Top 10 Favorite Love Stories in Books

10. Conxa and Jaume, Stones in a Landslide

Simple, sparse, down-to-earth, and real.

9. Harry and Hermine, Steppenwolf

Kind of a weird one. Not a romantic example per se, but definitely two compelling characters bound together by fate.

8. Ursula and Rupert/Gudrun and Gerald, Women in Love

One pair is rather ordinary and the other ends tragically, but D.H. Lawrence's prose must be read to be believed.

7. Jane and Rochester, Jane Eyre

Enough said.

6. Dante and Beatrice, The Divine Comedy

This is the fourth time Dante has turned up on one of my Top 10 Tuesday lists.

5. Tonio and Christina, Cry to Heaven

My favorite non-vampire Anne Rice novel. Vivid, picturesque setting, a great story, and a touching love affair towards the end.

4. Joe and Kareen, Johnny Got His Gun

Okay, I know I've made poor Joe a lighthearted partner in crime with fellow Marxist literary hero Karega, but I gotta admit, this book gets to you.

3. Clara and narrator, The Same Sea as Every Summer

A lesbian relationship told through the most beautiful, flowing stream-of-conscious prose since Virginia Woolf.

2. Jack and Sweetheart, "The Mystery of Choice: The White Shadow"

One of the most haunting short stories I've ever read.

1. Potok and Černá, City Sister Silver

"…my loved one was a bee and a butterfly and knew how to cut with her claws and her tongue, and I tried too … we learned from each other what was good for the other, and that made both of us stronger … running, and the earth turned beneath us, running by graves and leaping across them, avoiding the bones and glassy stares and empty eyesockets … of wolf skulls … and steering clear of traps and snares, we had experience … with falling stakes and poisoned meat … we made it without harm through the red pack's territory … and met the last of the white wolves, they were wracked with disease … and the big black wolves chased us, but we escaped … we, the gray wolves of the Carpathians, had an age-old war with them, they were surprised we fled, their jaws snapping shut on empty air, they had a hunch it was their turn next, the helicopters were on the way … we ran side by side, our bodies touching … running over the earth as it turned, with the wind whistling in our ears like a lament for every dead pack … and the clicking of our claws made the earth's motion accelerate … we ran over the earth, a mass grave, running away …"

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Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers' answers. Everyone is welcome to join. If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Don't worry if you can't come up with ten every time . . . just post what you can!