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Missed Connections: Love, Lost & Found

3.87 of 5 stars 3.87 · rating details · 600 ratings · 113 reviews

In her first book for adults, the artist Sophie Blackall creates a deeply felt, poignant book about love--a book that captures the mystery, the yearning, at times the cosmic humor behind the "what if?" of a missed connection.Like a message in a bottle, a "missed connection" classified (usually posted on a website) is an attempt however far-fetched, by one stranger to reach...more

Paperback, 128 pages

Published September 22nd 2011 by Workman Publishing Company, Inc.

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Oct 05, 2011 Danielle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-favorites, books-i-own, chicklit

You know those times when you catch the eye of a random stranger and suddenly life stops for a moment? It’s those times when connections are made and then lost, in the blink of an eye. Within seconds you could have met the love of your life or your worst enemy, but due to a lack of time or nerves the connection was missed. What if you could track them down? What if there was a place to reconnect? Even if it meant putting yourself out there for the whole world to see? This is what happens when pe...more You know those times when you catch the eye of a random stranger and suddenly life stops for a moment? It’s those times when connections are made and then lost, in the blink of an eye. Within seconds you could have met the love of your life or your worst enemy, but due to a lack of time or nerves the connection was missed. What if you could track them down? What if there was a place to reconnect? Even if it meant putting yourself out there for the whole world to see? This is what happens when people take a chance on a Missed Connections.

My purchase and subsequent reading of Missed Connections was more than my need to stick my nose into the private lives of other people, though I’m sure that played a large role. Primarily, I picked up Missed Connections because of the author, Sophie Blackall, who I normally read with my children in her Ivy & Bean series for younger readers. I’m a huge fan, not only of her writing but her illustrations as well. There’s a quirkiness to her art that’s incredibly endearing and it never fails to hit my “laugh-out-loud” button; Missed Connections was no exception to this.

What was incredible about this book was the fact that every bit of it was taken from actual accounts of real people and “missed connections” from Craigslist. Much like Sophie mentions in the beginning of the book, I’d never heard of this before and ended up spending hours aimlessly perusing not only her Missed Connections blog, but also Craigslist as well. It’s just too much fun to imagine how these anonymous people end up. In the introduction Sophie goes into a pretty good sum-up of why exactly we love seeing these types of things:

With this deluge of response came the realization that I was not alone in finding Missed Connections as seductive as a Hugh Grant movie, as addictive as Facebook. (Just five more minutes to look at photos of the girl-I-was-never-friends-with-in-highschool’s baby shower…) I knew why I was glued to them, but I wondered if those reasons were universal: the voyeurism, the vicarious romance, the unintentional comedy, the angst, the imagery.

…Each individual collision is a fragment of a story containing great big familiar themes of love, loss, and regret and, ultimately, and most importantly, hope. It’s a hopeless sort of hope, but it’s very compelling. We want to know if the guy gets the girl, don’t we?
I have a confession to make.
I don’t really want to know. I like a happy ending as well as the next person, but I love the mystery and the uncertainty and the electric current of possibility.
(p.9 and p.13-14, Missed Connections by Sophie Blackall)

What was wonderful about how she stated all of this was that I suddenly felt connected through her “Missed Connections”. I’ve never been one to need a nicely wrapped up package to enjoy a story. Obviously I do like things to be relatively happy in the end, but I don’t feel the need to have everything spelled out for me. What Missed Connections does is give you that little glimpse into what “could be” in a few short sentences with a very quirky yet beautiful illustrations. For a sneak peek into what’s to be found in Sophie Blackall’s fantastic book I’d highly recommend taking a look at her blog, it’s delightful!

One of the truly fun aspects of the book is discovering just how romantic and hopeful men are over women. Sophie shares that the number of men’s requests outnumbers the women in a clean 70/30 split. Surprising, right? What I discovered though was that I loved the way the men in the book told their stories of Missed Connections, particularly the one mentioned on page 90. A short snippet out of the life a man who’s first and last kiss happens over a beluga whale. Unusual perhaps, but I promise you’ll nearly be in tears by the end of his short story.

