Are you ready for Valentine's Day?  I am.  My house is decorated with every kind of heart imaginable to mankind, I have my valentine baking pan ready and my chocolate lollipop molds ready to be filled, but my favorite part of Valentine's day is reading about the holiday and losing myself in a romantic poem, novel or movie.  Recommendations will follow; first a little history from the Worldbook online.

Some trace the beginning of Valentine's Day observance to the ancient Roman feast of Lupercalia on February 15.  Others connect the feast with at least two saints named Valentine.  The most interesting theory that I found was an old English belief that birds choose their mates on February 14. 

Whether you believe any of these theories or not, I'm sure that a romantic dinner, a card, stuffed teddy or a huge box of candy may be just what the doctor ordered on Monday.  In the meantime here are a few suggestions from my Teen Advisory Group and I in the book and movie department, which in our opionion are the most romantic books and movies we have ever read or seen. 

• Any book or film based on the novels by Nicholas Sparks, especially A Walk to Remember, Dear John and of course The Notebook.
• All the books and movies in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer
• Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel in book and dvd format
• Chocolat by Joanne Harris in book and dvd format
• That Summer by Sarah Dessen
• Love Story by Erich Segal in book and dvd format
• Mrs. Mike and Kathy Little Bird by Nancy and Benedict Freedman
• Romeo and Juliet and the Love Sonnets of William Shakespeare
• The Brownings: Letters and Poetry by Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning
• Il Postino This Italian language film is one of the sweetest stories.  It takes place in the 1950s when the poet Pablo Neruda was exiled from his native Chile to an Italian island.

In closing please consider attending our Meet the Author program for adults on Saturday February 19, 2011 at 2:00 pm at The Morris Park Branch in the Bronx featuring Eloisa James, professor and author who will be talking about her new romance novel When Beauty Tamed the Beast.  In addition, if you are enamored with love poetry, consider visiting Poets House where you are invited to join the living world of poetry.

Happy Valentine's Day!