Lifestyle - Books To Get Lost In
Originally published here for Vanity Stories
My dinner parties always draw to a close, just shy of 11 pm. By then, my lovely friends who’ve ventured from all corners of Paris to convene at my humble abode are ready to collect their empty Tupperware and shrug on their winter coats. After sending them off into the night with plenty of lingering embraces, I start my post-dinner routine of cleaning the apartment, beginning with the half-empty wine glasses on the dining table and setting water to boil for a cup of tea. I savor these quiet moments, as they often end by winding down the evening by reading. While I love entertaining, it’s the nights spent curled up on my sofa with a book in hand that set the tone for the rest of my week. My bookcase holds thousands of stories that I spend hours pouring myself into within it. My favorites? E.M. Forster’s A Room With a View and André Aciman’s Call Me by Your Name.
A Room with a View
I first discovered A Room With a View while walking the banks of the seine. The vendor who sold it to me swore I would fall in love with the unique prose and long for a summer spent in Florence (or, more specifically, the hills just outside it). Set in the early 1900s, it’s the story of a young woman named Lucy Honeychurch who ventures to Florence with a chaperone. While discovering the city filled with history, Lucy finds herself enamored with a mysterious stranger she crosses paths with. It’s the perfect read when I need a novel that appeases my desire for adventure, romance, and a story that completely transports me.
Call Me by Your Name
Everything about this novel reminds me of melancholy lazy summer days, family gatherings, and first loves. I finished the book during a long train ride to Amboise for a long weekend with friends from university. Call Me by Your Name is set in 1983 in Northern Italy and tells the story of a blossoming romance between Elio Perlman, a curious Jewish-American teenager, and Oliver, a scholar working under the guidance of Elio’s father. The complexities and nuances of their relationship make for an exciting read, best enjoyed while wrapped in a cozy blanket and with access to leftover yummy baked goods from my dinner parties.
After an hour of reading the book of my choice, I pull myself from the couch and gravitate towards my bedroom, blowing out the fading candles scattered about my apartment as I go. Peeling back my sheets without looking up from the book’s dog-eared pages, I finally allow myself to get some sleep (I’ll take care of the dishes in the morning). What follows are sweet dreams filled with first kisses in flower fields, secret love affairs in the hills of Northern Italy, and scandal-filled countryside picnics.
- V.S. Girl