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love

  1. Displays of Affection Jean-Jacques Sempe A charming illustrated chronicle of people falling in and out of love, on bikes, from iconic French cartoonist Sempé.

    Displays of Affection

    Jean-Jacques Sempe

    A charming illustrated chronicle of people falling in and out of love, on bikes, from iconic French cartoonist Sempé.
  2. Hell Hath No Fury: Women’s Letters from the End of the Affair Anna Holmes “I just love as much as I did when I landed into your disappointed arms, that means with my whole self and all my dirty heart; I cannot do less.” ~ Simone de Beauvoir

    Hell Hath No Fury: Women’s Letters from the End of the Affair

    Anna Holmes

    “I just love as much as I did when I landed into your disappointed arms, that means with my whole self and all my dirty heart; I cannot do less.” ~ Simone de Beauvoir
  3. Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar Cheryl Strayed “The useless days will add up to something….These things are your becoming.” When an anonymous advice columnist by the name of “Dear Sugar” introduced herself on The Rumpus on March 11, 2010, she made her proposition clear: a “by-the-book common sense of Dear Abby and the earnest spiritual cheesiness of Cary Tennis and the butt-pluggy irreverence of Dan Savage and the closeted Upper East Side nymphomania of Miss Manners.” But in the two-some years that followed, she proceeded to deliver something tenfold punchier, more honest, more existentially profound than even such an intelligently irreverent promise could foretell.

    Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar

    Cheryl Strayed

    “The useless days will add up to something….These things are your becoming.”

    When an anonymous advice columnist by the name of “Dear Sugar” introduced herself on The Rumpus on March 11, 2010, she made her proposition clear: a “by-the-book common sense of Dear Abby and the earnest spiritual cheesiness of Cary Tennis and the butt-pluggy irreverence of Dan Savage and the closeted Upper East Side nymphomania of Miss Manners.” But in the two-some years that followed, she proceeded to deliver something tenfold punchier, more honest, more existentially profound than even such an intelligently irreverent promise could foretell.
  4. The Origins of Sex: A History of the First Sexual Revolution Faramerz Dabhoiwala A formidably research, absorbing, eloquent account of how, contrary to the modern mythology of the 1960s, today’s permissive sexual behavior first developed, seemingly suddenly, some three hundred years earlier, in 17th-century Western Europe. What emerges is a new lens for understanding the Enlightenment as a cultural phenomenon, by connecting this critical sexual transformation to the intellectual, political, and social forces that shaped the period.

    The Origins of Sex: A History of the First Sexual Revolution

    Faramerz Dabhoiwala

    A formidably research, absorbing, eloquent account of how, contrary to the modern mythology of the 1960s, today’s permissive sexual behavior first developed, seemingly suddenly, some three hundred years earlier, in 17th-century Western Europe. What emerges is a new lens for understanding the Enlightenment as a cultural phenomenon, by connecting this critical sexual transformation to the intellectual, political, and social forces that shaped the period.
  5. Rilke and Andreas-Salomé: A Love Story in Letters Rainer Maria Rilke “Now I come to you full of future. And from habit we begin to live our past.” Rilke’s love letters to and from the Russian-born writer, intellectual, psychoanalyst, and “muse of Europe’s fin-de-siècle thinkers and artists” Lou Andreas-Salomé, a remarkable correspondence spanning more than 30 years.

    Rilke and Andreas-Salomé: A Love Story in Letters

    Rainer Maria Rilke

    “Now I come to you full of future. And from habit we begin to live our past.”

    Rilke’s love letters to and from the Russian-born writer, intellectual, psychoanalyst, and “muse of Europe’s fin-de-siècle thinkers and artists” Lou Andreas-Salomé, a remarkable correspondence spanning more than 30 years.
  6. Sex and Punishment: Four Thousand Years of Judging Desire Eric Berkowitz Writer and lawyer Eric Berkowitz explores the millennia-long quest to regulate and mandate one of the strongest drivers of human behavior, and the tragic deformities that result from the dictatorship of external authority over the most intimate of inner realities. Tracing how we went from the male bonding ceremonies commonly performed in medieval Mediterranean churches to the lesbian executions in 18th-century Germany, along the entire spectrum of cultural attitudes towards mistresses, goat-lovers, prostitutes, medieval transvestites, adulterers, and other sexual norm nonconformists, Berkowitz brings an eye-opening lens to one the most mercilessly judged yet universal aspects of being human.

    Sex and Punishment: Four Thousand Years of Judging Desire

    Eric Berkowitz

    Writer and lawyer Eric Berkowitz explores the millennia-long quest to regulate and mandate one of the strongest drivers of human behavior, and the tragic deformities that result from the dictatorship of external authority over the most intimate of inner realities. Tracing how we went from the male bonding ceremonies commonly performed in medieval Mediterranean churches to the lesbian executions in 18th-century Germany, along the entire spectrum of cultural attitudes towards mistresses, goat-lovers, prostitutes, medieval transvestites, adulterers, and other sexual norm nonconformists, Berkowitz brings an eye-opening lens to one the most mercilessly judged yet universal aspects of being human.
  7. Love is Walking Hand In Hand (Peanuts) Charles M. Schulz “Love is letting him win even though you know you could slaughter him.” “Love is sharing your popcorn.” “Love is standing in a doorway just to see her if she comes walking by.” “Love is being happy knowing that she’s happy… but that isn’t so easy.” The Peanuts gang defines love through the simple acts and moments of everyday life, 1965.