Yes, Missed Connections is an illustrated book by the lovely Sophie Blackall. No, perhaps it isn’t your typical “Chick Lit” read, but then again…maybe it is. It’s non-fiction fiction for the Chick Lit reader. Perfect for those of us with a bit of a voyeuristic heart on the lookout for love in very obscure places, Missed Connections: Love, Lost & Found is the perfect book to devour in a quiet afternoon or savor for days as you imagine just how each couple ended their version of “happily ever after”. This is a book I recommend wholeheartedly to every reader out their who loves to be swept away in the what-if’s? Personally, I’m in love! This is a favorite read this year and I’ll be passing it along to every romantic I know!(less)

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Jan 26, 2012 jess rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, graphic-novels, blogger

I read Sophie Blackall's blog and I really like her M.C.-inspired art, so I was so super thrilled to get this book. Unfortunately there's not much beyond what's on the blog, so if you have already read that, this will be a nice trip down memory lane but not much more. If you've never read the blog, the art is very sweet, and I love the idea of someone creating excellent illustrations from the sort of "interrupted" story of missed connections. Blackall picks some of the most charming and inspirin...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Jamil rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: illustrations, nyc

A few of my faves:

"If not for your noisy tambourine, I would not have seen you. Your green skirt looked terrible but that leather jacket makes you just look right."

"Your nose started bleeding...I was the girl who handed you a handkerchief...I thought you were bloody lovely."

"Phoenix w/ Crutches...I would love to carry you around piggy back until you can walk again..."

"Freckles and Bruises...How did you get those bruises? I wouldn't let anything happen to you. You were reading some book and takin...more

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Nov 04, 2012 Airiz C rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: humor, my-favorites, ouch-my-heart, inspirational, romance

A chance encounter with someone you think could be your soulmate holds an almost magical charm. If your mind lingers on it long enough, your imagination will start churning out what-could-have-beens, coupled with a wish that the other person is thinking of you too. All you could do is punctuate it with longing sighs…or perhaps you could cram an ellipsis on it instead by posting a “Missed Connection” online.

Missed connections often crackle with the electric current of romantic possibility, but th...more A chance encounter with someone you think could be your soulmate holds an almost magical charm. If your mind lingers on it long enough, your imagination will start churning out what-could-have-beens, coupled with a wish that the other person is thinking of you too. All you could do is punctuate it with longing sighs…or perhaps you could cram an ellipsis on it instead by posting a “Missed Connection” online.

Missed connections often crackle with the electric current of romantic possibility, but they may also be a way to reconnect with an old friend, to look for a relative you’ve lost touch with, or just to express gratitude to a stranger. Whatever its purpose is, one thing is clear: there’s really no stopping the mushrooming of these cyber messages in the bottle.

Confession: one of my guilty pleasures is spending a sizable amount of time reading missed connections online. I never fail to have my daily dose of fiction, so I think it wouldn’t hurt reading tidbits that happened in real life. They’re tale fragments that my writer side would consider ultimately fic-fodder, but my cheeseball side would think as sparks of hope of connecting in a bleak world wrapped in a general atmosphere of pessimism and selfish disengagement. They’re like fairytales-in-making, and there’s really no telling if they’re going to end up with a happy-ever-after or just stay unfinished forever.

Missed Connections: Love, Lost and Found is one “picture book” I really treasure. It contains a bunch of missed connections from various online sites, this time partnered with paintings of the award-winning illustrator Sophie Blackall.

To say that Blackall’s artwork fully captures the weight of every missed connection is an understatement. Through strokes of Chinese ink and water color, she added quirky, wistful, poignant, comical, and tender flavors to the posts.

