books

Entries Tagged as 'books'

(More) words I don’t want to see in erotica

August 27th, 2010 · View Comments · books, reviews, writing

I wanted to have something new here just in case anyone reading over at Pens Fatales stopped by — not that I expect it, but I I hope a few people do, because new readers are always welcome (not that old readers aren’t, but you know what I mean) — but for the potential people [...]

So ready for fall

August 26th, 2010 · View Comments · books, writing

Summer is almost over. Can I get an AMEN? What a clunker. There were bright spots, to be sure, with more to come before Labor Day, but I am more than ready to put this season to bed. Bring on autumn, with its sweater weather and pretty colors and delicious smells and harvests. Yeah, OK, [...]

About Two Books: (Murder at) Mansfield Park

August 25th, 2010 · View Comments · books, reviews

As some of you know, I’ve been reviewing books for RT Book Reviews for a little over a year, and specifically mysteries and thrillers for the past seven or so months. Because I live close to the RT office, I’ve been known to stroll over to pick over the selections and take back a bundle [...]

In which I start talking about mysteries but wind up elsewhere

June 14th, 2010 · View Comments · books, projects, writing

I went to a marvelous place on Thursday night called the Mysterious Bookshop. Mysterious indeed. Not only is it a speciality bookstore dealing only in mysteries, thrillers, crime and espionage novels (as well as rare and out-of-print editions), but I had no idea it existed, despite its being around for almost 30 years. It used [...]

Tomato Canapes ala Esquire’s Handbook for Hosts

May 14th, 2010 · View Comments · books, food, seriously?

In honor of Friday, in honor of it being the 15th of May [update: except it's the 14th. Don't mind me. I have absolutely no concept of time anymore], and in honor of this vintage ad Dan posted to my Facebook Wall yesterday: (Tomato jam? Delicious. Tomato Jell-o? Bluh. Discuss.) May I present to you [...]

How Attractive are You to Women?

April 9th, 2010 · View Comments · books, seriously?

Being the Handbook for Hosts companion quiz to “How Attractive are You to Men?” First things first. You can click for a larger image, but what I want to point out first is the illustration chosen to accompany this quiz. Please compare it with the illustration accompanying the quiz for women. The woman is a [...]

How Attractive are You to Men?

April 6th, 2010 · View Comments · books, seriously?

The Esquire Handbook for Hosts has a list of questions you can ask yourself for self-diagnosis, followed by tips on how to modify your behavior, if necessary. Let us enter the world of delightfully antediluvian heteronormativity! (click to embiggen) Ha ha! Look at the illustration of the unattractive woman! Her hair is stringy! Her teeth [...]

My new go-to party handbook

April 5th, 2010 · View Comments · books

You guys. On the right, one of my new plants, as yet unnamed. (I name my plants. What?) On the left, the greatest book ever. It’s Esquire’s Handbook for Hosts, published in 1949. Dan found it while cleaning his apartment. He says it belonged to his grandfather, and Dan took it a long time ago, [...]

Stop it: a half-baked, directionless rant on erotica

March 16th, 2010 · View Comments · books, reviews, writing

For the last 10 months I’ve been a freelance book reviewer. Most of what I’ve been reading and passing judgment on is erotica, which in itself is a category more widely varied than you might think. There’s contemporary and historical erotica, paranormal erotica, erotic suspense, and so on. Just like your basic porn movies — [...]

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Tags:BDSM·erotic fiction·erotica

Thoughts prompted by The Happiness Project

February 12th, 2010 · View Comments · books, reviews, writing

Here’s how I found out about Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project: I saw that she was following me on the Twitter. I noticed straight away that she’s a real person — I think Twitterers know what I mean, but I define a real person as someone who uses Twitter for honest reasons, by which I mean [...]

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