A Fine Romance: Good Reads for Men

Stacy Alesi Romance novels are traditionally aimed at women, but that doesn't mean there aren't romances out there for men. In the broadest sense of the genre, romances center on the relationship between two people, usually culminating in marriage. A variety of relationships are represented here; some may or may not have a happy ending--but there is always love. And that is the heart of romance. Jonathan Hull's extraordinary first novel, LOSING JULIA (Dell. 2001. ISBN 0-440-23485-9. pap. $6.99), tells of a love that lasts a lifetime and the difficult choices we are sometimes forced to make. Living in a nursing home, 81-year-old PatrickDelaney remembers when he was a 19-year-old soldier stationed in France during World War I.His best friend, Daniel, shares his letters from his fiancee, Julia, the soon-to-be mother of his child, and those letters haunt Patrick long after Daniel is killed. He finally meets Julia ten years later at a ceremony commemorating the battle thattook Daniel's life, and their brief time together affects them both permanently, their lives forever, as Julia says to Patrick, a struggle between love and loss. Of all of Nicholas Sparks's best-selling novels, THE NOTEBOOK (Warner. 1999. ISBN 0-446-67609-8. pap. $12.95) will appeal especially to male readers because they will identify with Noah Calhoun and his lifelong passion for his childhood sweetheart, Allie. The couple live in a nursing home, where Allie is suffering from Alzheimer's. Noah reads to her every day in hopes that he will somehow reach her with the story of their lives, from their meeting as teenagers, their separation of many years, and their reuniting just weeks before Allie was to marry someone else. This quickread is both sentimental and moving. In the intense, beautifully written A SHIP MADE OF PAPER (Ecco: HarperCollins. 2003. ISBN 0-06-018534-1. $24.95; pap. Feb. 2004. ISBN 0-06-093342-9. $13.95), novelist Scott Spencer examines the theme of love and loss in a very different way. New York City lawyer Daniel Emerson returns to his small Hudson Valley hometown with his live-in lover, Kate, and her daughter, Ruby. In dropping Ruby off at her daycare center, Daniel meets and falls in love withthe mother of Ruby's best friend. Iris is African American. And married. Spencer employs an unusual literary device: he starts each chapter with a tiny excerpt of the novel's pivotal finale, which builds a surreal tension and leads to a feeling of deja vu when the reader finally reaches the end.The tautness in story and mood is truly exquisite. On a lighter note is THE MAN WHO ATE THE 747 (Bantam. 2002. ISBN 0-553-58280-1. pap. $6.50) by Ben Sherwood, which examines the lengths a man will go to for the woman he loves. In a small farming town, a man is slowly ingesting the 747 that crashed onto his farm to prove his love for Willa Wyatt, the only girl who was ever kind to him. J.J. Smith arrives to document this event for the Book of Records and finds himself falling in love with Willa, too. There are lots of laughs in this charming, poignant love story. [Coming in March 2004 from Bantam is Sherwood's second novel, The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud, about two brothers andthe woman who enters their lives.] In John Welter's NIGHT OF THE AVENGING BLOWFISH: A NOVEL OF COVERT OPERATIONS, LOVE AND LUNCHEON MEAT (Algonquin. 1994. ISBN 1-56512-050-7. pap. $12.95), Secret Service agent Doyle Coldiron finds himself introuble when he looks the other way while the White House chef serves Spam to the President and visiting dignitaries. The wisecracking agent is also in love with Natelle, a White House staff member, but it takes him a while to figure that out. Meanwhile, he must protect a drunken diplomat, find the secret location of a covert baseball game against the CIA, and deal with a partner who is in love with an animal rights activist who happens to be under surveillance. This fast, fun read manages to tug at the heart strings while inducing belly laughs, always a winning combination. For the man who likes a bit of spice with his romance, John Norman's 25-book series THE CHRONICLES OF GOR offers a twist of fantasy, out-of-this-world adventure, and lots of kinky sex. Tarl Cabot is brought up on Earth but finds himself on the planet Gor, where he rescues women from dungeons and dragons, then enslaves them, often falling in love with them along the way. Like the romance novels aimed at women, these books (Slave-Girl of Gor, Rogue of Gor, Guardsman of Gor) bear covers adornedwith half-naked men and women with long flowing hair, but there are no Prince Charmings here, and some feminists may object to the un-PC depiction of women. Note:many of these books are out of print; however, used copies are readily available. Starting with OUTLANDER (Delacorte. 1991. ISBN 0-385-30230-4. $27.95; pap. Dell. 1992. ISBN 0-440-21256-1. $7.99), Diana Gabaldon has created a truly genre-defying series, encompassing romance, history, adventure, and sf. Claire Beauchamp is a happily married British World War II nurse who accidentally falls through a circle of stones into 18th-century Scotland. There she falls in love with a Highland Scot,Jamie Fraser, and thus begins adventures that span time and continents, from the Jacobite Rebellion to the colonization of America. Claire and Jamie are the best of friends and save each other's bacon regularly, but, most importantly, they are married for 20-plus years yet still behave as if they are in the midst of a torrid love affair. What could be more romantic? ADDED MATERIAL

作 者：

Alesi, Stacy

刊 名：

Library Journal 

年，卷(期)：

2004vol 129(no. 2) 

分类号：

 

关键词：

Romance novels Bibliography  Men Reading

正文语种：

eng 

基金项目：