Giovanni's room

Giovanni's Room has become a litmus test for how emotionally I am in touch with myself. A book about an inability to love, an impossible relationship; for a long time I couldn't read past a few pages without my stomach in roiling knots. Last summer I could feel love, then winter came and with it as usual the clarity of grief. You can be delusional every time you go through this cycle, because romance is a shared delusion, but at one point we all have to confront the fragility and impermanence of love. Love through the lens of freedom or stability, youth or age, compatibility or incompatibility. That's what this book will give you. Every word was a gut-punch too close to home for a while. When Spring came and one could pretend the leaves were falling off their trees to greet you at exactly the right moment, I finally had the stomach to finish this heart-breaking book. Remember to tell your lover how much you love them while you still can.