5 Books to Keep You Company on Valentine’s Day

Hello Readers! My name is Anne Jonas and I am a new intern at CambridgeEditors. I am an English major at Boston University, with a double minor in French and Women’s Studies. When I am not in the classroom, I enjoy exploring Boston, smashing the patriarchy, and binge-watching French TV shows on Netflix.

If you are a single lady like me, then you know that Valentine’s Day can make you feel a little isolated or left out. But I’ve got just the fix! I have chosen five books that transform romantic clichés into awe-inspiring narratives. These books are not your typical Nicholas Sparks heartthrobs or your Fifty Shades of Grey heart-racers. Rather, they are books that look at love through different and unconventional perspectives, which made me think about the genre of romance and why we read it in the first place. So, I challenge everyone out there to find company in a book today. Get into some comfy clothes, make yourself a big cup of tea, find a cozy nook, and grab one of the five books below!

1. Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel Fun Home

Fun Home is a graphic memoir written and illustrated by Bechdel, following her relationship to her father from childhood to adulthood. Self-described as a “tragicomic,” the graphic novel addresses the innerworkings of a dysfunctional family with the witty humor of an angsty teenager. The book explores themes of father-daughter love, self-love, and first love. If you like visual aids while reading and a quirky, nuanced sense of humor, I would highly recommend this book.

2. Ian McEwan’s Atonement

Ian McEwan’s Atonement follows a tragic love story of mistaken identity in WWII-era England. The book centers around Briony, who, as a young teenager, falsely accuses her sisters love interest of rape, thereby separating the two for life. The novel explores themes of guilt and shame, as well as the “happily-(n)ever-after” trope of postwar fiction. The book has been adapted into a movie featuring Keira Knightly and James McAvoy (*swoon*). For those who love a moving, Titanic-esque tragic love story, this is the perfect book for you.

3. Alice Walker’s The Color Purple

The Color Purple is an epistolary novel, containing letters exchanged between Celie, a rape survivor and social pariah, and God. This novel takes a soulful look into the struggles of navigating trauma as a queer woman of color in the early 20^th century. It looks at love between female outcasts, and delves into themes of sisterhood, colorism, and feminism. This book is perfect for those looking for a spiritual, yet contemporary reflection on love, gender, and race.

4. Toni Morrison’s Beloved

In Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Sethe’s love for her daughter, Beloved, is so great that she kills her in order to save her from the wrath of slavery. The novel follows the chaotic relationship between Sethe and Paul D, who are both haunted by the ghost of Beloved and then visited by her doppelgänger. For those who enjoy a good spook, I highly recommend this novel. This book has also been adapted into a film which features Oprah Winfrey as Sethe. Grab this book if you want a challenging, haunting read on the complexity of maternal love.

5. Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre

Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is a bildungsroman that follows Jane Eyre through her abusive childhood, her education at an all-girls orphanage, and her eventual position as governess to the mysterious Mr. Rochester. The novel explores the social taboo surrounding large age-gaps in relationships, mistresses, and what love is like with a physical disability. If you are a fan of period pieces, this book is a great way to escape into the elusive lives of the 19^th century English elite.

If you are writing a novel of your own, or if you’d like to connect with our team of expert writers, check out the CambridgeEditors website. However you spend this holiday, enjoy the best wishes from the team over at CambridgeEditors!

♥ Friendship in the Time of Love ♥

Here at the Cambridge Editors WordPress blog, we’ve decided to devote the month of February to some romantical-like writings, because let’s face it, there’s no getting away from Valentine’s Day. It haunts unattached individuals like a far more effective Canterville Ghost. If you’ve been to Dunkin lately, then you’ll have noticed even the donuts have gone all heart-shaped.

As a single lady, this isn’t my favorite time of year. I know it’s a “Hallmark holiday,” and therefor shouldn’t carry much weight, since you should appreciate your significant other every day of the year, much like you should appreciate your parents all the time, not just Father’s and Mother’s Day. But still, it’s harder to ignore not having a loved one when romance is in the air like tacky perfume spritzed by those retail store employees that can’t take no for an answer.

Thinking about it though, I realized that I have many loved ones. No, not like that; I’m just blessed with many wonderful friends, which hasn’t necessarily been true throughout my life. I was a weird kid, one of the types with big owl glasses and wolf t-shirts, who stayed in during recess to draw. Middle and high school weren’t much easier, and I didn’t really find myself with a solid group of friends until college. And with all the romantic love floating around, I think it’s important to remember the quieter love of the friend who stays up drinking wine with you after a bad day, even though they have work in the morning. The love of a friend who you can laugh so hard with you both start to cry. The love of a friend who will sit in silence with you after your dog is put to sleep, or you find out your dad is sick again. Those are the kind of friends I’ve found in the last three years, and I wouldn’t trade them for a million Jude Laws with 12 million red roses.

