What do women want? Love letters

They called the show "Sex and the City" but as those of us who used to watch it know, far more often it was about love – or the search for a close facsimile, anyway. So there's nothing surprising about the fact that in the movie version we see Carrie sitting in bed reading a book called "Love Letters From Great Men" (and pondering tender words from lovers as diverse as Beethoven and Napoleon.)

What is kind of funny, however, is last week's Associated Press story on the hundreds of queries retailers have received from readers looking for that book. Unfortunately, it doesn't exist.

The closest equivalent title is a book called "Love Letters from Great Men and Women: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present Day" first issued in the 1920s. The book was reissued last year and is now available online. Proving that romance never goes out of style – and that Carrie Bradshaw has a lot of eager imitators – as of last week that book was ranked No. 134 on Amazon.com.