Joshua Knelman

Despite the contributor list reading like a Who's Who of my bookcase, this just wasn't that good. It wasn't bad--many of the stories were enjoyable--but the bulk ends up being forgettable. Several pieces feel like they were dashed off in a "why not?" response to the project, with minimal planning or editing. The "love letter" is interpreted several ways, but most end up with sarcastic and/or "twists"--love gone wrong, I Never Want To See You Again, letters from chimps to the primatologist who's been studying his clan. Taken as individual microfictions, these might be enjoyable, but when put together into a collection, there's not enough diversity in tone and/or subject matter to hold my interest. Did every author think they were being clever to write breakups and bitter irony as their love letters? The stand-outs were the ones who broke from that mold: a husband placing ad after ad, looking for his wife after Katrina. A performance artist stalking a woman he sees daily. Descriptions of photos that chronicled a relationship. Unfortunately, these pieces were the minority and back-loaded the book (arranged loosely by tone; the organizational plan is somewhat obtuse); many readers will likely never make it all the way to the few gems that are hidden here.… (mere)

Love Letters can be addressed to people, to places or to ideas, they can contain romance, happiness, bitterness or any other sentiment, they can also be funny, sad, moving or a everything at once, they can be sent with snail mail or with e-mail... This diverseness is perfectly represented in this book which collects invented Love letters from 41 authors, well-known ones as well as newcomers and located all over the world. All in all an inspiring, funny and moving book, and I enjoyed every page of it :)… (mere)