I seem to be talking a lot lately about books I’ve been reading, but I seem to be in the middle of a good reading run!! I just finished the tons of fun Much Ado About Loving: What Our Favorite Novels Can Teach You About Great Expectations, Not so Great Gatsbys, and Love in the Time of Internet Personals by Jack Murnighan and Maura Kelly, which mines works of literature for modern dating advice. (PW called it “…a clever, amusing hybrid of lit crit and relationship advice”). I’ve often thought novels are a great source of guidance when it comes to dating and love myself, so I snatched up this book and spent a wonderful afternoon laughing at its lessons!

Some of my favorite chapters: “The Blabbers Karamazov: The dangers of revealing too much too soon”; “Not-so-great-Gatsby: Is it flattering or creepy when a guy persists?”; “Bride and Prejudice: Does wanting to get married give you champagne goggles?”; “Madame Ho-Vary: Is cheating ever okay?”; and “Jane Erred: Why it’s silly to put principles over passion” (“When and if you’re lucky enough to find true love, don’t muck it up with mindless adherence to convention. Throw away that list of requirements….”)

And then there is “Lady’s Chattering Lover: 10 things not to say after sex.” Example #8–Tread with caution when talking about his penis (“And now it’s tiny and soft like a little bud of life!”
What romance lessons have you learned from your favorite books??