The Book of Love

The Book of Love, by Kelly Link

My 100% honest reason for picking up this book is that I was sitting down to sew myself some clothes and I wanted an audiobook that would cover the right amount of hours. This one, at over 25 hours, fit the bill perfectly, and I have liked Link's short stories in the past, and so, here we are. Over the course of a weekend, while listening to this book, I sewed a linen shirt that is by far the highest quality, best fitting garment I have ever owned in my life. I suppose this means I love this book--although I don't think it ought to take *full* credit for my new shirt being amazing, it didn't hurt.

Here are some photos of The Shirt, which I'm certain you'll be very impressed by:

Look at that stitching

The placket, the pleats, the cuff, my god

Every seam is flat felled

The buttonholes are hand-sewn and the shoulders fit exactly how I want them to. Truly haute couture, for the price of $8 of thrifted linen and more than 20 hours of work.

Anyway, The Book of Love is an Experience with a capital E. Perhaps it needed a bit more editing so that it wouldn't have been a meandering 25 hours long. It is not, as a friend of mine complained, exactly a story in the shape of a novel. But I appreciated it.