Once again, NPR's Books We Love Project has rounded up hundreds of book recommendations

from critics, writers, and NPR journalists to try to give you just the read you're looking

for.

Today, we're going to talk about one of my personal favorite classes of books, The Love

Story.

I'm Linda Holmes, and today we're talking about Books We Love About Love on Pop Culture

Happy Hour from NPR.

Joining me today is Lauren McGockey. She's a producer for NPR Ed and a while back.

You know this. If you go back with us a long way, she was a very early producer for Pop

Culture Happy Hour. Hey Lauren, welcome back. Hey Linda.

We've all grown so much. We'll have to play some sentimental graduation songs.

So NPR's Books We Love Project used to be called the Book Concierge, but whatever you

call it, it is a great way to find a book for any occasion, any reader, any set of tastes

and interests. It is a labor of love and literacy put together by a wonderful team dedicated

this year to our dear friend and colleague NPR Books Editor Petra Mayer, who died in November.

And one of the tags they used to help you find books is called Love Stories. You probably

know what those are. Lauren, you are a producer after my own heart. You picked several books

from this category. Tell me about your first pick.

Yeah, it was a big romance year for me. So to kick us off, I'm going to give you a book called

A Lot Like Adios by Alexis Daria. It tells the story of two childhood besties, Michelle and

Gabe. They were next door neighbors and as teens, they wrote fan fiction of this Latinx

sci-fi show over AOL Instant Messenger. Wow. And so one night after high school graduation,

...