6 books on love in all its shapes & forms
I love you, I hate you. Oh the qualms of love. From teenage angst to heartbreak to sisterhood ; it's these stories from the past that have become unapologetically authentic and relatable, a form of therapy and reprieve, that as readers we become drawn to all facets, absorbed in all its flaws. Love as we know can fall into different categories, most obviously in the form of a relationship with a significant other, then there’s the relationships formed through friendships, family members or work colleagues – each forming the foundation of a repeatedly challenged and tightly woven quilt. Transformative yet beautiful. Complicated yet unpredictable. Traumatic yet therapeutic. It’s scary to welcome all these feelings and it constantly leaves me in awe at just how much literature is able to bare all and explore these same emotions with such depth – here’s a few favourites that explore different types of love. An ode to the loved ones.
It’s 1967 and Patti Smith not yet 21, has no real friends, works in a bookshop and eventually meets Robert Mapplethorpe, a boy then of the same age with a similar situation and they end up living in a Brooklyn apartment together. And so begins the friendship of dreams – personal styles elevated, successes celebrated and an equal determination to make it in the world of possibilities. Throughout this memoir, Smith highlights the golden apple that is friendship and one’s ability to survive within it despite slight differences of opinion – Robert was anxious about money and Smith was worried about their abilities to survive. It’s a navigation of friendship stretched at its core all entertwined with the artistic seriousness of the 1970’s. Sexuality is evaluated against the fears of poverty and media and you can’t help but be thrown into a world where Smith’s mythic imagination is both immeasurable and undeniable. It’s about the hustle and the ones that made it and the ones that don’t; it’s a portrait of New York city and two young artists fuelled by art and experience. Oh the ups and downs of having your work critiqued at art school. Haha… she’s steering off topic… Just read this.
A personal favourite and probably what compelled me to open the door in considering all aspects of love. In this collection, Lunn sheds light on her own experiences with love whilst collating a wide disparate range of views from the likes of Dolly Alderton, Roxane Gay, Lisa Taddeo and more and their thoughts on what it means to be in love and the importance of its very definition. From loneliness to loss to coming to terms with change, the limits of what we deem as ‘love’ are thoroughly explored and expanded upon. Lunn succeeds in highlighting three key aspects: how do we find love, how do we sustain love and how do we survive losing love? An absolute must-read.
Musician Nick Cave sits down with O’Hagan through hours of banter and phone conversations to capture the very essence of Cave’s life and the audacious and transcendent truths that have consumed his defiant manifestation into that of an artist and musician. After the death of his 15-year-old son, the relationship between him and his wife Susie is unmatched. Their undying love is the thing of the movies and that intertwined with shared grief and a dash of addiction and art and the band’s journey, make this a riveting memoir.
It’s the kind of love that’s messy and complicated. We can see the future and it ain’t looking bright or right but it’s the seduction of the indulgences of a start up company and the couple behind it all that seem to summon questions of what if. What if, you could have it all? You could be successful and receive the same love you had been longing for so long? Violet, stuck in a dead-end job represents about 40% of the population of women entering the workforce – she’s fresh and working her ass off to be accepted only to be confronted with feelings of worthlessness and a lack of satisfaction. I won’t spoil the spicy of this novel, but its Fifty Shades of Grey meets the millennial era.
This family saga about Cyril Avery, a boy that is constantly reminded that he is not really an ‘Avery’ but a tenancy, will have you staring at a wall and lying in a fetal position because it’s that emotional. As we observe Cyril over the years, his uncertainty and self-transformation as a young boy into an adult, highlights one’s sexuality and relationships established during post-war Ireland. Boyne touches on LGBTQ rights, 9/11 and the AID’s crisis of the 80’s – it’s the story of the fragility of adolescence, the idealizations of a complex society and relationship one has with staying true to oneself. A visionary literary masterpiece.
What can only be described as a brave, intelligent and vulnerable look at an emotion that has touched everyone. As she explores the confounds of love and the intellect of the heart, we are pulled into the depths of the very ethos of ‘What is Love?’ and her own search for emotional connection and society’s failure to provide a model for learning to love. This book will have you pulled into a redemptive state – evaluating the very core of your previous relationships and current and a society bereft with lovelessness. An essential to your bookshelves.
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