Choosing five books to guide your writing should be difficult considering how many are available. But, the truth is my choices aren’t necessarily the books that will tell you how to write a beautiful sentence, or to craft a perfect poem. No, this is a very personal choice because these are the books that helped me become a writer in the first place. The authors helped give me the permission to put my pen to paper by giving me, not a list of rules and what-not-to’s, but the confidence I could do it my way.

My first book is Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones. I’ve given many copies of this book to friends as presents over the years because it is so inspiring and different. The book is split it into small essays, some only a page long, with titles ranging from “Why Do I Write?” to “The Action of a Sentence” to “Fighting Tofu” – as this suggests, the information given ranges from the practical to the zany. Most have a writing prompt attached, and you can either work your way through or dip in and out. As well as being a truly engaging writer, Natalie Goldberg is both a runner and a Buddhist, and the reason I mention this is because hers is the best account of how every bit of a writer’s life becomes part of their work too.

» Read More or Leave a Comment

When I first read about Ian Kerner I was intrigued. A hot Dad, a PhD in Clinical Sexology and a tell all, witty writer…quite a nice package. I hopped on his website and picked out a few titles I thought were interesting. He has written books geared for women, married and single, new parents and men.

The first one to appear at our library was She Comes First. Getting that call from the librarian to pick up my book on hold was a little awkward, but I bet she peeked inside…what living, woman with a pulse wouldn’t?

Coreplay

The cover is hilarious, a large photograph of a juicy passion fruit cut in half, then a sly banana peeking out in the background, love it! I spent an evening skimming his 220 pages of advice and it was good. This man knows his vajay jays. He even teaches six step by step routines in guy lingo. There are simple but effective line drawings throughout as well. Did you know the clitoris has eighteen parts? I didn’t. According to this enlightened specimen of sexual know how oral sex shouldn’t be considered foreplay, but rather coreplay. He teaches the reader that oral sex is the best way to lead a woman though the entire sexual response.

» Read More or Leave a Comment

As Carrie and Danielle tell us in their manifesto of style, “Style matters. The design of your life can inspire or mire you. Every aesthetic and material choice sends a message to the world about who you are, and the world responds accordingly.” I think Nina Garcia must have read Style Statement before writing The One Hundred: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own. Garcia (of Project Runway fame) knows the importance of style, and she wants you to know, too.

In The One Hundred, Garcia sets out to identify THE one hundred essential pieces in a stylish wardrobe. The idea was born not only from the fact that Garcia is a style editor, and “what are the essential pieces” is the one question she is always asked, but also from an apartment renovation. While her apartment is being renovated, Garcia has been living in a transient place a few blocks away, and once in a while she braves the plastic, dust, and construction equipment to sneak into her closet to grab a few things. She realized over time that the things she would go back for were her “essential” items.

» Read More or Leave a Comment

There have been periods in my life when I’ve journaled frantically, recording the day-to-day details and meanderings as though my memory relied on it. And there have been times—like now, for instance—when journaling seems like a silly thing for me to do. As a rule, I don’t think that keeping a journal is by any means silly…in fact, it generally seems like an important activity, and I’d like to get my diary mojo back.

In hopes of doing just that, I plucked from the bookstore shelf Note to Self: On Keeping a Journal and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Samara O’Shea. O’Shea is a young writer with a relatively diverse background, and I had high hopes that she and I would have some things in common. Perhaps she, too, has difficulty being faithful to her journal and would have helpful advice about how to reclaim the habit. Sadly, I did not find what I was looking for.

O’Shea’s writing is at once conversational, luscious, and funny, and the excerpts chosen for each chapter—both from her own diary and from those who’ve gone before her—are beautiful and expertly chosen. The reading itself was highly enjoyable. I should just be happy with that…bathe in O’Shea’s lovely words and leave it alone.

» Read More or Leave a Comment

This book review was sent in by Heidi, one of our readers. She’s been recommending it to all her girlfriends and thinks you might enjoy it too. Thank you for sharing Heidi!

. . .

I just wanted to drop a line to recommend the book that I’m currently obsessed with. It’s called 9 Secrets to Bedroom Bliss: Exploring Sexual Archetypes to Reveal Your Lover’s Passions and Discover What Turns You On by Jim Herriot, though the title is a bit deceiving. The title makes it sound like this is a book for someone who isn’t satisfied in the bedroom, but it’s really about finding out what kind of archetype you most relate to in bed, which archetype your partner most relates to and how to explore other types and enjoy multi-dimensional sex. (If you’re not familiar with archetypes, an archetype is like a basic character that exists for all of humanity, and you can chose to play one for variety, but everyone has one that is their “home” archetype and feels most comfortable too.)

» Read More or Leave a Comment