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Other People's Love Letters: 150 Letters You Were Never Meant to See | 
| Author: Bill Shapiro
Publisher: Clarkson Potter
Category: Book
List Price: $22.50
Buy New: $15.30
You Save: $7.20 (32%)
Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 7054
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 6.9 x 1
ISBN: 0307382648
Dewey Decimal Number: 392.6
EAN: 9780307382641
Publication Date: October 30, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Fevered notes scribbled on napkins after first dates. Titillating text messages. It's-not-you-it's-me relationship-enders. In Other People’s Love Letters, Bill Shapiro has searched America’s attics, closets, and cigar boxes and found actual letters–unflinchingly honest missives full of lust, provocation, guilt, and vulnerability–written only for a lover’s eyes. Modern love, of course, is not all bliss, and in these pages you’ll find the full range of a relationship, with its whispered promises as well as its heartache. But what at first appears to be a deliciously voyeuristic peek into other people’s most passionate moments, will ultimately reawaken your own desires and tenderness…because when you read these letters, you’ll find the heart you’re looking into is actually your own.
• "i think UR great. wanna have wine & Tequila again sometime?"
• "I can't believe you're real, and I think about you constantly in some way or the other all day. I haven't given the finger to anyone driving since I met you."
• "With you I learned how to fight cleaner, how to talk things out better, and how to make a strong loving family out of nothing. These are priceless gifts that I will carry with me the rest of my life. One more thing you did for me: you left, and I had to get through it."
• "P.S. I look forward to your letters too much to call. Also, where do you stand on chains?"
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 Powerful Collection ... Would Make a Great Gift November 27, 2007
42 out of 46 found this review helpful
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.
You'll find yourself in many of these stories! December 6, 2007
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
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!
Wonderful January 8, 2008
12 out of 15 found this review helpful
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.
Sweet reminder about love January 13, 2008
12 out of 16 found this review helpful
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!
Good book for artistic value... January 7, 2008
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
I thought this was a great book...however, it's not "juicy" love letters like you would expect, but more unique love letters. In some instances, you only get to see a portion of the letter instead of seeing it in it's entirety, and in other portions the letters you are reading aren't at all about love. Either way, I am a big fan of "Found" and "PostSecret" and I think this book is right up there with them and hope to see more editions.
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