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Libraries in Norfolk are encouraging people to use their local libraries and take better care of themselves in February 2009 as they celebrate Love Your Library - Love Yourself month.

Library visitors will be encouraged to take a little time out from the stresses and strains of modern life by sampling relaxation therapies, take part in village walks, learn the art of growing their own vegetables, and even get fit using the Nintendo Wii Fit game.

Celebrate the relationship

"People often tell us how much they love their local library," said Jennifer Holland, head of libraries at Norfolk County Council.

"With Valentine's Day, February is the perfect time to celebrate this relationship and encourage even more people to enjoy their local library service and learn about different ways to keep healthy and happy."

The Library Service ran the campaign in 2008 and it proved so popular that in 2009 they decided to expand it.

"Love Your Libraries in 2008 was based around health and well-being and was a real success. In 2009 we are sticking with the theme and holding even more events that we think have a broad appeal," said Jennifer.

Book prescriptions

As well as events taking place in your local library, Norfolk County Council's Library Service and the Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust are continuing with the 'book prescription' scheme they started in 2008.

The service allows patients who are experiencing mild anxiety and depression to be prescribed appropriate books and CDs, which are available at libraries.

All the resources have been recommended by health workers who have seen how useful they can be in helping people make changes to their lives.

"Initiatives like this offer a real opportunity to support their local community by providing evidence based information. It can really make a difference to people's lives," said Sarah Robson, deputy director of governance and nursing at the Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust.

Read these Valentine's treats

Romantic reading

Reading can be a great way of de-stressing and, at this time of year, what better book to read than one full of romance.

Charlene Brookes, materials manager at the Norfolk And Norwich Millennium Library recommends the following top five Valentine reads at your local library:

• Love Letters of Great Men by Ursula Doyle (ISBN: 0230739466 Poetry, Drama & Criticism)

Summary: From the private papers of Mark Twain and Mozart, to those of Robert Browning and Nelson, Love Letters of Great Men collects together some of the most romantic letters in history.

• The Love of My Life by Louise Douglas (ISBN 0330453580Μύ Fiction

Summary: Olivia and Luca Felicone elope to London, breaking the hearts of those closest to them. Then, Olivia's life is shattered when Luca is killed in a road accident. When a chance meeting with Luca's twin brother, Marc, leads to the realization that he is experiencing a loss almost as painful as her own, they are drawn into an affair.

• The Rules of Love: A Personal Code for Happier, More Fulfilling Relationships by Richard Templar (ISBN 0137149964 Non-fiction)

Love makes us happy, and the happier we are, the longer it seems we tend to live. In this book, the rules of love are revealed, so you too can benefit from the simple principles of forming and sustaining strong, enduring and ultimately, life enhancing relationships.

• What I Did for Love by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (ISBN 0061719846 Fiction)

Georgie York, once the co-star of America's favourite television sitcom, has been publicly abandoned by her famous husband. Her film career has tanked, her father is driving her crazy, and her public image as a spunky heroine is taking a serious beating.

What should a down-on-her-luck actress do? Not go to Vegas . . . not run into her detestable former co-star, dreamboat-from-hell Bramwell Shepard . . . and not get caught up in an ugly incident that leads to a calamitous elopement. Before she knows it, Georgie has a fake marriage, a fake husband, and maybe (or not) a fake sex life.

• Love in a Headscarf: Muslim woman seeks the 'One' by Shelina Zahra Janmohamed (ISBN 1845134281 Biography)

Young British Muslim Shelina Janmohamed chose to take the traditional 'arranged' route to finding a partner, despite having liberal parents and plenty of Western friends.

This book charts her ten-year journey to find Mr Right, Muslim style, with plenty of soul-searching, heartache, laughter and learning experiences along the way.

Love Your Library - Love Yourself

Classic romance

If you prefer your romance populated by swarthy, brooding men, swooning socialites in corsets and social snobbery, then the Romantic Novelists' Association has a few suggestions for you to look up in your local library.

They conducted a poll to find the most romantic book of all time. It was voted for by authors of romantic fiction (they should know a thing or two!) and the results will please lovers of classic literature.

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Heroine Elizabeth Bennet shows the folly of judging by first impressions with the help of the dashing Mr Darcy. Austen evokes the friendships, gossip and snobberies of provincial middle-class life.

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre endures a life of hardship until she becomes a governess and meets Rochester. However, the discovery of his terrible secret forces her to make a choice. Should she stay with him and live with the consequences, or follow her convictions, even if it means leaving the man she loves?

• Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

First published in 1936, this book is a historical novel set against the dramatic backdrop of the American Civil War. It tells the love story of Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler and was made into a classic film.

• Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

The unnamed narrator's life looks very bleak until she meets Maxim de Winter, a handsome widower whose sudden proposal of marriage takes her by surprise.

She accepts, but whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to the ominous and brooding Manderley, the new Mrs de Winter finds Max a changed man. The memory of his dead wife Rebecca hangs over the home.

• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

As darkness falls, a man caught in a snowstorm is forced to shelter at the strange, grim house Wuthering Heights. There he will come to learn the story of Cathy and the murderous and brooding Heathcliff. He learns how love can transgress authority, convention, even death. And how desire can kill.