylor out of Duran Duran was the most perfect being in all creation, so it is possible that my critical faculties were not all that they should have been.

barking · 14/08/2007 20:52

[http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/202-9256123-9911011?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Daps &field-keywords=the+bronze+horseman&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go The Bronze Horseman] is wonderful, a real epic to get lost in - awful naff cover though

alucard · 14/08/2007 20:51

The Bronze Horseman- except there is about 100 pages of pornography in the middle.

Hated the Time travellers wife. Hated it.

There is always pride and prejudice

Original poster
Pruners · 14/08/2007 20:49

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MegBusset · 14/08/2007 20:45

Forget everything else. It has to be Wuthering Heights.

yogimum · 14/08/2007 20:43

bridges of madison county is very romantic but will make you cry.

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