Review: Been There, Haven't Done That by Tara McCarthy

Seems a little odd to call a memoir about not having sex a sexual memoir, but that is indeed what this "virgin's memoir" really is. McCarthy decided long ago that her virginity was not something to be given lightly and she chronicles the many failed relationships in her past that make her glad to have stuck to her principles. She fully admits that she is quite sexually experienced for a virgin. And there are some discussions in the book that might make the reader wonder just what definition of sex she's using in declaring herself a virgin. Some might be unkind enough to say that she's using the same definition that the news would have you believe is prevalent in high schools today (that oral sex is not in fact sex) or to which one of our former Presidents subscribed. Clearly she's of the camp that only actual penetration of one sexual organ by another counts. I disagree with her but thought her account of her relationships up to age 25 would be interesting despite our differing viewpoints.

Sex aside, her relationships are the same as relationships the world over, fraught with the same problems as any other. Interestingly, the older she gets, the less pressure she faces from her boyfriends (most fairly short term--she says she averaged about 4 months or so in a relationship there at one point) to have sex and she is conflicted about this. She spends much of the book repeatedly asserting that she is happy with her choice to remain a virgin and reflecting that her decision is more about her than about the guys in her life but it's a little disingenuous for her to be bothered when they respect her decision without pressuring her.

She does touch on the pervasiveness of sex in our culture and the way that we readily assume, even expect, sexual relationships between couples. She talks about her early feelings that virginity was shameful, something to hide and the way in which she has come to be proud of her sticking to her convictions and openly admits to her virginity (after all, how much more open can you be than to publish a book announcing it to the world?). The big problem is that she merely touches on these aspects of her decision while detailing her fairly repetitive relationship exploits. While the topic is thought-provoking, the book went on too long, starting to sound as if she had written it to help convince herself that her stance was indeed the one in which she wanted to continue. Now I don't think that's actually true, but the refrain was very much in the broken record vein by the time I turned the last page. Certainly a provocative subject, I wish there had been more memoir or more sociological study, not a tepid mix of the two.

Review: Ill-Equipped For a Life of Sex by Jennifer Lehr

I admit it. The title of this book is absolutely the reason I picked the book up. It made me think of girls not too many generations back being told to lay back and think of England while their husbands took care of his business. Now they were truly ill-equipped for a life of sex. But I had to wonder how anyone in this over-exposed, tell-all world could possibly qualify as ill-equipped unless they grew up in some sort of strange puritanish cult, which Lehr clearly did not.

Lehr's memoir of her sexual life, including but not limited to her marriage and disappointing sex life with her adored husband, is brutally honest, graphic, and lays it all on the line for the reader. Lehr details the couples counseling that she and husband John attend in an effort to get to the bottom of their sexual dysfunction. Interspersed with therapy chapters, Lehr also traces her sexual history and the disappointments she suffered in bed along the way to meeting her husband.

Most people would not be so forthright about sex in general and their sex lives in particular but Lehr invites readers into her bedroom and into her head as she sorts through the myriad feelings that can either support or sabotage sexuality. Her openess occasionally induces cringing in this reader but since her husband ostensibly gave his permission for her to over-share, it was short-lived. Unfortunately there were other issues with the book that took away from any pleasure in reading it. The writing is rather puerile and language is often inserted simply for shock value and not because the cruder term suits the narrative. This makes it feel as if the text is trying to come off as fresh and current but is instead the equivalent of parents trying too hard, using language not native to them. The chapters are short and choppy, with the slight sound of a diary confession. Sadly, I've never enjoyed reading anyone's diary, not my daughter's and not even my own from back in the day. Diaries are pretty self-absorbed and narcissistic and this memoir (unintentionally) captures that feel. By the end I just didn't care if Jennifer and John had ever achieved a satisfying sex life. I just wanted out of their therapy sessions and out of their very public bedroom. Those with a prurient interest in others' sex lives and in the concept of great sex not necessarily following on love will want to read this one, all others can safely skip it.

Themed Reading Challenge

I love coming up with my own theme so the Themed Reading Challenge is one I enjoy every year. Last year my theme was Austenesque books. I have enough of these still left that I could do this again this year. But I like variety and have a desire to disappoint all those who land on the blog expecting to be titillated after googling the word sex so I am changing up and overlapping with my ThemeQuest theme: sex. All my books this year are thematically linked by sexuality. I am hvaing to change out one book because I'd already read it before this challenge started but surprisingly, I had at least one more on my shelf to fill in the gap.

