This week, I dare dipping back into The Broke & The Bookish Tuesday Top 10s. This week, top 10 favorite love stories in literature.1-Toru/Naoko in Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood: As much as I like Midori a lot better than Naoko as a character, this mystical attraction in between Naoko and Toru fascinates me. The fatality of their relationship is magnificent.
2-Hervé Joncour/Nameless Concubine in Alessandro Baricco's Silk: The movie adaptation fucking butchered it (and I'm being nice here). Who never dreamed of a love so electric that it didn't need any words. Please read the book, since François Girard turned this light-hearted, beautiful romance into a anus-pink monstrosity.
3-Jimmy/Annabeth in Dennis Lehane's Mystic River: It's just a few scenes, but they are so well crafted, they grab you by the throat. What Lehane wrote about here is real love and not desire. Annabeth is probably one of the best support characters ever written. And the fictional character who makes me thing of Josie the most! (BLUSH)
4-Arturo Bandini/Camilla Lopez in John Fante's Ask The Dust: Those two are cute as a button. I don't know anyone who wouldn't love to have THAT magical encounter like Arturo and Camilla did. Not the most stable relationship, but it's beautiful.
5-Gatsby/Daisy in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby: Given that it's a one way relationship, Gatsby's passion and drive to recover what he once lost is breathtaking. It's a game of untold proposition and subtle clues. I'm pretty sure most women who read this book damned Daisy Buchanan for letting this opportunity pass her by.
6-Edmond Dantès/Mercedes in Alexandre Dumas' The Count Of Monte Cristo: I'll be honest, it turns so ugly at the end that even the movies didn't want to adapt that sadistic twist (which I'm not going to spoil). But what a great, passionate relationship you see going down in flames for over a thousand pages.
7-Llewellyn/Carla Jean in Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Men: The genius of that love story is to make you doubt about Llewellyn's motivations at all times. You don't know if he's like the others or not.
8-Danny/Nora in Dennis Lehane's The Given Day: The best scene of the novel is Danny, stepping up and assuming his love for Nora. He goes then against everything he ever believed in, but he feels he's right. Didn't like the novel much, but this scene is breathtaking.
9-Esmeralda/Everybody else in Victor Hugo's The Hunchback Of Notre-Dame: Fuck Esmeralda, she's superficial, stupid and she doesn't know anything about love. The original character is very far from what Disney made her out to be. But everybody in love with her do and their gestures of love are amazing.
10-Dr. Kris Kelvin/Rheya in Stanislaw Lem's Solaris: OK, technically it's not love, but dead love or remorse. But nonetheless, it's beautiful and very poetic to see Kelvin trying to cope with his own shittiness in his past marriage. Not that different from Gothic love stories, but sure more original.
3-Jimmy/Annabeth in Dennis Lehane's Mystic River: It's just a few scenes, but they are so well crafted, they grab you by the throat. What Lehane wrote about here is real love and not desire. Annabeth is probably one of the best support characters ever written. And the fictional character who makes me thing of Josie the most! (BLUSH)
4-Arturo Bandini/Camilla Lopez in John Fante's Ask The Dust: Those two are cute as a button. I don't know anyone who wouldn't love to have THAT magical encounter like Arturo and Camilla did. Not the most stable relationship, but it's beautiful.
5-Gatsby/Daisy in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby: Given that it's a one way relationship, Gatsby's passion and drive to recover what he once lost is breathtaking. It's a game of untold proposition and subtle clues. I'm pretty sure most women who read this book damned Daisy Buchanan for letting this opportunity pass her by.
6-Edmond Dantès/Mercedes in Alexandre Dumas' The Count Of Monte Cristo: I'll be honest, it turns so ugly at the end that even the movies didn't want to adapt that sadistic twist (which I'm not going to spoil). But what a great, passionate relationship you see going down in flames for over a thousand pages.
7-Llewellyn/Carla Jean in Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Men: The genius of that love story is to make you doubt about Llewellyn's motivations at all times. You don't know if he's like the others or not.
8-Danny/Nora in Dennis Lehane's The Given Day: The best scene of the novel is Danny, stepping up and assuming his love for Nora. He goes then against everything he ever believed in, but he feels he's right. Didn't like the novel much, but this scene is breathtaking.
9-Esmeralda/Everybody else in Victor Hugo's The Hunchback Of Notre-Dame: Fuck Esmeralda, she's superficial, stupid and she doesn't know anything about love. The original character is very far from what Disney made her out to be. But everybody in love with her do and their gestures of love are amazing.
10-Dr. Kris Kelvin/Rheya in Stanislaw Lem's Solaris: OK, technically it's not love, but dead love or remorse. But nonetheless, it's beautiful and very poetic to see Kelvin trying to cope with his own shittiness in his past marriage. Not that different from Gothic love stories, but sure more original.