But what I love the most about this book is that most of the time, Blackall managed to insert her own version of “what if” into each message. This was done not through illustrating scenes of the possible future, but by merely depicting the exact moment boxed within the four corners of that missed connection. My favorite in this verse would be the “I Wish I Could See Your Head” one, where Blackall drew a girl with the parts of her head portrayed as if it were in a clinic poster. Cradled in the cranium section is an unmade bed with two pillows, suggestive that it had two occupants not so long ago. I think it’s cleverly peculiar, how Blackall supplied an answer of some sort to post writer who wished he could see inside the beautiful stranger’s mind.

Oh, and I like the fact that Blackall didn’t bother to go Grammar Nazi on all posts. The misspellings and misplaced punctuations are kept where they originally are, and I think it added to the credibility and reality of the missed connections.

Anyway, describing all my favorite illustrations would just “spoil” it for you; I want you guys to check out the illustrations yourselves. In all honesty, words can’t equate to the paintings’ exquisiteness. In fact, seeing them kind of rekindled the frustrated painter in me. I’ve gone back to painting recently, and I make it a point to always make time for this artistic endeavor. I’ve also scribbled a new item on my bucket list after finishing the book: to write and illustrate a book for my future kids. :)

It’s overall a book worthy of appreciation and the time you’ll spent flicking through it. “If a picture is worth a thousand words,” Ilene Beckerman says, “Sophie Blackall has created a bookstore you’ll fall in love with.” I couldn’t agree more.
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Jan 30, 2012 Jim Coughenour rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: illustration, justforfun

Sophie Blackwell has the wit, whimsy and craft to carry off the almost-perfect concept of illustrating "missed connections" ads. "If you like doing something," she explains, "find a way to call it work." The reproductions of her fanciful illuminations (painted with Chinese ink and beguiling watercolor on Arches hot press paper) are fairly fabulous. And the ads themselves have the charm of found poetry. One (my favorite) is the tiny heartbreaking story of a 60-something gentleman looking for anot...more

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Jan 17, 2012 Clarabel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

Missed Connections est à la base un site où des inconnus adressent à d'autres inconnus des petites annonces suite à leur rencontre furtive, mais intuitive. Ce sont des petites bouteilles lancées à la mer. Sophie Blackall a découvert ce phénomène et s'est aussitôt passionnée pour toutes ces histoires, à tel point qu'elle a rassemblé les textes les plus drôles, les plus poignants, les plus poétiques dans un recueil, en y apportant sa touche personnelle, à savoir les illustrations. Le résultat est...more

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Jan 05, 2012 Katherine rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Amy

I've followed the Missed Connections blog for a good while now and even own one of her prints. I didn't really know what to expect from her book, but she wrote a lovely introduction (with a bit of career advice, even: "if you like doing something, find a way to call it work") with her thoughts on why people post these missed connections on Craiglist in the first place and why other people are then drawn to read them and to her art. Apparently she's been asked to illustrated the wedding invitatio...more

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Nov 10, 2011 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars

Long ago, when I was working in this bar that had once been popular, but was seedy and dying by the time I became employed there, a young good-looking guy from out of town showed up one night and stayed til closing.
Oddly, at the end of the hippie era, the guy had long hair, but wore a suit. He was fascinating, but was only in Columbus for a couple of days, then was going back wherever home was.
He asked me out, but no way. I told him I didn't date the customers. When he pressed, I told him the tr...more

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Feb 07, 2012 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Sophie Blackall's "Missed Connections: Love, Lost & Found" is a sweet but not sugary small confection. Blackall, an artist, blogger and reader of on-line postings of "missed connections" has turned these sometimes silly, often wistful messages — very short short stories — into a book of arresting images. Each tale is told in a single image illustrated with Blackall's watercolors and calligraphy.