But to bring things back to literature, one of my favorite literary friendships by far is that of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson. Our favorite consulting detective and his loyal companion have been enjoying a resurgence in popularity recently, with the recent blockbusters starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law (double sigh) and the BBC series Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman (more gratuitous sighs). Sherlock Holmes is one of the most depicted characters in cinema and TV, as well as the stage, and fans of the original canon may enjoy debating the merits of one actor or another, but I’m mostly just glad to see some interpretations of Dr. Watson that don’t involve him being a bumbling idiot as when portrayed by Nigel Bruce in the 30’s and 40’s.

The reason why this is the crux for my enjoyment of Holmes’ adaptations is because for me, the Sherlock Holmes stories aren’t about Holmes’ nearly supernatural deductive skills, or his trademark unusual behavior. It’s because I think the real story of Sherlock Holmes is that of him and John Watson, and Arthur Conan Doyle’s depiction of one of the greatest friendships in literary history. And for the spirit of that relationship to be portrayed accurately (again, this is just the significance I’ve found), Watson needs to be Holmes’ equal, at least in different areas than intellect (since it’s obvious that in smarts, Holmes can only be equaled by Moriarty or “The Woman.” This nerdy enough for you yet?). And Watson is Holmes’ equal, or even more in some areas; his general knowledge is much wider than Holmes’, he’s a trained Army doctor, a heckuva shot, and he’s also more emotionally adept to be sure.

Now, some people want Holmes and Watson to be… more than friends, which is something I hold no issue with and is frequently joked about in the BBC series. It’s undeniable though that there’s no evidence in the original canon to point to a romantic relationship between the two, and that’s just fine by me because I find their relationship fascinating as is. As best friends they are a perfect balance and operate in such a way together that they could not alone. Holmes, as a rather socially stunted man, must have been incredibly lonely before Watson came along, and Watson was an injured soldier with no cause left to serve. While Watson does serve as an excellent literary device, allowing Holmes to spell out his deductions and express the reader’s wonder at his conclusions, he also serves to tie Holmes to the real world with real interactions, something I think Conan Doyle became more aware of as he wrote the duo over the years.

In the earlier stories, Watson sometimes seemed a little too awed by Holmes, a little too humble for their friendship to be one of equals; and Holmes seems as disappointed by Watson’s lack of intelligence as he is by everyone else’s. But as I wrap up this long, nerdy, sentimental rant, I would point you to one, classic moment, in “The Adventure of the Three Garridebs,” after the villain is caught by our heroes:

“Well, well!” said he coolly as he scrambled to the surface. “I guess you have been one too many for me, Mr. Holmes. Saw through my game, I suppose, and played me for a sucker from the first. Well, sir, I hand it to you; you have me beat and –”

In an instant he had whisked out a revolver from his breast and had fired two shots. I felt a sudden hot sear as if a red-hot iron had been pressed to my thigh. There was a crash as Holmes’s pistol came down on the man’s head. I had a vision of him sprawling upon the floor with blood running down his face while Holmes rummaged him for weapons. Then my friend’s wiry arms were round me, and he was leading me to a chair.

“You’re not hurt, Watson? For God’s sake, say that you are not hurt!”

It was worth a wound — it was worth many wounds — to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain.

So in the month of February, a time of romantic love and flowers and chocolates, I ask you to remember the friends you hold dear and where you might be without them. For without his Boswell, Sherlock Holmes may have never been the icon Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created, and we would all be poorer for it. Just as we would all surely be poorer without our friends.

From Cambridge Editors,

Katie (third from the right, with some of the best friends a girl could wish for.)

♥ Love and Literature ♥

It’s February, which means that Valentine’s Day is only a few days away.  As I mentioned on Friday, the big topic this month is love.  This theme has been a central concept in literature, philosophy, psychology, etc. It’s probably the most central concept in art.  While the concept has permeated through multiple disciplines of academia and art, itself has by no means been constant.  Love, in a sense, while thought to have a rigorous definition is fluid, and the more we try to define it, the more it eludes us.

Now I can go on and on about the philosophical origins of love, going all the way back to Plato.  I could even talk to you about the origins of Valentines day. But that would take forever and it would probably bore the pants off of you.  So let’s bring the discussion closer to home, shall we?  How can we express love in our writing?  This question almost hurts me to ask. Why you ask? It’s because young writers seem to have a certain image of how love should be expressed in their writing that is so cliche that whenever I see someone commit this crime against love I promptly return their piece and say, “try again.”  Now that may seem mean but I do have a good reason for doing it.  Most young writers today don’t have reasons for using the images and words that typically are associated with love.  They just believe that if they can reasonably regurgitate a few buzz words and images then they will produce good writing.  This method is dishonest, and it insults the very emotion that it intends to depict.  The problem with today’s young writers is that they never have an answer to the question, “Why?”

