Whenever people ask me for book recommendations, I always introduce them to This Modern Love by Will Darbyshire. In order to completely get the greatness of this book across, I find it necessary to provide some background information. Will Darbyshire is an English blogger and social media presence who focuses his work primarily on photography, videography, and art.
With nearly 650 thousand subscribers on his YouTube channel, he introduced the concept of his book to that social platform first. The idea stemmed from a breakup that he went through the year prior to making this video. As a social media presence, his breakup inspired him to become more vocal and honest with his following. In return, he found that his audience became more vocal and honest about their own heartbreak as well. In this video, Darbyshire says “the book is written by you, and it’s written by anyone who is in love and anyone who is out of love…it is a forum to share your feelings and experiences”.
The young author, put out new questions every week and requested that people from anywhere in the world send in responses to those questions. Some questions being about falling in love, some about being in love, and some about heartbreak. Submissions could be poetry, journal entries, singular words, photographs – they could be any form of literature.
This Modern Love is a compilation of real people’s real experiences with love. It is organized into three chapters: beginning, middle, and end. Highlighting the beginning stages of a relationship (falling in love, having a crush, the honeymoon phase, etc), the middle of a relationship (being in love, looking forward to the future, etc), and the end of a relationship (falling out of love, realizing a relationship is over, breaking up, healing from a breakup, etc).
While the submissions were lightly edited for grammatical errors and translating different languages – they are raw and real words from individuals, of different ages and ethnicities and backgrounds, all over the world.
The relatability, the organization, and the wholesomeness make Darbyshire’s This Modern Love a beautiful and enjoyable read. I have read it at least 4 times now and I don’t plan on stopping. Might I add, once you’ve gotten to the point where you have read it many times…it makes a great coffee table book for guests to flip through!
Buy it here and be sure to check out the This Modern Love website for more background on the book.
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