Imagine a project — a spouse-selection project. But nothing is going the way you planned. You’re looking for someone to share your life with and you’ve got specific criteria; meanwhile the person you actually spend all your time with, and enjoy spending time with, is the exact opposite of those criteria. What would you do? What would you think?

Spoiler ahead. As the title suggests, there’s a character called Rosie; and there’s Don, an academic who has no idea he’s developing feelings for her. Don has built a questionnaire to find a partner — anyone who wants to meet him has to fill it out first, after which he goes to dinner with whoever fits. Only one person fits — but things absolutely don’t go to plan. Meanwhile Rosie, whose answers would be the opposite of his criteria and who knows nothing about the questionnaire, is actually the person he’s looking for — and Don himself doesn’t realise this almost until the very end.

Why exactly do we love someone? Honestly, I don’t know. But the day I figure it out, I’ll try to put it into words as best I can. The book is 347 pages, but I finished it in 2 days on the metro and the bus. A one-shot, light read — doesn’t require much thought; if you follow the plot, the whole thread is easy to keep up with. Between heavier reads, this kind of book is a nice breather.

One last thought: to find true love — the other half of your life — you don’t need a questionnaire, you need a few good words.

Loving takes heart, sustaining it takes labour. Love isn’t lump-in-throat, nor candle-lit dinners, nor an expensive diamond. Love is two happy people sharing one bite.

— Nâzım Hikmet

Let me close with a song that fits the mood: