I got this slightly-battered softcover at a local Goodwill thrift shop, for another release copy.

The book has been adapted for TV or film at least a dozen times, including the (intentionally?) ridiculous Valmont and a modern-day version, Cruel Intentions. I've seen several film versions; my favorite so far is the 1988 film version with Glenn Close and John Malkovich, perhaps because I don't find Malkovich attractive so I wasn't torn between his supposed charm and his truly nasty behavior {wry grin}.

I really loved the book - but I could also see why it caused an uproar; while the characters seldom include explicit details in their letters to each other, they do make it very clear what they're up to, and what they're up to is a LOT of sex, including the seduction of virgins and of married women (and men, though the latter don't seem to need much seducing)...

The whole thing is framed as a contest between Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil, with various seductions planned for various reasons - she wants revenge on the lover who dropped her, he wants to get back in her bed, etc. There are letters from some of the other characters too - sometimes these were delivered normally, but a good many of them were waylaid and were then forwarded to somebody else as evidence, for amusement, or as a threat. Almost makes the current harrassment-by-Facebook seem tame - though of course the letters took longer to arrive! The conversations are witty and delightful, with a current of venom; at times it's a challenge to try and read between the lines to detect the writer's true feelings, so careful are they to guard them - or to reveal them under carefully chosen circumstances. Intricate, funny, painful, and very, very wicked, the book is great fun - even though the characters are almost all unsympathetic, either for being manipulative fiends or silly geese!

[I have yet to see my perfect Valmont in a film or TV version of this book, but I read that Alan Rickman played him on stage; oh, I wish I could have seen that!]

This Unshelved Book Club strip is about the book - check it out! And the TV Tropes page has lots of entertaining tidbits about the book and its adaptations.

Guidelines for safely visiting and stocking Little Free Libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the LFL site here.

I left this book in the Little Free Library at the trailhead off of Shaker Road; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2020 Movie challenge. ***

*** Released for the 2020 Theater challenge. ***