Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
My previous takes on the Valentine’s Day freebie post include: Bookish Romantic Quotes, Conversation Hearts on Book Covers, Helpful Nonfiction Books About Relationships, Books I Liked About Asexual Characters, and Books About Chocolate.
While I’m happily married, my spouse and I don’t celebrate this holiday unless you count checking the local drugstore for candy sales on February 15. (This is something I recommend no matter what your relationship status or feelings about Valentine’s Day may be! Half price candy is nothing to sneeze at if you’re in the mood for some chocolate or conversation hearts).
We’d rather stay home on Valentine’s Day, avoid the crowds, and have a nice date later on in the year when restaurants are quieter and our server has more time for all of their tables.
Luckily, romantic love is only one of the many types of love out there, so this year I will be honouring Valentine’s Day by mentioning some of my favourite books that include strong friendships. Perhaps I should call this a Galentine’s Day post instead, except that this is not going to be a women-only list!
1.Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
2. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
3. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
4. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
5. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
6. Sula by Toni Morrison
7. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
8. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
9. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
10. My Ántonia by Willa Cather
11. Little Bee by Chris Cleave
What are your favourite books that include strong platonic relationships?
Project Hail Mary is an interesting one! That relationship is the only thing that got me through all the maths 😂
Ha, there was a lot of math for sure.
Love it! And there are such great friendships in both Project Hail Mary and Lord of the Rings. I love both of those books. 😀
Thank you. 🙂
The ladyfriend and I were just talking about The Outsiders last night. Did you read That was Then, This is Now? That was my intro to Hinton.
No, I never have. I’ll see if my local library has it.
I love amazing platonic relationships and honestly, sometimes I prefer them! 😍 Project Hail Mary is high up on my TBR and I’m very excited to read it this year. Great take on the topic today, Lydia. Hope you find some great candy deals this year! 😃
Thank you. Happy reading!
I haven’t read Tolkien, but that seems like a great fit! From what I do know about those stories, it would seem like there are a lot of strong friendships in those books, which is also a relationship not to be underrated. 🙂 Thanks for visiting my list!
Yes, absolutely. And you’re welcome.
I love the friendships in Lord of the Rings so much! Everyone should have a Samwise for sure 🙂
For sure. 🙂
I love when PHM can be worked into a list!!! I think Winn and Jack from The River would fit your list…have you read it?
No, I have not, but I’m checking to see if my library has it!
The Lord of the Rings is a great choice! Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
Thank you. 🙂
the lord of the rings is a great choice. i would add sibling-love in stories and add georgia and shawn in mira grant’s Feed.
Ooh, good one!
I am 100% with you on Valentine’s Day! I’m not a fan, never have been. Now I’ve got a kid I put some effort into making a few things because any excuse to make a day more special for my kiddo is worth taking, but my husband and I still don’t fuss with it! I love your list idea, and I particularly love that Project Hail Mary is top of your list as that’s one of my all-time favourite friendships! I hope you have a great week, including some excellent half price chocolate on the weekend!
Thank you, M. I hope you come up with some fun stuff to do with your kiddo.
Great list and I love your take on this topic. I haven’t read any of these, but that’s a great list.
Thank you very much. 🙂
From your list I only read Project Hail Mary 🙂
There’s a film version of it apparently in the works!
My husband and I often get each other small token gifts for Valentine’s Day, but I agree with the day-after sales! How can you turn down half-priced treats? From your list, I’ve read and loved Fried Green Tomatoes. It’s such a great book and a pretty terrific movie.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/favorite-romances-read-in-2024/
Cool! That’s a great tradition.
My husband and I usually do something fun the day after Valentine’s Day to avoid the crowds 🙂
I love the friendships in The Lord of the Rings, especially Sam and Frodo, of course. Tuesdays with Morris makes me cry every time I read it!
Very cool. 🙂
Good topic–I’ve read the last three.
Nice.
I’ve been trying to get my son to start LoTR, but he’s hesitant due to their length. One of these days!
It’s a hefty series for sure. Hope he likes it.
I love your topic this week. So many great books about friendship! The Outsiders is a book I’ve been wanting to re-read.
Thank you. I hope you like your reread. I should do that sometime, too.
We are the same, we don’t celebrate Valentine’s day and I can’t even eat candy anymore, so I am saving money there, LOL! Great topic choice.
That’s much better for your teeth and health. 🙂 And thanks.
Yes to Project Hail Mary! One of my favorite platonic relationships! 😍
Wasn’t it great?