The book — at only $14.00 — would make a much longer lasting impression than flowers or candy at...more

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Jul 23, 2012 Andrea Mullarkey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic, stories

In this lovely little book Sophie Blackall has collected dozens of her illustrations of Missed Connections ads, those shot in the dark personals people write to others they almost but didn’t quite meet. The ads themselves run the gamut from direct to romantic and often include quirky details. Blackall uses these details as the basis for whimsical paintings which visualize and narrate the ads. The overall effect is sweet and a little dreamy. As readers we get to imagine all these relationships th...more

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Dec 19, 2011 Sarah BT rated it 4 of 5 stars

3.5/5 Stars

Not my usual fare, I know, but I do read some adult titles once in awhile! This book has been on my radar since I got the Love at First Sight poster from ALA which features a missed connection in a bookstore. (Sadly, this print is not incldued in the book).

I love Sophie Blackall's artwork, so I was very excited for this collection! We've all read missed connections, right? (Admit it, I'm not the only one!) It's a fascinating peek into another person's story and in some ways it gives...more

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Feb 19, 2012 Katie rated it 5 of 5 stars

"We have only one life, and we rush through it. We make choices and follow paths and we don't linger too long at crossroads. Moments of intimacy with strangers are minor detours we rarely explore, but those moments make us feel alive, and human, and part of something greater than ourselves."

Sophie Blackall's gorgeous illustrations truly capture the hope beauty of Missed Connections posts on craigslist. Her visual interpretations bring a certain feeling of nostalgia and whimsy to these encounters...more

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Sep 27, 2011 Allizabeth Collins rated it 5 of 5 stars

Description:[return][return] Almost everyone who uses Craigslist.com has heard about the Missed Connection classifieds; a place where strangers who have chance encounters write posts in hopes of finding a “missed connection.” Detailing whatever they remember, (no matter how insignificant), these strangers describe places, faces, clothing, and other accoutrements that may, or may not, lead them to people they want another chance with.[return] [return] Once Sophie Blackall discovered Missed Connec...more

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Jul 01, 2012 Jill rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: a-way-of-seeing, artist, illustration-art, merriment, picture-book

First found the Sophie Blackall drawings here:

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.ph...

and then found her blog...

http://missedconnectionsny.blogspot.ca/

and then!
only to discover
I had seen her work on recent trip to New York
riding the subway!

discovered she was the artist for the endearing long skinny MTA posters, seen June 2012...

http://missedconnectionsny.blogspot.c...

and there's more,
a new project
is at the Brooklyn Public Library no less,
now until Aug. 24, 2012:

http://drawnfrommyfathersadve ...more

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Jan 03, 2012 Raina rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, nonfic

I couldn't help but compare this to I Saw You...: Comics Inspired by Real Life Missed Connections edited by Julia Wertz, as well as Lust: Kinky Online Personal Ads from Seattle's The Stranger by Ellen Forney. In many ways, this is a much gentler version of the latter - there is very little expansion or story added to the words of the ad (and it's definitely not a comic book). Blackall's illustrations are quirky and even a little edgy, but in a super sweet way.

I like her pictures, but I wanted mo...more

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Nov 18, 2011 Emily rated it 5 of 5 stars

I, like Sophie Blackall, have oft been fascinated by Missed Connections on Craigslist- they are a reminder of humanity, of strangeness and hope, fear and regret. People on the street seem a little more interesting- it gives me (and my 'runaway imagination') an opportunity to weave fictional threads of strangers and their stories as I see them in town, at work, in the supermarket (What peaches and what penumbras!).
From her eloquent preface to her beautiful painted renditions, Sophie Blackall spo...more

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Mar 02, 2013 Preeti rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: comics-graphic, new-york

So Sophie Blackall is an illustrator but damn, can she write! Reading through the introduction of this charming book made me wish it lasted longer than it did. Her writing is sweet and poignant, and itself full of hope, much like the Missed Connections she illustrates. Not to mention she references David Attenborough in the introduction and what could be better?!

Basically a lovely little book illustrating missed connections around New York City. One of my favorites was Phoenix w/Crutches, p40.

