Romance

Is fiction good for us? We spend huge chunks of our lives immersed in novels, films, TV shows, and other forms of fiction. Some see this as a positive thing, arguing that made-up stories cultivate our mental and moral development. But others have argued that fiction is mentally and ethically corrosive. It's an ancient question: Does fiction build the morality of individuals and societies, or does it break it down? This controversy has been flaring up — sometimes literally, in the form of book burnings — ever since Plato tried to ban fiction from his ideal republic.

Chris Harrison has seen a lot of roses. As host of ABC's "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette," the 40-year-old has a front-row seat as an eligible man or woman looking for "the one" is wooed by 25 suitors (often with the help of alcohol, over-the-top dates, a hot tub or occasional sleepover). In a recent interview, Harrison said his favorite romances in the 16-season history of "The Bachelor" and eight seasons of "The Bachelorette" are Trista and Ryan Sutter and Emily Maynard and Brad Womack.

In 1930, the Totem Pole Ballroom opened at Norumbega Park on the Charles River. It was the place to hear big-band music, dance, go on a first date - and, if things worked out, get engaged. The park opened in 1897 with lions, leopards, a merry-go-round, restaurant, and vaudeville theater. It all ended in the ’60s, except for a small piece of the park which is conservation land, and if you look really hard, you can see remnants of some rides. Sunday’s “Norumbega Park: Romance and Recreation on the River’’ walking tour will bring you back with old photos and drawings.

E.L. James' "Fifty Shades of Grey" trilogy, a word-of-mouth romance smash so erotic it's sometimes labeled "mommy porn," has been signed up by a paperback division of Random House Inc. Vintage Books announced Saturday that it had acquired the three books — "Fifty Shades of Grey," "Fifty Shades Darker" and "Fifty Shades Freed. " E-book editions will be out Monday and paperbacks are expected in early April. The novels had been distributed by an Australia-based publisher, the Writer's Coffee Shop Publishing House.

Tête-à-Tête: Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre , By Hazel Rowley, HarperCollins, 416 pp., illus., $26.95 Hazel Rowley has written a very good book about two dreadful people. "Tête-à-Tête" is an in-depth, unflinching account of that existential "it" couple, Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre. Chronicling one of the more controversial romances of the last century takes a bit of authorial sang-froid. Not only have countless other writers mused about Sartre and de Beauvoir's long, strange affair, but the subjects themselves were compulsively explaining...

E.L. James' "Fifty Shades of Grey" trilogy, a word-of-mouth romance smash so erotic it's sometimes labeled "mommy porn," has been signed up by a paperback division of Random House Inc. Vintage Books announced Saturday that it had acquired the three books — "Fifty Shades of Grey," "Fifty Shades Darker" and "Fifty Shades Freed. " E-book editions will be out Monday and paperbacks are expected in early April. The novels had been distributed by an Australia-based publisher, the Writer's Coffee Shop Publishing House.

My wife and I have two young children, which usually does for romance what potato chips do for fitness. But like all conscientious parents, we read Good Housekeeping headlines while standing in line at the grocery store, and thus stay current on the latest parenting research, which tells us that sustaining our own love is critical to raising well-adjusted children. With this in mind, my wife and I have come to an important realization: When you have young kids, you have to recalibrate your romance radar so that it registers a whole host of things as “romantic” that wouldn’t have seemed romantic before.

SALISBURY, Conn. -- We stumbled across the White Hart Inn in a roundup of romantic lodgings published last February and reasoned that even though we were looking for a foliage stopover in the southern Berkshires rather than a Valentine's hideaway, romance knows no season. Indeed, like beauty, romance is in the eye of the beholder, and our eyes were certainly happy when we spied the rambling white inn perched at the head of the village green here and basking in the orange glow of maples at peak color.

NEW YORK - With an out-of-work husband and two children to support, Christine Mead needs a cheap - and uplifting - break from life. So lately she's been escaping into sweet and heartening stories of love and passion, where heroines overcome insurmountable obstacles to find their happiness. "I am left with a satisfied feeling at the end of a good book, a feeling of hope that all can, and will, be OK," said Mead, who lives in the small town of Festus, Mo., and suffers from fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis.

That "Chico & Rita" was Oscar-nominated for best animated feature this year says more about the lure of exotica and a weak crop of home-grown entries than anything about the film's quality per se. A likable but cliched star-crossed romance set along the post-WWII Havana-New York jazz axis, the Spanish-made film features terrific music, passable artwork, and characters who stubbornly refuse to become more than sketches. It's great that the pioneering distributor GKIDS is bringing offshore animation for families and grown-ups alike to Americans' attention, but a...

