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 Rosenblattwittily, urbanely, wholeheartedlyis 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)
Interweaving short reflections with notes to his wife of 50 years, Rosenblatt crafts a colorful riff on love in all its forms.
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.
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.
[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 Rosenblattwittily, urbanely, wholeheartedlyis in love…
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Rosenblatt (The Boy Detective) uses lines from love songs to riff on everybody’s favorite subject.
Brimming with lyrical musings and offering uniquely experiential perspectives, THE BOOK OF LOVE is delightfully inventive, imaginative and deep.
[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…
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Rosenblatt (The Boy Detective) uses lines from love songs to riff on everybody’s favorite subject.
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.
2014-11-20
An improvisational, personal meditation on the subject of love. The concept of love can be tricky to pin down. Many definitions include a variation on the feeling of passion—something powerful, inflamed, wild, difficult to control and all-consuming. Intensity, desire and enthusiasm are common to feeling love for something or someone. In this warm, musical exploration on love, Rosenblatt (English and Writing/Stony Brook Univ.; The Boy Detective: A New York Childhood, 2013, etc.) wanders down all of those paths, but he spends extra time examining the idea of being in love. He begins with a story about the Chinese inventing the clock and it being stored away in the emperor's vaults, forgotten. When sailors from France arrived 400 years later with their new invention—the clock—their Chinese hosts were amazed, having never seen anything quite so wonderful. More than 100 pages pass before Rosenblatt tips his hand—"You don't forget something important to you unless it isn't important"—only to show that his cards won't reveal answers, except for the ones we already know but require a new perspective to see. If that sounds vague in an off-putting way, worry not; there's all manner of insight to be found, packed neatly into fewer than 200 pages. Rosenblatt pulls from popular culture, mythology and anecdotal stories to create a mural that is both wide-ranging and focused. "I sympathize with people who seek to create a unity of thought and emotion out of disorder," he writes, "but I also believe that trying to fit parts into a whole makes each component smaller, less interesting and inauthentic." 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.