Good Love Stories Wanted

A little background on this post: a friend and I were talking about books last night. She happens to have a penchant for love stories and is looking for an interesting one. Being a nerd wannabe, I tried (operative word: tried) to recommend some books I’ve read and realized I was struggling and could only think of a handful of books. And, they’re not even straight out ‘romance’ novels. I was never the cheesy type, anyway.

Love daw makes the world go round. Somehow, though, I can’t seem to find a good love story in novels nowadays. Define ‘good’ you say. Good as in (1) the characters are individuals who are not highly dependent on each other; they have separate things going on (read: no Twilight, please), and (2) affection is expressed subtly yet the reader swoons even with the subtlety (declarations of crazy love on every page is unnecessary; again no Twilight and Nicholas Sparks). Examples, you say. Okay, here are non-nausea invoking literary couples:

• Marius and Cosette (Les Miserables)
• Claire Ann Abshire and Henry de Tamble (The Time Traveller's Wife): Okay, a friend told me this book turned her nearly diabetic. However, I found it delightful how Henry discovers each milestone of their story (i.e. how he and Claire met, why there's a scar on Claire's right side, etc.) I liked how events unfolded un-chronologically and I liked how, in some way or form, it's a coming-of-age story as much as it is a love story between Claire and Henry.
• Robbie and Cecilia (Atonement)
• Rob and Laura (High Fidelity): Classic Nick Hornby; a couple who has the same real-life problems you can relate to.
• Dr. Juvenal Urbino and Fermina Urbino (Love in the Time of Cholera): Sorry Florentino Ariza fans.
• Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo): With Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara in mind heehee
• Fat Charlie and Daisy (Anansi Boys)
• Paul and Lexy (Dogs of Babel): heads-up this is a sad story
• Jubilo and Lucha (Swift as Desire)

Anyone you want to add to the list? :)