Love is in the air, and with it, so are these books, which we think will help people make the most of their love connections:
Listening Is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project by Dave Isay (Penguin Press, $24.95). Four years ago, StoryCorps aimed to record an oral history of America through the voices of everyday people. This compelling gathering features excerpts from the more than 10,000 interviews that were conducted. They capture moments in time that tell candid stories. The recurrent themes focus on family hardship, love, dedication and everyday struggle. This collection celebrates the lives of the uncelebrated.
Homemade Biography: How to Collect, Record, and Tell the Life Story of Someone You Love by Tom Zoellner (St. Martin's Griffin, $14.95). Don't wait until your elders have passed to find out about their past. In this well-written guide, New York Times bestselling author Tom Zoellner offers his tips for interviewing people and creating a narrative of your relatives' histories so that they will live on in your family forever.
Other People's Love Letters: 150 Letters You Were Never Meant to See by Bill Shapiro (Clarkson Potter, $22.50). Scribbled on napkins, text messages…this is the look of modern love in all its passion, guilt and glory. The author searched far and wide to create this voyeuristic peek into other people's love lives. Their testaments to love gained and lost may spark your own desires or move you to write your own missives.
For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend by Patricia McConnell, PhD (Ballantine Books, $15.95). With this guide, you'll be able to delve deeper into the hearts and minds of man's best friend. Learn the language of your dog by recognizing important signals and reading them correctly. There are several helpful examples that you can learn to observe in order to become a better dog owner and ultimately provide your pet with a sense of calm.
How We Love: Discover Your Love Style, Enhance Your Marriage by Milan and Kay Yerkovich (WaterBrook Press, $14.99). In this self-help guide, the authors explain how your past influences your current behavior, beliefs and expectations of all your relationships. They identify four situations or “imprints,” as they call them, which trap couples in pain, and offer guidance on how to create a richer, more passionate marriage.