Product Description

We may not admit it, but we’re all curious about what goes on in other people’s bedrooms. After all, we live in a world saturated with sex, which makes it tough not to wonder how we measure up—and even tougher to talk about our intimate experiences honestly. In this frank, poignant collection, twenty-six acclaimed writers go Behind the Bedroom Door and lay bare the messy, mind-blowing, often hilarious encounters that make up a woman’s history.

By sharing their stories, authors like Susan Cheever, Hope Edelman, and Julie Powell bravely open a window on the passions, predilections and problems that we encounter between the sheets. In doing so, they reassure us that whatever we feel, whatever we do or don’t do in the bedroom, we’re not alone.

Telling the truth about sex—how we like it, how often we get it, how it affects us—isn’t easy. This eye-opening anthology tells the truth about women’s intimate lives, shattering some deeply entrenched myths about what goes on in the bedrooms of real women along the way: Susan Cheever upends conventional notions about women, sex, and sentiment in her essay “In Praise of One-Night Stands.”… Sex is the last thing on Lauren Slater’s mind when the bestselling author and psychologist reveals a few surprising truths, even joys, about her virtually sexless marriage in “Overcome.”… Julie Powell serves up a searing chronicle of an illicit affair in “Lost in Space”; and novelist Valerie Frankel takes a decidedly lighter view in “Ouch, You’re Lying on My Hair.”

Whether you’re twenty or seventy, single or perpetually coupled up, these frank, seriously sexy essays provide a deeply illuminating, ultimately comforting no-holds-barred look at our most private selves. Gutsy and provocative, they reveal a great deal about how far we’ve come—and how far we still have to go.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #132123 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12-30
• Released on: 2008-12-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780385341547
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Journalist Derrow has selected essays that explore the wealth and variety of female sexual experience, making for a gender-transcending tale of sex lives that manages to be philosophical, poignant—and a great bit of naughty fun. From Hope Edelman's essay on her first love, who helped her cope with her mother's struggle with breast cancer, in The Sweetest Sex I Never Had, to Lauren Slater's joyful paean to married celibacy, Julie Powell's frank recollection of cheating on her husband with a man who fulfills her masochistic fantasies, these stories are private and fraught, frank and self-aware. The women represented are old and young; lesbian, bisexual and straight. They draw attention to the special way sex evolves for women (as in Pari Chang's essay on sex during pregnancy); their experience is so varied that it is likely readers will recognize their own untold stories and sexual selves in this collection. (Dec.)
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Review
“A collection of smart, steamy, and incredibly honest essays about sex by women writers.”—Redbook magazine

“The 26 writers included here . . . make a compelling case for the argument that even when we wish it weren’t so, the role sex plays in one’s life is both too complex and too fundamental to be easily classified . . ..Though the authors’ confessed desires and stories are often illuminating and hilarious, the anthology is most fascinating for all of the contradictions it lays bare…the range of voices makes [the anthology] successful.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Editor Paula Derrow knew what she was doing….Because so much in this book is so personal, I wager the reader’s experience will be personal too….I hope this anthology and its many fine sisters become a door to a more extended experience for all.”—Los Angeles Times

“It is likely readers will recognize their own untold stories and sexual selves…. [In] selected essays that explore the wealth and variety of female sexual experience, making for a gender-transcending tale of sex lives that manages to be philosophical, poignant—and a great bit of naughty fun.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Editor Paula Derrow knew what she was doing—depth, variety and intensity of personal revelation was clearly something she valued."—Los Angeles Times

"The range of voices makes it successful."—San Francisco Chronicle


From the Hardcover edition.

Review
“A collection of smart, steamy, and incredibly honest essays about sex by women writers.”—Redbook magazine

“The 26 writers included here . . . make a compelling case for the argument that even when we wish it weren’t so, the role sex plays in one’s life is both too complex and too fundamental to be easily classified . . ..Though the authors’ confessed desires and stories are often illuminating and hilarious, the anthology is most fascinating for all of the contradictions it lays bare…the range of voices makes [the anthology] successful.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Editor Paula Derrow knew what she was doing….Because so much in this book is so personal, I wager the reader’s experience will be personal too….I hope this anthology and its many fine sisters become a door to a more extended experience for all.”—Los Angeles Times

“It is likely readers will recognize their own untold stories and sexual selves…. [In] selected essays that explore the wealth and variety of female sexual experience, making for a gender-transcending tale of sex lives that manages to be philosophical, poignant—and a great bit of naughty fun.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Editor Paula Derrow knew what she was doing—depth, variety and intensity of personal revelation was clearly something she valued."—Los Angeles Times

"The range of voices makes it successful."—San Francisco Chronicle

Customer Reviews

A Fun, Entertaining Look Behind the Door of Single Modern Women
Sex and love and making love are slightly "risque" topics, not generally written about so openly in contemporary literature. Through the essays of 26 very talented female writers/thinkers, we are given front seats to their intimate sexual experiences.

There is something here for everyone. Shared stories, challenges, passions and troubles. We hear stories of love affairs, one night stands, entertaining afternoons, and daydreams that really occurred! There is sex and passion, but, equally as important, compassion and love. Some love fleeting and some passion everlasting, but all sweet and all beautifully shared.

This book may not be for prudes, but such opinions are best left to other readers to discuss and comment on.

This is a wonderful book to read and reread. After a few reads, one can keep on their bed stand and select chapters for rereading based on one's own needs, moods, and current experiences.

Highly recommended to enjoy and share with girlfriends!!!

Super Book,Super read,Super Sex
I loved reading this book.As a 71 year old grandmother, I did not expect to relate to the authors of these essays. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that I did. This is a book women and men all ages will enjoy.

Joyce G.

Well worth the read.
OK. So I didn't know what to expect when I started to read this book. I was expecting something more erotic, but instead found it incredibly insightful. Each essay is written by a different author, in a different situation, and at a different point in her life (emotionally, maritally, age-wise, etc.). What brings them together is great writing, and remarkable honesty.