Other People's Love Letters: 150 Letters You Were Never Meant to See

I really enjoy this book. There is something both sweet and scandalous about the idea of reading snippets of other peoples' love letters. Each time I pick it up I find something new that I hadn't noticed the last time I read it. The imagination whirls wondering about the writers and the recipients. It's the perfect Valentines Day!

Other People's Love Letters by Bill Shapiro is a fascinating peek into love: its beginnings and endings, and the twisted path between. Shapiro, whose website has many more of these letters, asked his friends and exs for old love letters. They, in turn, asked others giving Shapiro a huge range of letters to choose from in making this book. From sweet text messages, to post divorce rants, these letters are enjoyable and insightful. It's amazing how similar letters written in the first throes of love are: you're amazing; I can't live without you. But Shapiro tried to pick letters that said something deeper and love and the human condition. It's not a book you want to read in one sitting; reading too many back to back makes them lose their potency. But taken in small doses, it's a great way to remember how good love feels in the beginning and how sweet it can be after many years. Some of my favorite letters were the ones written by married couples several years in. Shapiro includes a short epilogue with brief stories about some of the couples who wrote the letters. Reading these made the letters even more powerful, especially the one from a husband serving in Vietnam in 1969. A great read, perfect as a Valentine's Day gift; give it with your own love letter!

I bought this as a gift for a friend, but after browsing through it, was quite tempted to steal it back from her. There are some really adorable heart-warming notes, & some notes of love gone awry. Not just a book for the romantic, but for the skeptic too--some discourage and show love's pitfalls, but also many leave you terribly optimistic. I highly recommend it.

I loved reading these love letters although some of them were truly "hate" letters!! But honestly, you think you are the only one with these very strong feelings about someone you love or are infatuated with and then you read one that sounds just like you! Very ironic-we are all only human... All looking for love and to be loved unconditionally if at all possible!

Finally, a way to read other people's love letters without betraying someone you know or risking getting caught, hurt, or overcome by guilt. But the pleasure isn't simply voyeuristic. These letters pull you into the world of the writer/recipient/lover/loved (It's the experience of reading novel, but with nicer graphics and way fewer words!), but also make you reflect on your own relationships, the things you do and don't express, the complex range of feelings you have all at once, the way feelings change over time ... They run the gamut from tear-jerking to shocking to laugh-out-loud funny and represent a range of relationships at all the different stages--which makes reading them not only illuminating but also reassuring: All these people, old and young, effusive and reticent, articulate and, um, less so have experienced the intense highs and lows of new love, unrequited love, lustful love, lost love, etc. and survived (at least enough to have contributed a letter to this book). Bottom line: great read, excellent gift.