That "Chico & Rita" was Oscar-nominated for best animated feature this year says more about the lure of exotica and a weak crop of home-grown entries than anything about the film's quality per se. A likable but cliched star-crossed romance set along the post-WWII Havana-New York jazz axis, the Spanish-made film features terrific music, passable artwork, and characters who stubbornly refuse to become more than sketches. It's great that the pioneering distributor GKIDS is bringing offshore animation for families and grown-ups alike to Americans' attention, but a must-see this isn't.

Romance does not always arrive gift-wrapped like a box of chocolates, and seasoned travelers may prefer it that way. Our writers share their adventures of the heart. OF A WATERFALL, LONGING - AND GENEROSITY Bash Bish Falls in Mount Washington, near the New York and Connecticut borders, plunges 60 feet to a deep pool. When my wife and I hiked in one morning, we met a woman in her 70s who recounted the tale of an Indian maiden who dove over the falls rather than be captured by pursuing trappers.

A funny thing happened to Sara Bareilles on the road to stardom in 2007. She wrote "Love Song" all about not wanting to write one just to appease her record label with a big hit. And then the song actually became a huge hit. It was a wry commentary on how we still want and expect to hear love songs, especially on the radio. Few subjects in music sound as sweet as matters of the heart. Of course, we all define the form differently. Is it a celebration of all the ways love is grand (the Beatles, "I Want to Hold Your Hand")

HANOVER - Romance is the unlikely background for the White Barn, a humble utilitarian structure that's now stored in pieces in a trailer at the local Department of Public Works. The building's history begins with a love story, sort of a Romeo and Juliet tale with a happy ending. It begins with Cornelius White, grandson of Peregrine White, who was born on the Mayflower. Cornelius was a wealthy shipbuilder who operated the ferry in Humarock, on the Scituate-Marshfield town line, and had a son named Benjamin, according to a history written by Hanover Historical Society...

Looking for a romantic winter getaway? Cross the red covered bridge into a world of charm and indulgence. Stay in comfortable and elegant inns after cross-country or downhill skiing in the high country near Mount Washington about three hours north of Boston. Take a warming hot tub soak and follow with a massage. Then head out for quick bite, some family favorites, or a classic dining experience. STAY Stroll across the wraparound porch and into the Inn at Thorn Hill (Thorn Hill Road, 603-383-4242, www.innatthornhill.com, $169-$440 including...

By Paul E. Kandarian, Globe Correspondent If you find yourself near a Sofitel, a world-wide chain of luxury hotels, around Valentine's Day, you can snag a deal with the Sofitel Magnifique Romance package, which runs until the end of February and includes a discount room rate, chocolate of flowers upon arrival, a bottle of champagne, in-room breakfast and late check out. Among the properties featuring the package: Sofitel, Washington,...

"Definitely, Maybe" is the kind of Hollywood romantic comedy the studios usually louse up, except this time they didn't. The movie's not an artistic breakthrough. It won't be on anybody's 10-best list at the end of the year. But it's agreeable and engaging and real enough in the right smallish ways, and it has an emotional maturity at odds with the high-grade plastic from which it's constructed. Maybe writer-director Adam Brooks has made a fluffy Woody Allen pastiche here, but it's arguably more pleasing than anything Allen himself has done lately.

With each failed relationship comes debris, souvenirs of love that did not work that must be either returned, destroyed, or forgotten: his baby blue sweater, her copy of "Love in the Time of Cholera," his plans for the holidays, her promises for the future. Breakups can be messy, ridiculous, and, particularly for teenagers, devastating. In his first book for young adults, Daniel Handler, also known as author Lemony Snicket of the "Series of Unfortunate Events" novels, shows how they can be poetic as well.

This may sound like a heartless thought, but Valentine's Day is tough on the wallet. Even if you skip buying bling for your beloved, the standard flowers and romantic dinner out can be a blow to your budget just when you're recovering from end of the year holiday spending. Consumers are expected to spend an average of $126 on gifts and treats for loved ones, up from $116 a year ago, according to the National Retail Federation. As a couple, should you risk wrecking the mood by talking about spending and money, on or just before a day dedicated to lovers?

As anyone who has fallen in - or out of - love knows, love is a complex emotion. It can make us dreamy and obsessive, bathe us in peace, and shake us with protective anger. It can blind us to the smell of diapers and inure us to the quirks of adults. Researchers have searched in vain for a love "spot" in the brain, a single area that lights up in a scanner when someone imagines his or her beloved. Instead, what little we know suggests that love involves many parts of the brain and a complex interplay of hormones.