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Oct 06, 2011 Jackie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 5-star, nonfiction, pleasure-reading, work-review-related-reading

The world, or a least a very large chunk of it, is obsessed with the "Missed Connections" personal ads. Sophie Blackall is one of them. Fortunately for us, she's also a very gifted artist (she's the illustrator of the "Ivy and Bean" children's series among many others). She combines these two passions in this book to create a stunningly lovely, impossible to put down book. The longing, the romance, the regret and the humor that is so much part of these ads are visualized, fascinating, and unforg...more

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Aug 05, 2012 Becky rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: age-adult-books, age-high-school, gift-books, words-and-pictures

Loved it. Thanks to Mandy K for getting it for me from her library! Sophie Blackall's illustrations of the most unusual and whimsical "Missed Connections" postings are one of my favorite words-and-pictures combos out there, and now I've been to her blog and Etsy shop and want her to be my best friend. (Also, I wish I had a subway to ride and people-watch.) While reading this, I thought of Nick Bantock, Maira Kalman, Audrey Niffenegger, and, a little bit, Edward Gorey.

From the introduction:

"My Tu...more

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Feb 24, 2012 nicole j. wroblewski rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, art

See my full review (with images) on my blog. Otherwise:

There are a lot of blogs turning book these days. By far, one of happiest leaps from digital back to paper is Sophie Blackall's Missed Connections. Maybe you aren't familiar with her illustrations for the Ivy & Bean chapter book series I'm always raving about like a crazy too-old-to-care-so-much preson, or have no reason to be aware of her penchant for drawing wild boars in plaid shorts, but if you haven't seen her work pinned, tumbled,...more See my full review (with images) on my blog. Otherwise:

There are a lot of blogs turning book these days. By far, one of happiest leaps from digital back to paper is Sophie Blackall's Missed Connections. Maybe you aren't familiar with her illustrations for the Ivy & Bean chapter book series I'm always raving about like a crazy too-old-to-care-so-much preson, or have no reason to be aware of her penchant for drawing wild boars in plaid shorts, but if you haven't seen her work pinned, tumbled, or tweeted somewhere down the line... you must not be very good at the internet. Mine is just one of many, many blogged odes to her series of watercolor illustrations depicting various love (mis)connections from the Craigslist's personals page of the same name.

On the pages of the New York City Craigslist, city dwellers post short descriptive messages to The Ones that Got Away following brief, spark-filled encounters in bookstores, at parties, on rooftops and inside subway cars, in half-hopes of getting a response. These micro tales of love lost and found, as the Missed Connections book subtitle reads, are the subject of Blackall's art. As words on a page, the posts offer commiseration, hope, reliability and, above all else, voyeuristic amusement. In Sophie Blackall's clever and playful illustrations, though, could-have-been should-have-been couples somehow become more real even as she paints their situations more whimsically and definitely more romantically than reality tends to play out.

You can see most of these images online already though, right? So why by the book? Well, because it's book, number one. And we all know that books are better. But if that answer wasn't so obvious to you, here's a less rhetorical one: The layout is simple an elegant. The left page is blank, except for the text of the original Craigslist post. The right page features a 7.5" x 5.75" full color reproduction to pour over. It's a clean layout that really highlights the story and the work. And you also want Blackall's sweet and funny introduction because she's a well spoken woman. And best of all, you get to share it with your friends. I put my copy down for just second and my husband Ben immediately snatched it away and wouldn't give it back without flipping through several more images. It's captivating. And if like me, you love the work but can't decide which of the 38 prints available in her Etsy shop is most right for your apartment walls, you can own all 56 images for only $13.95. Seriously. $13.95. I'm confident that Missed Connections would be the one art book on your coffee table that everyone actually wants to look at. That's why.