1. Ill-Equipped for a Life of Sex by Jennifer Lehr
2. Been There, Haven’t Done That by Tara McCarthy
3. The Sex Life of My Aunt by Mavis Cheek
4. A Round-Heeled Woman by Jane Juska
5. Thoughts While Having Sex by Stephanie Lehmann

Check out the challenge rules for more information (and more sane themes).

Review: Mr. Darcy's Daughters by Elizabeth Aston

As Pride and Prejudice fans the world over know, there is only one Jane Austen and she did not write a follow-up to her beloved novel. So we are left with modern authors trying to take pen in hand (keyboard in fingers just doesn't sound as good, does it?) and explore the world so many of us are loathe to leave once the last page is turned.

This isn't properly a sequel really as it takes on a whole raft of new characters in the persons of Darcy and Lizzie's five daughters but it does include some of the characters from the original. Wait, you say. You think you've read something before about five unmarried daughters, some of whom get into scandals or scrapes. Yes, Aston has tried to mimic the form of the original. However, she has done this to the detriment of the original Austen characters. Darcy and Lizzie have left for a diplomatic posting in Constantinople, leaving the chaperonage of their five daughters to Colonel Fitzwilliam and his wife. This diplomatic posting means that we don't get to see our favorite hero and heroine at all. And amazingly, the Darcy daughters are as silly or flighty or rigid as the Bennet sisters were. Colonel Fitzwilliam is nothing like his character in the original, nor are the other Austen creations.

As an entry into the "following in Austen's footsteps" canon, this is a disappointment. However, if you can read this without connecting it to Pride and Prejudice, this is rather an entertaining story. The Regency setting is well-researched and generally a favorite historical time of mine. The girls are perhaps a bit risque for genteel society but many other Regency-set stories use this same convention to point up the rigidity and hypocrisy of the age. There are some obvious deviations from the parallels to Pride and Prejudice, in the unravelings and outcomes of the scandals but they are generally acceptable and only a little far-fetched. Although I am certainly no Jane Austen purist, I still don't think this will satisfy fans unless they can read this purely as a novel set some 20 years after the setting of Pride and Prejudice and really unrelated in most every way from it.

Review: Seducing Mr. Darcy by Gwyn Cready

As an Austen fan, you'd think I would be less than entertained by a book that messes with the original plot (I've already copped to enjoying the myriad of sequels out there). But this book alters the original Pride and Prejudice so absurdly and entertainingly, that it can't help but be fun.

Flip Allison is an ornithologist with a penchant for steamy romance novels (the steamier the better). She's also burdened with a professionally jealous, Peter Pan of an ex-husband with whom she has to work. And he's the closest she's come to having a relationship in who knows how long. Enter the gorgeous Magnus Knightley, a visiting Jane Austen scholar, who might come in handy at Flip's book club meeting since they are reading Pride and Prejudice. Too bad he's a cold fish.

But Magnus becomes necessary to Flip after she has a massage that allows her to imagine herself into a book. Instead of the romance novel she was hoping to imagine, she plants herself very firmly in Pride and Prejudice and procedes to have a torrid and public liason with Mr. Darcy. All this would mean nothing other than it was the best and most relaxing massage of Flip's life if she didn't discover that she hadn't imagined the scene. Instead, her foray into the pages has changed Austen's most well-known work. And only with Magnus' help can Flip change it back to the way it should be.

The characters' antagonism towards each other belies the sexual tension between them as they race to restore Lizzie and Mr. Darcy to each other. Because of their combined goal, they come to realize the specialness of what they have together far sooner than in a typical romance and it is satisfying to watch as they must decide if they can sacrifice their passion for the good of a much-loved classic.

I found the book to be great fun, entertaining, and surprising. It definitely has its share of explicit scenes but they drive the plot of this terribly appealing farce. Is it high literature? No. But it is about as fun as it gets. And who among us wouldn't jump at the chance to spend some time in our favorite novels? This havoc-wreaking entertainment will appeal to romance readers and to genre-bending Austen fans who don't take themselves too seriously alike.

