Welcome to Litsy!

2 out of 5

I HIGHLY recommend this book. I just finished it and I'm sad because my journey withit has come to an end.

"Love means admiration for qualities in the lover that promise to correct our weaknesses and imbalances; love is a search for completion."

"Marriage: a hopeful, generous, infinitely kind gamble taken by two people who don‘t know yet who they are or who the other might be, binding themselves to a future they cannot conceive of and have carefully omitted to investigate."

"We seem to know far too much about how love starts, and recklessly little about how it might continue."

I did not know what to expect and I am still not sure of what that book is, really a novel or a non fiction?

This book has been on my TBR for ages, and I finally got around to it. The structure of the book - philosophical commentary interspersed throughout the simple story telling style - was well done and satisfying in my opinion. While I may not agree with all the author's philosophy, it was an interesting exploration of love and commitment. For both of these reasons, I give it a pick.

Did I read this book because Harry Styles said he was reading this book? Yes. But damn boy knows how to pick a good one; I couldn‘t put it down!! #HarryStylesBookClub

Hmmm, methinks I'm reading a tad many books at the same time:

Print - The Course of Love - when I have time to sit quietly and read
Kindle - To the bright edge of the world, ditto and when I can find the Kindle
Devotional (more or less) - Eternal Echoes - Overdrive
Relaxing fiction - Lord of the Rings - Overdrive

What a fantastic read! While I may not agree with all of his views, Alain de Botton has a lovely and enlightening understanding of love and long-term commitment. It‘s been a wonderful reminder of all the things I‘ve learned in my own marriage, and indeed, could be a course ON love. Definitely recommend! #readingwithmaja #lovestory #AtoZLitsy (Letter C) #TheUnreadShelfProject2020

Day 15: #newtoyouauthor #auldlangreads Never read anything by this author, and this book was given to me. I did find a quote by this author that I loved, so I‘ll be reading this one sometime soon.

There's no such thing as #unconditionallove in Alain de Botton's brilliant meditation on love an marriage. #NoFemmeBer @Cinfhen @Billypar

This was essentially a manual about long term relationships camouflaged as a fictional story about a couple. It covers the relationship of Rabih and Kirsten from when they first meet and follows the ups and downs of their marriage for many years. I think most people will see themselves in at least some aspect of this book, but whether that makes you laugh or cringe is unpredictable. 😆

Astonishing. De Botton's intimate, forensic (de)construction of his characters' relationship is one of the most clear-sighted, honest investigation of marriage I've ever read. It's half love story half how-to manual and while it focuses on marriage it has so many insights valuable to all relationships. I definitely recognised patterns and mistakes I've made with friends and family. I was rooting for Rabih and Kirsten with everything in me.

An interesting and unexpected confluence of ideas from two recent reads. The to write is from the tagged book and the bottom is from Smoke Gets in your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty

#HeatOfJuly Day 15: This is a #CrazyInLove book which, accdg to Iphigene in her review of the book, alternates between a story of love and marriage and a commentary, that reads like a “how to” in love. It is sobering, it‘s the splash of reality to our romance-drunk notions of love, something we all need. - Full review here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-hex - still unable to tag hosts!! 😭😭

the rule-breaking scenarios[...]--all offer opportunities to investigate wishes that are far from being simply peculiar, pointless, or slightly demented. They offer brief utopian interludes in which we can, with a rare and real friend, safely cast off our normal defenses and share and satisfy our longings for extreme closeness and mutual acceptance--which are the real psychologically rooted reasons why games are, in the end, so exciting.

Some exquisite passages from the book.

Been a while since I posted! Book 26 for the year.

Sunshine and gelato and a noisy playground and my favourite book 😍 appropriately reminding us to be as kind to the hearts of adults are we are to the hearts of children

Chocolate hearts and a book about love. Perfection.
This book is so profound. It is not long but I am taking forever to read it. Digesting every word. Contemplating every page. No book has affected me so much before.
I think this book is THE ONE 😍

#truth #love #blame #wearealljustalittlebatshitcrazy

I ❤️️❤️️❤️️ EVERY PAGE OF THIS BOOK..... It speaks such profound truth

Sunday afternoon in Spring drinking chinotto and reading about love in an old wooden cinema in zurich .... #imahopelessromantic #butofcourse . I love this book from the first chapter.

Let's see if I can learn a thing or two........😆🙈

What comes after ‘I do‘? A married couple finds that the demands and stresses of everyday life...work, domestic chores, financial worries, raising children..have made them irritable and argumentative. This book offers a glimpse into the essential truths about the nature of love.
#thetruthaboutlove #tuneintonivember

So I think I'm bailing on this month's book club pick, 'The Course of Love'. 90-odd pages in and it's fine enough (de Botton's writing is quite lovely at times), but I just don't care enough about what happens to these characters. #alaindebotton #thecourseoflove #bookclub #abandoned

I started this book before our move over Labor Day weekend and now I can't find it! I thought it was in a bag of personal items we moved ourselves but I'm afraid it's in a random box of stuff that I won't find for years. I was really enjoying this book, too. 😓

I loved loved loved this book! Part fiction part philosophical essay this book has so many truths I had to put it down and breathe a number of times because I thought de Botton was inside my head or had Big Brother cameras in my house! If you've ever loved, or are in love, or plan to love this book is for you. Insightful, beautiful, honest and terrifying. The Course of Love is a must read 📚

I am reading this to my husband. Quite lovely.

What can I say about this book? I am in raptures. I love it so much that I'm giving it five stars even though I fundamentally disagree with de Botton's stance on sex and fidelity. He'd say that was romanticism; I'd say it was my Judeo-Christian worldview. We'd chuckle and clink our champagne flutes together and agree to disagree in the lightest of ways.

Yes, I love this book and its earthy, funny, warm wisdom.

"The love of flowers is a consequence of modesty and an accomodation with disappointment. Some things need to go permanently wrong before we can start to admire the stem of a rose or the petals of a bluebell. But once we realise that the larger dreams are always compromised in some way, with what gratitude we may turn to these minuscule islands of serene perfection and delight."

This book was beautiful, intelligent, moving and life changing. This is the story of love that is rarely told, after the first kiss, after the proposal, afterthe wedding. I firmly believe reading this with an open mind and open heart could save a marriage. I will reread this over and over again.

I am looking for more books like this that explore love and marriage after the "honeymoon" is over. Any suggestions?

"Whereas we can say something sensible and polite to any stranger, it is only in the presence of the lover we wholeheartedly believe in that we can dare to be extravagantly and boundlessly unreasonable." So much of this book is speaking to me ... not quite sure what that says about me ?

"We don't need to be constantly reasonable in order to have good relationships; all we need to have mastered is the occasional capacity to acknowledge with good grace that we may, in one or two areas, be somewhat insane."

An engrossing look at how relationships, and we who are in them for years, evolve. I adored the accurate explorations of psychological theories sprinkled through this novel of one couple's journey past initial infatuation. Beautiful. (Also, shameless share of my grandparents who weathered so many decades together.)

Beautiful read on the hammock following a breezy nap.

After finishing a long series and enjoying a cozy, I'm ready to dig in.

We don't need to be constantly reasonable in order to have good relationships; all we need to have mastered is the occasional capacity to acknowledge with good grace that we may, in one or two areas, be somewhat insane.

This is probably best read by people who have been in (or are currently in) long term relationships but even with that resonance I skimmed the italicized lectures on relationship theory. A pick, for the right audience. #readathon #24in48 @24in48