The Book of Love - by Roger Rosenblatt (Paperback)

About the Book

The beloved New York Times bestselling author Making Toast and Kayak Morning returns with a powerful meditation on a universal subject: love.

In The Book of Love, Roger Rosenblatt explores love in all its moods and variations romantic love, courtship, battle, mystery, marriage, heartbreak, fury, confusion, melancholy, delirium, ecstasy; love of family, of friends; love of home, of country, of work, of writing, of solitude, of art; love of nature; love of life itself.

Rosenblatt is on a quest to illuminate this elusive and essential emotion, to define this thing called love. Cleverly using lines from love songs to create a flowing ballad as infectious and engaging as a jazz riff he intersperses fictional vignettes that capture lovers in different situations, ages, and temperaments along with notes addressed to you, his wife of fifty years. The story I have to tell is of you. Of others, too. Other people, other things. But mainly of you. It begins and ends with you. It always comes back to you.

Lively yet profound, poignant yet joyous, The Book of Love is a triumph of intellect and imagination: a personal discourse on love that is both novel and timeless."

Book Synopsis

The beloved New York Times bestselling author Making Toast and Kayak Morning returns with a powerful meditation on a universal subject: love.

In The Book of Love, Roger Rosenblatt explores love in all its moods and variations--romantic love, courtship, battle, mystery, marriage, heartbreak, fury, confusion, melancholy, delirium, ecstasy; love of family, of friends; love of home, of country, of work, of writing, of solitude, of art; love of nature; love of life itself.

Rosenblatt is on a quest to illuminate this elusive and essential emotion, to define this thing called love. Cleverly using lines from love songs to create a flowing ballad--as infectious and engaging as a jazz riff--he intersperses fictional vignettes that capture lovers in different situations, ages, and temperaments along with notes addressed to "you," his wife of fifty years. "The story I have to tell is of you. Of others, too. Other people, other things. But mainly of you. It begins and ends with you. It always comes back to you."

Lively yet profound, poignant yet joyous, The Book of Love is a triumph of intellect and imagination: a personal discourse on love that is both novel and timeless.

From the Back Cover

from roger rosenblatt, author of the acclaimed memoirs making toast, kayak morning, and the boy detective, comes another lyrical meditation on--and celebration of--a universal and elusive subject

In The Book of Love, Roger Rosenblatt looks at love in all its themes and variations--romantic love, courtship, marriage, battle, heartbreak, fury, confusion, melancholy, beauty, delirium, ecstasy; love of lovers, family, friends, of country, of work, writing, solitude, of art; love of nature; love of life itself.

Using lines from love songs to create a kind of verbal jazz riff, as infectious as it is engaging, Rosenblatt intersperses thoughts about love and fictional vignettes that capture a variety of lovers in different situations with notes addressed to "you," his wife of fifty years. "The story I have to tell is of you. Of others, too. Other people, other things. But mainly of you. It begins and ends with you. It always comes back to you." Pieces follow upon one another in a continuous progression, as if composing one long song that flows through the entire mystery and magic of what it means to love and be in love. What is this thing called love? Lively yet profound, poignant yet joyous, The Book of Love is a triumph of intellect and imagination.

"Forget the flowers and candy. This year's ultimate Valentine's Day treat is Roger Rosenblatt's impressionistic riff on what makes the heart beat faster." --O, The Oprah Magazine

Review Quotes

While plenty of writers have tried their hand at capturing the improvisational brilliance of jazz, with varying degrees of success, Rosenblatt's wanderings with the subject of love are like Coltrane at the Village Vanguard. When you hear it, you know." -- Kirkus Reviews

"[This book] could probably be read in one sitting, but it's too clever, and it dashes here and there, and for many such reasons, it's a book to savor. Moreover, it can be opened and read at nearly any point. For Rosenblatt--wittily, urbanely, wholeheartedly--is in love... -- Booklist

"Forget the flowers and candy. This year's ultimate Valentine's Day treat is Roger Rosenblatt's impressionistic riff on what makes the heart beat faster." -- O, the Oprah Magazine

"Who wrote The Book of Love? This month, it's Roger Rosenblatt; by interspersing romantic verses with personal and fictional vignettes, he composes a symphony of amore." -- Elissa Schappell, Vanity Fair

"Interweaving short reflections with notes to his wife of 50 years, Rosenblatt crafts a colorful riff on love in all its forms." -- Good Housekeeping

"Just in time for Valentine's Day, Rosenblatt (The Boy Detective) uses lines from love songs to riff on everybody's favorite subject." -- USA Today, New and Noteworthy-Lead Pick

"Brimming with lyrical musings and offering uniquely experiential perspectives, THE BOOK OF LOVE is delightfully inventive, imaginative and deep." -- Bookreporter.com

"By opening up his own heart and mind, Rosenblatt creates a work so diverse and comprehensive that it feels more like a shared dream than merely an intricately written reflection of one man's life and loves." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)