OK, I am a sucker for these kinds of books: essays by a wide range of people grouped around a particular topic (money, friendship, marriage, work, etc.) No surprise, then, that I was a big fan of John Bowe's book Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs, which interviewed, in just a few pages each, people doing all kinds of jobs that you've always wondered about. It's still a book I like to pick up from time to time just to re-read a few essays.
Bowe has a new book out: Us: Americans Talk About Love, which contains "44 personal narratives from people describing the dynamics of their most intimate relationships", according to this Washington Post article. This book looks good too.
Corduroy Books blog says:
There is plenty to recommend this book—it’s a howler, by and large, and
unless your heart’s absolutely to-the-core granite, you’ll sniffle at
some point (likely anytime a partner talks of living without his/her
partner; it’s just awful to read, chokes me up just thinking of it),
but the real reason to buy this book is simpler than all that, easier:
love is wonder, is an act of mystery, and, depending on your own
distance from that fact, you may need reminding. This book is that
reminder. Read now.
Powell's calls Us "In a book that is by turns poetic, shocking, amusing, wise,
astonishing, and always frank, Americans talk about love–broken
hearts; sexual infidelities; improbable reconciliations; hidden,
forbidden, preposterous love; and endurance against all odds."
This would make a good Valentine's Day present, no?