I love For the Love of Letters by Samara O'Shea

I read a lot. Every day books cross my desk or catch my eye. I love that moment of cracking open a delicious new book that I've been anticipating. I read in a very specific way - I read the back and inside covers, then acknowledgements, then, if it's a straightforward narrative, dive right in. But I also like to peek - I cheat, and skip around, peruse, but I love when I just dig right in and fall in love. That happened with Samara O'Shea's beautiful, inspirational For the Love of Letters: A 21-st Century Guide to the Art of Letter Writing,which I was truly honored to be asked to blurb (the original title had "from the Elegant to the Erotic" tacked on) . Here's the blurb I sent in (though an edited version will appear on the book):

Samara O'Shea has outdone herself with her own passionate love letter to the written word. For the Love of Letters takes readers on a guided tour through epistolary history, including her own, and shows exactly when and how to craft a letter that will get your every emotion across. For those seeking to seduce, her section on erotic letters offers tasteful, yet totally hot, ways to make him or her drop everything and rush into your arms when they realize just what you're offering to them. Sensual and bold, O'Shea bares her soul in this book, serving up letters that will make you wish you'd received even one displaying such strong emotion. In our text message-mad era, she revives what's become largely a lost art. As soon as I was done, I got out my pen and started writing some very lusty letters of my own!

And...the legal eagles, copyright nerds, erotically-minded folks and literature lovers will appreciate the section about James Joyce's highly erotic letters, which Samara was unable to acquire the right to reprint from Joyce's grandson (but she includes her own letter to him). Samara will be reading from these explicit Joyce letters on May 16th at 8 pm at my erotic reading series In The Flesh along with literary It boy Dana Vachon (Mergers and Acquisitions) and others. Samara also includes one of her own very racy letters in the book (and I'm still lobbying to get her to read it in May!).

Now my awesome friend and one-time In The Flesh reader Felicia Sullivan (whose memoir The Sky Isn't Visible From Here is finally available for pre-order on Amazon was available the other day for pre-order and now has disappeared, boo! Update: heard from Ms. Felicia that the book's now coming out in January - trust me, I heard her read from it and it's gonna be something to tuck in with you under the covers some chilly winter night and stay up late until you finish.) is having a contest where you can WIN a copy of For the Love of Letters. What are you waiting for?

Felicia also linked to CraftyPod's ode to letter writing.