Report on February 15 meeting at La Misha's:

Books discussed included:

• Delta of Venus by Anais Nin
• The May Trees by Annie Dillard
• Virgin: The Untouched History by Hanne Blank
• The Collected Works of Jane Austen
• The Poems of Robert Burns
• The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart by Alice Walker

Warm wooden floors, dim lighting, soft chairs, fresh food and wine, plenty of chocolate- why should all the good stuff only be available on Valentines Day? We trouped into the welcoming warmth of La Misha's from the icy late afternoon rain- and settled in for a cozy evening of opinions, ideas and intimate confessions. Eventually, even the owner of the bistro leaned over the table and confessed that her first kiss was not what she expected. Topics remained relatively literary, ranging from how much noise would actually be produced during an orgy for 20 people through the possibility/impossibility of "absolute love." We also considered time travel in order to meet up with lost loves, the nature of romantic poetry and whether people are genetically fated for their sexual choices.

Possible conclusions reached:

• Love is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species. ~W. Somerset Maugham
• Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit. ~Tolstoy
• We loved with a love that was more than love. ~Edgar Allan Poe
• Love is much nicer to be in than an automobile accident, a tight girdle, a higher tax bracket or a holding pattern over Philadelphia. ~Judith Viorst