St Valentine’s Day — 14 February
Mystery surrounds the origins of Valentines Day, but February has long been associated with romance.
To get into the spirit of things, we’ve put together this guide to help you find out more about Valentine’s Day and maybe even get some ideas on how to celebrate it with romantic books, movies and music.
Celebration
- Valentine’s Day
- For both those for and against Valentine’s Day: articles including the language of flowers, what Valentine’s symbols really mean, menus and movies.
- Amore on the Net
- Stories, recipes and more, from Holidays.Net.
- Valentine’s Day goodies
- Wreaths, cards and more, from Martha Stewart.
- ValentinesDayFlowers.com
- Printables, educational worksheets, crafts and more for Valentine’s Day.
Quick links
Origins and history
Not all flowers and candy: St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
- Valentine’s Day factsheet
- A quick guide to St Valentine’s Day for children.
- How Valentine’s Day Works
- Explains the origins of the celebration and modern Valentine traditions and symbols, from How Stuff Works
- The History of Valentine’s Day
- From the History.com
- Valentine’s Day
- In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved January 19, 2011, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online Library Edition
- St. Valentine and Valentine’s Day
- From Religious Tolerance website
- St. Valentine
- From Infoplease
Romantic books, movies and music
Here is a selection of books, plays, poems, and movies of a romantic inclination:
- 100 greatest love stories on film.
- The American Film Institute (AFI) in 2002 listed Casablanca as the number one romantic movie of all time. The 1942 classic starred Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
True Romance- Allegories of love from the Renaissance to the present.
- A good handful: great New Zealand poems about sex
- In this collection, sixty-nine of New Zealands most well loved poets tackle sex from every angle.
- Romeo and Juliet
- Shakespeare’s play about star crossed young lovers has appealed to romantics for over 500 years.
- Pride and Prejudice
- Jane Austen’s novels show the triumph of love, and Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet is one of the most famous pairings in literature.
- The English Patient
- Michael Ondaatje’s novel was also made into a movie starring Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas.
- My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead: Great Love Stories from Chekhov to Munro
- A wide-ranging and eclectic collection of short stories on the theme of love in its various forms: romantic, erotic, impossible, undying and exhausted.
- Barry White
- Singer Barry Whitewas variously known as the "Maestro" or "The Man with the Velvet Voice" and the "Walrus of Love". His "rich blend of bass vocals and suave, passionate delivery are said to have been an inspiration for romance".
- Favourite books on love
- A Guardian top 10 list of philosophical books about love.
Need more? We’ve got it
See the subject headings:
We also have a large collection of romance novels including the famous Mills and Boon label. For more reading suggestions try the following If You Like… guides
