A Taste of Atonement

I'm on the hunt for a good book to read. I enjoy novels that capture a piece of history, teach me something about the world, however have in them a sufficient amount of romance =)

Lately I've been feeling encaptured by an optimistic aura, a feeling that love can outcompete all difficulties and problems. I feel like nothing can ground me- I don't want to be grounded- not yet. Reality chases all around- I have exams to finish- work to attend- I don't feel like surrendering my inner self to it. Let life chase me for a change!

Here's an excerpt from Atonement, which has grown popular over the past year. This is one of my fav. parts of the novel- where the two childhood friends discover their love for eachother. Throughout the novel, their love is tested, it grows- outlasts the difficulties of the second world war. Powerful!

[ He could only repeat to himself, this time in a whisper.
"I'm sorry.."
She was moving further away, toward the corner, into deeper shadow. Even though he thought she was recoiling from him, he took another couple of steps in her direction.
"It was a stupid thing. You were never meant to read it. No one was".
Still she shrank away. One elbow was resting on the shelves, and she seemed to slide along them, as though about to disappear between the books. It was only then that it occurred to him that she might not be shrinking from him, but drawing him with her deeper into the gloom. So he walked toward her slowly as she slipped back, until she was inthe corner where she stopped and watched him approach. He too stopped less than four feet away. He was close enough now, and there was just enough light, to see she was tearful and trying to speak. For the moment it was not possible and she shook her head to indicate that he should wait. She brought herself under controld and said, "It's been there for weeks..." Her throat constricted and she had to pause. Instantly, he had an idea what she meant, but he pushed it away. She drew a deep breath, then continued more reflectively, "Perhaps it's months. I don't know. But today... all day it's been strange. Everything has looked different- too sharp, too real. Even my own hands looked different. At other times I seem to be watching events as if they happened long ago. And all day I've been furious with you- and with myself. I thought I'd be perfectly happy never seeing you again. I thought you'd go off to medical school and I'd be happy. I was so angry with you."
She gave a tense little laugh.
Until now, her gaze had been lowered. When she spoke again she looked at him. He saw only the glimmer of her eyes.
"You knew before me. Something has happened, hasn't it? And you knew before me. It's like being close up to something so large you don't see it. Even now, I'm not sure I can. But I know it's there".
She looked down and waited.
"You do know what I'm talking about. Tell me you do". She was afraid that there was nothing shared at all, that all her assumptions were wrong and that with her words she had isolated herself further, and he would think she was a fool.
He moved nearer. "I do. I know it exactly. But why are you crying? Is there something else?"
Why was she crying? How could she begin to tell him when so much emotion, so many emotions, simply engulfed her? They stared at eachother in confusion, unable to speak, sensing that something delicately established might slip from them. That they were old friends who had shared a childhood was now a barrier- they were embarassed before their former selves. For the moment there seemed no way out with words.
He put his hands on her shoulders, and her bare skin was cool to the touch...]

(.. and then enclosed in the following three pages of the book is the best intimate scene I've ever read! worth the read!- I won't spoil it :P)

Atonement- Ian McEwan