“We spent the next two years courting each other with words—our own, but also those of any writer we thought might impress. We certainly weren’t the first to go this route. But like every romance, and every reading list, it felt like our own. The question “What are you reading?” became a convenient excuse to chat when we spotted each other online, to send links, to write long, complicated letters in which the subtext was always desire.”
- Love Stories, Phoebe Connelly
It’s still the only excuse to start a conversation “What are you reading?” “What are you watching?” and when separation/space/time bears heavy a quick email “ZOMG! I know you’ll love this” with the link attached. But the subtext is always desire, longing- For conversation, for glimpses into the each others lives and for holding out hope that someday we’ll back where we started.