That’s the big question, “why?” If a character in one of your stories does anything, even if it’s as simple as going for a run everyday, there has to be a reason for them to do it.  Most young writers give their characters certain traits, not because it’s necessary to the story or to the character, but because they think it will automatically make their writing better.  For example, I cannot tell you how many bad short stories I have read about character who smoke.  Apparently they think that good writing needs a certain amount of “raunch”.  In fact, almost the opposite is true. A lot of the best writing I have ever read is about the dull and mundane.  When it comes to literature and it’s themes, it’s not the ‘what’ that’s important, it’s the ‘why’.

So what does this have to do with love?  I’ll tell you.  If you are writing a story or a novel, or even writing a paper about the love between two characters, you need to know the ‘why’ before you do any writing.  Why are these characters in love? Why do they express their love in such and such a way?  I’ll make this clear with one of my least favorite movies of all time.  The Star Wars prequels.  I know it’s not literature, but screenplays are a type of writing and therefore this example is relevant.

In the movie, Anakin Skywalker and Princess Amedala fall madly in love.  This causes Anakin to turn to the dark side and become Darth Vader, blah blah blah.  Great, I get all that, but why are they in love?  Go back and watch those movies again with a critical eye and you’ll see that these two characters are in love for absolutely no reason other than it works for the ending of the story.  Anakin is a self-absorbed maniac and Amedala is a boring monotone Senator,who is always terrified of her husband. George Lucas failed to grasp some basic rules from creative writing 101.  He forgot that the audience needs to care about the characters and their love first and foremost.  Otherwise we have no stake in the relationship and how the story ends.

This is one of the reasons I cannot stand modern day depictions of love, that are deemed, “real”.  Somehow, post-modernism has infected our sensibilities into thinking that love needs to be full of cynicism and angst.  We seem to have forgotten that love can have some emotional levity, in fact it should be joyous.  Cupid shouldn’t be torturing his clients, he should be releasing them from their shackles.

That’s why I think the best portrayal of love these days can be found in romantic comedies.  You probably didn’t see that one coming.

Now I’m no fan of romantic comedies but you’ll be surprised to find that they have some depth to them.  People often say that they are petty and shallow depictions of what it’s like to be in love in the twenty-first century.  True, quality of the writing isn’t always worthy of Melville, but at least they have the basics covered.  Most romantic comedies follow the same structure:  a strong independent woman, usually working in a fast paced job that takes up all of her time, meets a guy, she starts to have feelings for him, she’s worried about getting hurt, finally she let’s herself be vulnerable, she experiences a minor heartbreak which makes her retreat back into her career, which forces her to shut down her emotional identity  completely, then after an impassioned speech about love, and they ride off into the sunset.

Sure it has a “factory made” written all over it, but I think it actually makes a really deep metaphysical point about love that is particularly relevant to the time in which we live. The message is this: in a world where superficiality and celebrity pop culture rules the landscape we have retreated more and more into ourselves and our careers. We have shut ourselves off from having any sort of real emotional connection to the outside world and the people who inhabit it.  People are seen as means and not as ends in themselves.  However, the one thing that can give meaning to our lives is love.  Romantic comedies remind us that, yes, love means opening yourself up to the possibility getting hurt.  That level emotional vulnerability is scary to everyone.  But in the end it’s worth letting yourself be vulnerable is much more rewarding than retreating into your own ego.

So for all the post-modern cynics that believe that love is dead because of our fast paced modern sensibility, I say nay! It can be found in some of the cheesiest writing that has ever been produced.  But corny writing doesn’t entail untruth.  I argue that more truth can be found in Jerry Maguire than can be found in any Chuck Palahniuck book.

So this Valentines day, when you are snuggling up with your significant other to watch a movie, take a page out of Kurt Vonnegut’s book.  Just stop, look around, and say,” if this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.”

CambridgeEditors

Sandor

♥ February, the Month of Love and Writing ♥

Well hello there, faithful readers, I didn’t see you come in!  It’s February and you know what that means; chalky heart candies with messages on them like “I wuv u”, heart shaped cards, over sized boxes of chocolate, and red decorations everywhere! Yes Valentine’s day is coming up, which makes February the month of Love. Why did I capitalize ‘Love’? I’m so glad you asked.

First and foremost we here at the CambridgeEditors are offering a special discount for all of your February editing needs. Any document 50 pages or more in the area of history will receive a 10% discount. This includes political, social, cultural or biographical works.  Email us and describe your project, mention the special and get 10% off. Also, writers of books and dissertations seeking edits of documents over 100 pages who contact us in February will receive a 15% discount.

The second reason I capitalized “Love,” was because I would like to announce some upcoming blog posts on the subject of love, that oh so mysterious and desirable concept.  Katie, Alex and Myself will be writing feature pieces on love, in honor of Valentines day.  These won’t be the only blog updates, of course, but they’re sure to be spectacular posts. So make sure you keep checking the blog.

CambridgeEditors

Sandor