Ever wanted to know how to keep love strong in your relationship?
"The Five Love Languages" by Gary Chapman was written to help couples improve their relationship and communication with each other.
The book was first published in October 1992, but is still a New York Times bestseller, ranking #2 on the Paperback Advice & Misc. list. It has been on the list 263 weeks. It is also still relevant to many couples today that are still looking for advice in troubling marriages. A newer version of the book came out in December of 2009.
The book is described:
With more than 30 years of experience as a marriage counselor, Dr. Gary Chapman has heard it all. He has helped couples at every stage of marriage and at pivotal points in their relationships-from those just discovering the joys and trial of marriage to those who are ready to call it quits.
After many years of counseling, Dr. Chapman noticed a pattern: everyone he had ever counseled had a "love language," a primary way of expressing and interpreting love. He also discovered that, for whatever reason, people are usually drawn to those who speak a different love language than their own.
Of the countless ways we can show love to one another, five key categories, or five love languages, proved to be universal and comprehensive-everyone has a love language, and we all identify primarily with one of the five love languages: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch.
Since The 5 Love Languages® debuted in 1992, over seven million copies have been sold, making "The 5 Love Languages" a perennial New York Times bestseller. But numbers don't measure the influence the book has had on couples and their marriages.
"The 5 Love Languages" has helped countless couples identify practical and powerful ways to express love, simply by using the appropriate love language. Many husbands and wives who had spent years struggling through marriages they thought were loveless discovered one or both spouses had long been showing love through messages that weren't getting through. By recognizing their different love languages, they witnessed the rebirth of the love they thought had been gone for good.
According to the book's website, it has been translated into more than 40 languages.
One reviewer said, "This book is absolutely incredible. Having serious marital problems, I was desperate for any kind of help. I was about to turn to counseling when I heard about this book. I decided to buy it so that my husband and I could read it together.
Not expecting too much, one lazy morning I suggested to my husband that we lay in bed and begin reading this book out loud to eachother. We read 120 pages that morning! We could not put it down! Both of us shed a lot of tears that morning, this book really hit home."
Cindy Crosby gave a review, "Although some readers may find choosing to love a spouse that they no longer even like -hoping the feelings of affection will follow later- a difficult concept to swallow, Chapman promises that the results will be worth the effort. "Love is a choice," says Chapman. "And either partner can start the process today."
Do you agree that these 5 languages are the key to a successful relationship? What's your love language? Comment below!