Personally, my eyeballs aren't up for lingering over anything for too long on the computer. With the book and the easy chronology it affords sitting in one's lap, I made a fun connection I hadn't noticed on the blog. On page 31 you see "Nose Bleed on the F". Then, on page 71 you come across "Bonsai Girl" wearing the same polka dot dress. And those elbow patches. Then, the final illustration features the same couple, in a big fireworks-exploding smooch-fest. The accompanying text simply reads "I can't believe I found you". Makes me wonder if one of the stories was from a couple Blackall actually heard from that had found each other (in her introduction she says that this has happened on a few occasions). A bit of mystery that makes me want to pour over the illustrations some more in search of further connections.

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Nov 26, 2011 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reads

On my fridge hangs a clipping from Folio Weekly’s “I Saw You” section, which is the most well-known of the local venues in which to pursue a missed connection, one of those chance encounters that happen daily in crowded elevators, at traffic lights, or in grocery check-out lines that you believe - had you been born a braver, more forward soul - could have lead to more. This particular “I Saw You,” which has graced my Frigidaire for the last five years, isn’t actually about me – but if you squint...more On my fridge hangs a clipping from Folio Weekly’s “I Saw You” section, which is the most well-known of the local venues in which to pursue a missed connection, one of those chance encounters that happen daily in crowded elevators, at traffic lights, or in grocery check-out lines that you believe - had you been born a braver, more forward soul - could have lead to more. This particular “I Saw You,” which has graced my Frigidaire for the last five years, isn’t actually about me – but if you squint it could be. Such is my fascination with missed connections that I keep it there just for its close resemblance to a meeting I could have had.

I’m far from the only person attracted to missed connections, whether they show up in Folio, on Craigslist, or at the eponymous website. Sophie Blackall, illustrator of the Ivy and Bean series for children, discovered the phenomenon in March of 2009 when a good-looking man on the subway platform outside of her car met her eyes and mouthed the words at her, presumably hoping she’d find him that way. Blackall went home, did a little Googling, and fell in love – not with the guy, but with the stories she found, many of which were haiku-like in their brevity and eccentric beauty. That first meeting turned into a long-running affair, and the Australian-born artist launched a blog where she posted Chinese ink and watercolor interpretive paintings of some of the classifieds that most fired her imagination. These lovely and unique pieces are now collected in Missed Connections: Love, Lost & Found.

What Blackall offers are not stories, but tantalizing fragments. Each piece takes its title from its Craigslist tagline, and the contents page reads like the world’s most awkwardly descriptive roll-call. “Bleeding Nose on the F,” “Hot Toll Collector,” and “Freckles and Bruises” tell us nothing, really, about those seeking or sought, but somehow under Blackall’s sure hand their lost opportunities become vividly real and frequently heartbreaking. Possibly the most beautifully written (and by far the longest) personal in the collection, “The Whale at Coney Island,” leaves the reader so bereft that one might suggest the author consider a deluxe edition that comes with a box of Kleenex.

Missed Connections’ appeal is, of course, the same kind of voyeurism that makes Post Secret so wildly popular, but Blackall’s deliberate choice of the more ambiguous messages and her soft, somewhat fantastical renderings of them make her work seem far less intrusive than that confessional juggernaut. At the heart, though, there’s something even more powerful than voyeurism that draws us in. As the author puts it, each work is part “of a story containing great big familiar themes of love, loss, and regret and, ultimately, hope. It’s a hopeless sort of hope, but it’s very compelling.” Thus Missed Connections is about second chances; about the shot in the dark, the message in the bottle, the one-in-a-million chance of your lost opportunity finding you again, of the meetings you could have had if only you’d done things a little bit different.
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Sep 21, 2012 Rhea Abramson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Found this amazing book at my favorite independent bookstore and loved it so much I bought one of her prints for my home. Her drawings that illustrate people who are attracted to one another but don't even speak are imaginative, whimsical and GORGEOUS. A beautiful gift or book to own to flip through and play a game of what if I had talked to that stranger. I heart Sophie Blackall...started buying her childrens books as gifts for my friends kids.

