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Left your heart in San Francisco? According to Amazon.com, you might be able to find it in Alexandria, Va. Or, if you prefer someplace a bit warmer, Miami, Gainesville, or Berkeley.

Amazon has put together a list of the country’s 20 most romantic cities by looking at the per capita sales of romance novels, sex and relationship books, sexual wellness products, romantic comedy DVDs, and—of course—Barry White CDs. So which cities make the list? Check it out:

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What will happen when there are no more good books left to read or discuss? The New Yorker’s book blog, The Book Bench, may have given us a glimpse tonight.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, The New Yorker liveblogged The Bachelor. Seriously.

(Sure, it’s almost Valentine’s Day and one of the liveblogging participants was John Bowe, the author of Us: Americans Talk About Love, but still.)

Image by Ian Wilson via Flickr

Like many people, Gretchen Rubin finds pleasure in books—reading them, writing them, and making them. So the lawyer-turned-writer put “finding more time to read” high on her list of resolutions when she set out to increase her personal happiness, a journey she writes about in her new book The Happiness Project.

While many people squeeze in some reading before bed, this isn’t the case for Rubin, who explains on her blog, “I’m sleepy. My mind wanders. I keep thinking of things I should do before I turn out the light, so I keep jumping out of bed. It just doesn’t seem like ‘real’ reading.”

Earlier this week, Rubin posted 12 tips for reading more on her blog. Among my favorites:

1. Quit reading. I used to pride myself on finishing every book I started. No more. Life is short. There are too many wonderful books to read.

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By most accounts, Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson is having the worst season of his professional basketball career. He has played just 16 games due to an arthritic knee and was cut by the Memphis Grizzlies early in the season before being picked up by the Sixers.

Yet, thanks to fans’ votes, Iverson has landed a coveted spot in the starting lineup for the NBA All-Star Game this February. And he’s actually considering playing in the game.

Writer Sherman Alexie thinks this is a terrible move on Iverson’s part. So terrible, in fact, that he wrote a poem about it and sent it to ESPN. The poem, titled “Brotherly Love,” follows:

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Cover of The Catcher in the Rye

Just how influential was J.D. Salinger, who died yesterday? The almost instant response online is pretty telling:

NPR’s Linda Holmes recalls some of the pop culture allusions to Salinger’s novel Catcher in the Rye, including references in Annie Hall, the Wedding Crashers, Family Guy, and songs by Guns ‘N Roses and Billy Joel.

And on Twitter and Facebook, fans have comes out in droves to share favorite quotes and remember the author’s influence on their lives:

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