    Love is Walking Hand In Hand (Peanuts)

    Charles M. Schulz

    “Love is letting him win even though you know you could slaughter him.”

    “Love is sharing your popcorn.”

    “Love is standing in a doorway just to see her if she comes walking by.”

    “Love is being happy knowing that she’s happy… but that isn’t so easy.”

    The Peanuts gang defines love through the simple acts and moments of everyday life, 1965.
  8. Missed Connections: Love, Lost & Found Sophie Blackall Since 2009, illustrator extraordinaire Sophie Blackall has been capturing Craigslist missed connections in her delightful illustrations and unmistakable style of Chinese ink and watercolor, brimming with charm, romanticism and soft whimsy. Here, she collects the best of these poetic visual what-if love stories, each told in a shorthand “missed connection” ranging from the lyrical (I Gave You My Umbrella but the Wrong Directions) to the warm-and-fuzzy (We Shared a Bear Suit) to the shared love of the tragicomic (Ice Skating in Central Park We Collided). See some of the beautiful illustrations at the link.

    Missed Connections: Love, Lost & Found

    Sophie Blackall

    Since 2009, illustrator extraordinaire Sophie Blackall has been capturing Craigslist missed connections in her delightful illustrations and unmistakable style of Chinese ink and watercolor, brimming with charm, romanticism and soft whimsy. Here, she collects the best of these poetic visual what-if love stories, each told in a shorthand “missed connection” ranging from the lyrical (I Gave You My Umbrella but the Wrong Directions) to the warm-and-fuzzy (We Shared a Bear Suit) to the shared love of the tragicomic (Ice Skating in Central Park We Collided).

    See some of the beautiful illustrations at the link.
  9. My Faraway One: Selected Letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz: Volume One, 1915-1933 (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library) This exceptional volume gathers 650 meticulously selected and annotated letters exchanged between one of the most prominent couples in art history, photographer Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946) and legendary artist Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986), who over the course of their 30-year romance exchanged more than 5,000 letters — roughly 25,000 pages — on everything from the rich detail of their daily lives to the breathless angels and demons of their passion.

    My Faraway One: Selected Letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz: Volume One, 1915-1933 (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)

    This exceptional volume gathers 650 meticulously selected and annotated letters exchanged between one of the most prominent couples in art history, photographer Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946) and legendary artist Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986), who over the course of their 30-year romance exchanged more than 5,000 letters — roughly 25,000 pages — on everything from the rich detail of their daily lives to the breathless angels and demons of their passion.
  10. Schopenhauer’s Porcupines: Intimacy and Its Dilemmas Deborah Luepnitz What the porcupine dilemma made famous by German philosopher Schopenhauer can teach us about intimacy and happiness.

    Schopenhauer’s Porcupines: Intimacy and Its Dilemmas

    Deborah Luepnitz

    What the porcupine dilemma made famous by German philosopher Schopenhauer can teach us about intimacy and happiness.
  11. The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics Norton Juster Fantastic 1963 story by The Phantom Tollbooth creator Norton Juster about a straight line who falls in love with a dot. Click through to watch the wonderful 10-minuted animated film by Chuck Jones based on the book.

    The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics

    Norton Juster

    Fantastic 1963 story by The Phantom Tollbooth creator Norton Juster about a straight line who falls in love with a dot. Click through to watch the wonderful 10-minuted animated film by Chuck Jones based on the book.
  12. Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love Helen Fisher Biological anthropologist Helen Fisher studies the evolution of human emotions and the intricacies of the brain in — and on — love, exploring the science of love without losing a sense of romance and shedding light on some of the complex ways in which the brain and the heart diverge.

    Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love

    Helen Fisher

    Biological anthropologist Helen Fisher studies the evolution of human emotions and the intricacies of the brain in — and on — love, exploring the science of love without losing a sense of romance and shedding light on some of the complex ways in which the brain and the heart diverge.
  13. Schematics: A Love Story Julian Hibbard A truly unique, in the most uncontrived sense of the word, project exploring love, memory, and time through 43 schematic diagrams drawn from old books and paired with poetic text that gleans new meaning from the geometric forms.

    Schematics: A Love Story

    Julian Hibbard

    A truly unique, in the most uncontrived sense of the word, project exploring love, memory, and time through 43 schematic diagrams drawn from old books and paired with poetic text that gleans new meaning from the geometric forms.
  14. The 50 Greatest Love Letters of All Time David Lowenherz Virginia Woolf’s 1927 letter to English poet Vita Sackville-West, with whom Woolf had fallen madly in love.

    The 50 Greatest Love Letters of All Time

    David Lowenherz

    Virginia Woolf’s 1927 letter to English poet Vita Sackville-West, with whom Woolf had fallen madly in love.
  15. Tres Riches Heures De Mrs Mole Ronald Searle On New Year’s Eve 1969, Monica Searle was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer. Experimental at the time, chemotherapy — the course of action Monica’s doctor recommended — was a leap of faith. After each treatment, her husband Ronald made Monica a Mrs. Mole drawing “to cheer every dreaded chemotherapy session and evoke the blissful future ahead.”

    Tres Riches Heures De Mrs Mole

    Ronald Searle

    On New Year’s Eve 1969, Monica Searle was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer. Experimental at the time, chemotherapy — the course of action Monica’s doctor recommended — was a leap of faith. After each treatment, her husband Ronald made Monica a Mrs. Mole drawing “to cheer every dreaded chemotherapy session and evoke the blissful future ahead.”
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