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Sep 21, 2012 Rachael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sweet-subversive, true-love-non-fiction, art-non-fiction, break-my-heart, commencement-and-reminders-to-live, humorous-non-fiction, love-is-strange, memior, romance, short-takes, skinny-punch, smart-chick-lit

Based on Missed Connections posts from Craigslist, author/illustrator Sophie Blackall presents us with a collection of paintings. The stories she tells, both with the postings (included, frequently as captions to the paintings) and the art she's created from them, are by turns delightful, kooky, heartrending and aching/wistful. Most appropriate for those not offended by brief nudity and mention of same gender attraction, though nothing in here is graphic.

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Jan 19, 2012 Shauna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Lovely, whimsical, quirky illustrations from the author's imagination bring missed connections posts to life. Really made me think about those kinds of moments in my own life--not necessarily romantic missed connections, just times when a stranger's life has bumped up on? intruded? interrupted? my own absorption with my life and my cares enough to make me pause and wonder for a moment. If that makes any sense...

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Jun 20, 2012 Donna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Combine one of my favorite illustrators with the voyeurism of Craig's List Missed Connection section and you have the making of a bittersweet homage to losing one's nerve only to find it again too late. It's more of a book of wonderfully imagined paintings, but Ms. Blackall's introduction is a fine, albeit short read that perfectly sets the tone for these brief appeals for extraordinary occurrences.

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Aug 29, 2012 Efox rated it 5 of 5 stars

This picture book for adults is a beautiful, fascinating and surprisingly touching book of illustrations of Missed Connections posts. Some of them are funny, some are confessional, some wistful, all beautifully imagined and illustrated by Sophie Blackall. I saw an interview with some of these pictures and I was inspired to check out the book. It was well worth it. Highly recommend it!

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Dec 31, 2011 Angela rated it 5 of 5 stars

If I put this book on a shelf, in some sort of category, it would be "romance" or "art", "illustrated non-fiction" or "soci-cultural explorations" but none of those do it justice. Blackall's introduction and accompanying art enhance a romantic ideal. I could read this book 100 times, and never tire of it's beauty, charm and hopefulness.

A great gift for a special lady friend.

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Dec 12, 2011 Carmine rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, romance

This is a lovely read for hopeless romantics, people who send messages in bottles, and ritually scan the 'I saw you' section of the classifieds. Illustrator Sophie Blackall has gathered and illustrated some of her favorite 'Missed Connections' from Craigslist. Some funny, some sad and all sure to strike a chord with those who believe in love at first sight.

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Oct 17, 2011 Candy rated it 3 of 5 stars

For hopeless romantics like me, and all who love Hugh Grant movies and "meet cute" stories, this is your kind of book. It's a cleverly illustrated take on those Missed Connections ads where one glimpse, an accidental nudge, a spark in a shared smile left someone regretful that he/she didn't make a move. "Why didn't I say something to him/her?" It's a picture book for adults.

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Jun 06, 2012 Brooke rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: art, nonfiction

If you know me, you know I love anything that mixes art and writing and the internet. Sophie Blackall finds poetic little Craigslist ads and illustrates them. Many of them are set in Brooklyn, in neighborhoods I lived in, and so I can really picture these scenarios. Also, the illustrations are gorgeous. I especially love the bonsai girl one.

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About Sophie Blackall

Sophie Blackall grew up in Australia where she learned to draw on the beach with sticks, which has not altogether helped her sense of perspective. She completed a Bachelor of Design in Sydney, which furnished her with useful Letraset, bromide and enlarger machine skills. The following few years were spent painting robotic characters for theme parks, providing the hands for a DIY television show, a...more

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Quotes from Missed Connections: Lo...

“I have a confession to make. I don’t really want to know. I like a happy ending as well as the next person, but I love the mystery and the uncertainty and the electric current of possibility. There’s a reason the best love stories end at the first kiss. Jane Austen had this down; it’s all about the chase. We’re not really interested in Elizabeth and Darcy after the wedding bells fade, or in Cinderella and her prince after the slipper is returned.” — 9 people liked it

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Missed Connections: Love, Lost & Found

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