Nice choice of topics for this week’s freebie. We aren’t big Valentine’s Day celebraters either. Told my husband three times today not to get me anything. Our anniversary is way more important. Thanks for sharing your list and for visiting my blog.
You’re welcome. I’m glad you get it. 🙂
I was very surprised when I met my husband that he did want to do things for Valentines Day but it seems to be slipping a bit now! We’ll go for a nice lunch on Sunday this year rather than doing anything for the actual day.
Nice list and I liked your take on the topic this week.
Thank you. Those plans sound nice.
Ooh, good question! Project Hail Mary is a great choice for platonic friendship. The first books that came to mind for me were The Neapolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante.
Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart, The Other’s Gold by Elizabeth Ames, Swing Time by Zadie Smith, These Impossible Things by Salma El-Wardany are all good books I tagged as being about strong friendships in my LibraryThing catalog.
I love that you added other examples! Thank you.
Th Lord of the Rings is one the best examples of platonic love in fiction! Great pick.
Thank you. 🙂
I didn’t think of the platonic relationships I’ve read in the books. This is a great take!
Tuesdays with Morrie! I was required to read this in uni for our psych class! Love that book.
Thank you. Yes, it was a great read.
Fantastic topic and list! Amazingly, I’ve actually read ALL of your books, and I think they’re all excellent examples of great friendships in fiction. (And I heartily support the idea of shopping for discounted candy on Feb 15th, especially candy hearts!)
Yay! That’s awesome on both points.
I love when a book has a really strong friendship as the centre point. Too often it’s a background element that loses focus once the romantic lead arrives.
Yes, exactly! It’s refreshing when friendships are given room to thrive in the main storyline.
I love books that have strong friendships, especially multi-generational ones. Maybe that will be my post for next year. Great take on this freebie, Lydia. I have read a couple of these, but still haven’t read Project Hail Mary.
Thank you. Project Hail Mary has a film coming out based on it next year, so it will be cool to compare the two. 🙂
Galentine’s post is brilliant!! Literally, the friendships are pretty much what make LoTR. If not for Sam, they would all have been screwed. haha. It’s such a good one!
Thank you. And exactly. 🙂
Project Hail Mary has one of the greatest friendships!
Absolutely.
I really like this list, Lydia. Platonic relationships are what keep me sane, and I’m guessing I’m probably not the only person to feel that way. I actually prefer reading about a great platonic relationship more than reading romantic love. I always like to check in with my friends on V-Day to wish them a happy Galentine’s day, so this is a topic that I’m going to be taking right to my TBR.
Thank you, Leah. And, yeah, that’s my preference, too!
I look forward to reading your Galentine’s Day post if or when you might write your own. Happy reading and happy belated Galentine’s Day. 🙂
The Lord of the Rings really has awesome friendships!
My husband and I also don’t celebrate this day. Too many people eating out and we don’t really like crowds.
I’m glad you get it!
I love your topic choice!! And Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop is perfect!
Such a classic. 🙂
Ahaha I love the tip about candy on sale, I see you! I love looking for sale candy after Halloween yet it never occurred to me to check for some after Valentine’s!
I love that your list is about Platonic love, as it’s worth celebrating too and often gets left behind! I love the Friendship in LOTR and Never Let Me Go is on my TBR!
My TTT:
https://darkshelfofwonders.com/ttt-valentines-freebie-sweet-spicy-playlist/
heh, thank you. I hope you found something delicious and I’m glad you also value platonic love.
I recently bought Project Hail Mary as a gift for someone. I’m not familiar with it, but they had it on their wishlist. Also, who doesn’t love discounted candy?
Ooh, I hope they love it! The film version is scheduled to come out in March of 2026 from what I’ve heard and I’m super excited about that.
I hate going on Valentine’s Day. My husband does spoil me a bit, but mostly it’s a regular day for us. I love your list. So many great and memorable friendships, even memorable than a lot of well known fictional romance pairings. I’ve read many of the novels you feature here and couldn’t agree more. Now I want to read the books I haven’t read yet to get to know those characters more. Thank you for sharing!
You’re quite welcome. I hope you had a nice Valentine’s Day whatever you and your husband decided to do for it.
It makes me very happy to see Project Hail Mary on your list! 🙂
Yay!
Great topic choice. Most languages have names for various types of love but us English speakers have to describe the love. With that being said platonic love can be very endearing. The Outsiders is a good choice for the list.
I wish English had more words to describe the different types love. 🙂