Romance

Regrets? Had a few? Strains of "My Way" notwithstanding, Americans do have more than a few regrets -- and they are primarily about love. Family relations, education and career followed for the what-could-have-been crowd, a new study says. Researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne analyzed a phone survey of 370 adults who were asked to describe one thing they regretted in detail. Love and work seem to divide the sexes in the regret department.

Wow, I'm impressed. An entire page of type devoted to sex and desire in books ("A Few Words on Sex," by Dean Kuipers, June 1) that manages to avoid mentioning the only genre that has relationships between (and among) the sexes as its subject matter. If you are truly looking " ... for passages that capture real desire in all its frailty, unseared by cynicism, describing the compromised circumstances of the act while protecting the hope invested ... ," I strongly recommend you check out the contemporary romances by writers like Jayne Ann Krentz and Linda Howard.

Love is always lovelier some place other than home. Well, at least in the celluloid universe. Traveling by boat, train or even bus can lead to romantic entanglements in the movies, as does visiting über-romantic locales such as Rome, Paris and Venice. Of course, these romances may not last, or they may even end tragically - just think of poor Jack and Rose in "Titanic" - but it doesn't matter. Movie audiences crave these idealistic, sexy trysts. Here's a look at some of the best films in the romantic travel genre: All aboard!

It was the height of the Harlem Renaissance, the 1920s in New York City. The couple had found a beautiful apartment, filled with Art Deco trappings, right down to the frosted swans etched into the shower door. You've worked so hard all day, Roy told Maddie: Why don't you just take a shower and I'll make us some dinner? Then, as she stood beneath the pulsing spray, Maddie saw him in his bathrobe, through the frosted swans.

The literate adult romantic comedy is not dead, only scarce now as always. And when one comes along, it is an occasion for glad cries of joy and full houses. There are ecstatic shouts and full theaters for the Rob Reiner-Nora Ephron "When Harry Met Sally . . .," undoubtedly the literate adult romantic comedy of the year to date, linking the spirit of the great romantic comedies of Hollywood's past with the textures and realities of life in a later and less easily romantic time.

There's not much love out there for upscale single black women who have been publicly lamenting their lack of marital options. And I'm not talking love as in romance. My Saturday column about successful black women stuck on single because of a shortage of comparable black men drew plenty of response from readers, but very little sympathy. The consensus — delivered through stinging stereotypes and blunt from-the-trenches advice — went something like this, from an e-mail by Alan, a "white middle-aged man" in Woodland Hills: "Any male, black or not, would be intimidated by the loud, raucous, foul-mouthed 'braying' of so many black women.

Lord Huron has had much to celebrate in 2012, including recent appearances on "The Tonight Show" and KCRW's " Morning Becomes Eclectic ," as well as warm reviews of "Lonesome Dreams," the L.A. indie-folk outfit's debut full-length. Best of 2012:   Movies  |  TV  |  Pop music  |  Jazz  |  Video Games |  Art  |  Theater  |  Dance  |  Classical music Now the group -- led by singer-songwriter (and visual artist)