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the book

Read the introduction to Much Ado About Loving: What Our Favorite Novels Can Teach You About Date Expectations, Not-So-Great Gatsbys and Love in the Time of Internet Personals, out from Free Press on January 3, 2012, here.

the reaction

"David Foster Wallace may have been sympathetic to the just-published Much Ado About Loving in which the writers Jack Murnighan and Maura Kelly plumb great literature for relationship advice."
New York Times Book Review

"This is a clever, amusing hybrid of lit crit and relationship advice." — Publishers Weekly

"I'll take my advice from Toni Morrison over Suzanne Somers any day. ... That's more or less the premise from which Kelly and Murnighan operate in this oddly enjoyable read, with the authors teasing out lessons for contemporary romance from classical literature. ... The book is a clever mash-up of dating advice and literary discussion. ... Probably the first time Virgil has been used for romantic advice, at least in this century — and that alone is an achievement."
New York Daily News

"Fans of the self-help genre expect humorless, spine-strengthening exhortation, not wit. Yet with their light prose, these two New York writers and friends ... manage to offer useful insights into finding love through classic novels like Howards End, War and Peace and Pride and Prejudice, among others. ... A treat for any book lover, happily mated or cheerfully single. — USA Today

"When seeking advice to bolster a love life more tragic than a Thomas Hardy novel, I shy away from current romantic self-help books .... Enter Much Ado About Loving." — Elle

"I find reading novels to be more entertaining than reading advice columns, so why not combine the two? Dear Jane instead of Dear Abby." — Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

"Like a Cliff Notes for the lovelorn ... as sage as it is funny." — Slate columnist Lucinda Rosenfeld

"[The authors] have put together a terrific riff on dating, love and great novels ... It's surprising and impressive how well the authors' literary survey adapts to smart, accessible dating advice."
New Jersey Star Ledger

"A clever variation on the standard romantic advice book." — Wilmington Star News

"Authors Kelly and Murnighan demonstrate that literary classics contain great lessons that are still relevant today ... The authors take a magnifying glass to literature's great and not-so-great hookups, injecting their own dating triumphs and faux pas, both relatable and comical." — New Jersey Monthly

the authors

Maura Kelly has been a staff writer for Glamour and a dating blogger for Marie Claire, where her column attracted hundreds of thousands of readers each month. Her personal essays and other writings have appeared in publications like the New York Times, the New York Observer, Salon, Slate, the Guardian, and Rolling Stone. Jack Murnighan has a Ph.D. in medieval and renaissance literature from Duke University. He is the deputy editor of Babble and the author of multiple books, including, most recently, Beowulf on the Beach: What to Love and What to Skip in Literature's 50 Greatest Hits.

the buying options

Amazon
Apple
Barnes and Noble
Books A Million
Indie Bound
Powell's

the interviews

➝ Maura talks with the Huffington Post
➝ Jack and Maura talk with Salon
➝ Maura talks with Match.com

the discussions

PAST: January 17, Barnes & Noble, Upper East Side, NYC, 7 pm
February 9, Pete's Candy Store, Williamsburg, NYC, 730pm
February 13, Half King, Chelsea, NYC, 7pm