other people's love letters by bill shapiro - excerpt

8/7/2019 Other People's Love Letters by Bill Shapiro - Excerpt

1/21


2/21
http://ebookstore.sony.com/downpage/index_b.html?keyword=9780307382641http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Other%20People%27s%20Love%20Lettershttp://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?r=1&afsrc=1&EAN=9780307382641http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_10?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&tag=randohouseinc2-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creative=9325&field-keywords=Other%20People%27s%20Love%20Lettershttp://www.powells.com/biblio/9780307382641?&PID=32442http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780307382641http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?r=1&afsrc=1&ISBSRC=Y&ISBN=9780307382641http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?defaultSearchView=List&LogData=[search:+7,parse:+24]&cm_mmc=CJ-_-2193956-_-2665379-_-88x31+logo&type=1&searchData={productId:null,sku:null,type:1,sort:null,currPage:1,resultsPerPage:25,simpleSearch:false,navigation:5185,moreValue:null,coverView:false,url:rpp%3D25%26view%3D2%26type%3D1%26page%3D1%26kids%3Dfalse%26nav%3D5185%26simple%3Dfalse%26sku%3D9780307382641,terms:{sku%3D9780307382641}}&storeId=13551&catalogId=10001&sku=0307382648&ddkey=http:SearchResults&cmpid=pub-rh-1117http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307382648?ie=UTF8&tag=randohouseinc2-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0307382648


3/21

Formoreletters, visitotherpeoplesloveletter

Copyright2007byBillShapiro

Seepage192forafurther

lis

tof

credits.Allrightsreserved.

PublishedintheUn

itedStatesby

ClarksonPotter/Publishers, an

imprintoftheCrownPublishing

Group, adivisionofRandomHouse,

Inc., New

York.

www.crownpublishing.com

www.clarksonpotter.com

ClarksonN.Potterisatrademark

andPotterandcolophonare

registeredtrademarksofRandom

House, Inc.

LibraryofCongressCataloging-

in-PublicationData

Shapiro, Bill.

Otherpeoplesloveletters/

BillShapiro.1sted

p.cm.

1.Love-lettersUnited

States.

I.Title.

HQ801.3.S532007

392.6dc22

2007006764

ISBN978-

0-307-38264-1

Prin

tedinChina

DesignbyLauraPalese

10987654321

FirstEdition
http://www.randomhouse.com/crown


4/21

INTRODUCTION

The first time I read a love letter that wasnt addressed to me, m

heart danced a guilty little dance.

A confession: Not only wasnt the letter mine, but it was written to a woman I was dati

She was in her bedroom, deciding on shoes; I was killing time in her kitchen, nibbling

almonds. On her counter, the usual mess: a few photos, an address book, small piles of

Perhaps I looked a little more closely than I should have, but atop one pile, seated lik

king, was a love letter.

I picked it up, I did, and I cant say Im proud of that. But once I did . . . well, there w

turning away. That love note, rough-edged and wrinkled, had a curious effect on me.

Confusion, yes, and a hint of vulnerability, but something else too. What her other man

writtena year ago? ten years ago? I had no ideafelt strikingly similar to a note I

scratched out to her only a few weeks before. Not the words, exactly, but that flood of

tion, the playfulness, the optimism. It all seemed so familiar. A question twittered in

mind: Was our relationship as special as I had thought? At the same time, his note was

clearly his own, with its inside jokes and (vividly) spelled-out desires. In fact, I coul

hardly believe it was written to the woman I thought I knew. I read it twice.

Three times, actually.


5/21

I WONDERED WHY SHE HAD LEFT IT THERE. IT WAS PROBABLY BY AC

DENT. But it also could have been by accident-on-purpose, in which case what was sh

telling me? Had he touched something in her that I hadnt? Did he mean something to h

that I didnt? And then the bigger questions swooped in: What role did this letter play

her life? Was it something she had unearthed to remind herself of how good love can ge

or how fleeting it can be?

Why, in short, had she saved this nine-line scrawl? And was she so different from ever

else? I began to consider what these much-folded pieces of paper might symbolize for u

emotionally; why some we toss within moments, why we hang on to others for decades. I

because each letter from an ex represents a road not taken? And each letter from the

son were still with reminds us of what brought us together? Or could it be because a

letter recalls that moment in our life when someone saw our best self?

SO I STARTED COLLECTING OTHER PEOPLES LOVE LETTERS. I contacted every

knew, and asked if they would send me any theyd been keeping. Eventually, I even asse

a team of researchers to do more legwork (these brave souls went so far as to call the

exes . . . who called their exes) until the web expanded far beyond our own circles.

