Following such singular memoirs as Making Toast, Kayak Morning, and The Boy Detective, Roger Rosenblatt here looks at love in all its themes and variations, from romantic love, courtship, marriage, battle, heartbreak, fury, confusion, melancholy, beauty, delirium, and ecstasy to the love of family and friends, the love of country or work, the love of art or nature, and the love of life itself. In this slim, handsome little book—complete with red-edged pages—Rosenblatt employs lines from love songs to create a kind of verbal jazz, as infectious as it is engaging, interspersing thoughts about love and fictional vignettes that capture a variety of lovers in different situations with notes addressed to "you," his wife of 50 years, including this one: "The story I have to tell is of you. Of others, too. Other people, other things. But mainly of you. It begins and ends with you. It always comes back to you."

"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

"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

"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)