I wasnt interested in the kind of correspondence typically found in love letter colle

tions. Not the quill-tip pen variety that Ben Franklin sent to Mrs. F during theircourtship. I sought love letters, e-mails, text messages, and postcards written by regu

people in relationships probably much like yours. And who wants to look only at letter

that present bouquet after bouquet of loves red roses. Modern love is complicated. It


6/21

and weaves, takes two steps forward, one step back. I wanted letters that not only cap

the whispered promises of endless love, but also candid moments of uncertainty, bitte

and regret. The thorns.

Envelopes began to arrive, each holding what, until the moment I opened them, had bee

very private message. Inside the first, a tender apology. The second brought two sing

spaced pages of triple-X lust. After that: Im not feeling what youre feeling. In th

I had hundreds and hundreds stacked in my living room.

HERES SOMETHING I LEARNED ABOUT LOVE LETTERS:

MOST DIE AN IGNOMINIOUS DEATH. Theyre torn up, tossed out, and fed to th

Burned, buried, and flushed. The letters on the pages that follow are the survivors. T

were saved and savored. And, now, theyre shared: Every letter here is printed with pe

sion from its writer.*

Who wrote these letters? You name it: helicopter pilots, musicians, sociologists, sales

students, retirees, housewives, computer programmers, consultants, construction worke

architects, teachers, kids, lawyers, store clerks, filmmakers. The faithful and the adu

ous. Maybe someone you know. Maybe your lover.

Gathering these letters provided me with a rare opportunity: the chance to freely pok

through other peoples intimate correspondence and not feel the least bit ashamed abas you might one day should you let your eyes wander for too long on someones kitche

counter. After all, while almost everyone will get a love letter at some point in his o


7/21

Inahandfulofcases,

thelett

areprintedwiththepe

rmissio

ofthewriterscloses

tliving

relative.Als

o, somelettersh

beenslightlyaltered

toprot

thewritersidentityo

r that

therecipient.Onemor

ethin

Notalllettersarepri

nted

their entirety.

life, its unlikely to be passed around the dinner table. More often it will be squirrel

away in the back of the file cabinet in a folder falsely labeled auto insurance. (Not

this is where youve been hiding yours, now might be a good time to rethink that.)

Like those still-hidden letters, the notes collected here were written only for a lov

eyes; they are unflinchingly honest. Reading them is like picking the lock on a stran

heart and peering inside during the most intense moments of his or her life. But th

fascination here is more complex than a simple case of voyeurism. Because, on a dee

level, the heart youre looking into is your own.

*


8/21


9/21


10/21


11/21

I dreamt about you last night

I was at camp

With strangers

In a room full of pianos

Oskar Eustis was teaching us how to play piano

By instinct

Without learning the notes

I was pretty good at it

Then I had a class called

Imagining WaterAnd I floated in the air for a while

I was pretty good at that too

Then you showed up

With your French backpack

And your gold hair

And the hills around us blushed so green

I had not noticed them before

You let me lift your shirt a little

And kiss your stomach

And it was warm and soft like perfect bread

And it made me hungry

And even in the dream

I felt that quiet buzz of rightness

That happens when youre around


12/21


13/21


14/21


15/21


16/21


17/21


18/21


19/21


20/21


21/21
http://ebookstore.sony.com/downpage/index_b.html?keyword=9780307382641http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Other%20People%27s%20Love%20Lettershttp://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?r=1&afsrc=1&EAN=9780307382641http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_10?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&tag=randohouseinc2-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creative=9325&field-keywords=Other%20People%27s%20Love%20Lettershttp://www.powells.com/biblio/9780307382641?&PID=32442http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780307382641http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?r=1&afsrc=1&ISBSRC=Y&ISBN=9780307382641http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?defaultSearchView=List&LogData=[search:+7,parse:+24]&cm_mmc=CJ-_-2193956-_-2665379-_-88x31+logo&type=1&searchData={productId:null,sku:null,type:1,sort:null,currPage:1,resultsPerPage:25,simpleSearch:false,navigation:5185,moreValue:null,coverView:false,url:rpp%3D25%26view%3D2%26type%3D1%26page%3D1%26kids%3Dfalse%26nav%3D5185%26simple%3Dfalse%26sku%3D9780307382641,terms:{sku%3D9780307382641}}&storeId=13551&catalogId=10001&sku=0307382648&ddkey=http:SearchResults&cmpid=pub-rh-1117http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307382648?ie=UTF8&tag=randohouseinc2-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0307382648

other people's love letters by bill shapiro - excerpt

Documents