Review: Old Friends and New Fancies by Sybil Brinton

As a complete sucker for all things Jane Austen, need I say that the idea of reading the very first "sequel" to Pride and Prejudice was an appealing one to me? Even better than that was dicovering that this is more than just a Pride and Prejudice sequel. As its newly minted subtitle claims, it is a sequel to all the novels. Pulling many favorite characters from all of Austen's best-loved works, Brinton has created a fun romp through Regency England in the company of Austen's secondary characters.

This is not focused on the main characters of Aussten's books. After all, she wrapped their stories up fairly neatly. Instead, the focus is on Georgiana Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam, Kitty Bennett and Mary Crawford, Tom Bertram and William Price, and others. While some purists shudder at the thought of introducing these characters to each other, Regency society was fairly small and so people of the same social standing could be expected to have connections to each other, making this intermingling of Austen's creations feasible.

The plot, while not as witty and sharp as Austen's herself, is quite entertaining, opening with Georgiana and Colonel Fitzwilliam breaking their engagement to each other to the stern annoyance of Lady Catherine. Both will look for suitable partners throughout the rest of the book. Each will have to overcome societal obstacles as well as the difficulties of their own hearts and personalities in order to be happy.

As with most Austen sequels, a reader who is not familiar with the backstory and characters from the originals will be disappointed with the novel. But Austen fans who are willing to allow the mingling of their best-loved minor characters will likely enjoy this short and quick read.

Review: Presumption by Julia Barrett

I know I've harped on my adoration of all things Jane Austen and my inability to leave well-enough alone, eschewing all but the originals on here before and this is another instance of me happily reaching for an Austen sequel. This time the obsession paid off nicely though as the writing team who comprise author Julia Barrett have crafted a novel similar in scope and tone to the original Pride and Prejudice, if somewhat lacking in plot originality.

Many of the characters from P&P make appearances here although they re-enact the original with different characters in the leading roles. Georgiana Darcy is faced with two very different suitors and she must determine which is the honorable man and which the charlatan. Having repented of her youthful folly with Wickham, she is determined not to offer her heart to the wrong man, only occasionally confiding in sister-in-law Elizabeth as she navigates the potential pitfalls of courtship. The plot unfolds in ways that keep it true to Austen's own future vision of her characters as laid out at the end of Pride and Prejudice but getting to that ending parallels, extremely closely, the plot of Pride and Prejudice.

I didn't go into this expecting Austen. No thinking reader would. And the authors who write as Barrett are neither of them Austen. But they have done a creditable job in setting the stage and evoking the language of the time. They have not strayed too far from the comedy of manners that defined Austen and while I would have liked to have seen more of Elizabeth and Darcy's life together, it is perhaps more fitting that they turned their authorial lights on Georgiana instead. There are moments where it seems that beloved characters act out of character from the original and that can be disconcerting indeed but for the most part, they've created an entertaining sequel to one of the most beloved books in the English language.

Review: The Bar Sinister by Linda Berdoll

I am a Jane Austen addict. Pride and Prejudice is my favorite book ever. And I cheerfully buy any and all sequels to it, knowing without a doubt that there's no way on the planet that they will live up to the original. But I can't help myself. I may not read them in a timely manner, as proved by this particular book which I bought years ago, never read, and only rediscovered languishing on my shelves when it was re-released a couple of years ago under a different title (which I also promptly bought and had to return) but I buy them nevertheless. After reading this, I am a little sorry about my blanket Austen sequel reading policy.

An unattributed blurb on the back tells readers to "Hang on to your bonnets, this isn't Jane Austen. Reader discretion advised." Truer words were never spoken (and I'm a veteran romance reader so graphic desciptions don't bother me but this book is completely over the top. Opening with Darcy and Elisabeth [sic] jolting down the road towards Pemberley following their wedding night, we find the new Mrs. Darcy ignoring the pillow Mr. Darcy has so kindly offered her to give her lower bits respite from their aching. And this is just the beginning. We are treated to scene after scene of our newlyweds thinking lewd thoughts about each other or engaged in vigorous romping throughout the entire estate. Somehow the plot seems tangential to all the steamy (adn quite frankly fairly laughable) sex. We are told of Darcy's discreet exploits when he was younger and see further into his character as he snubs a neighbor who legitimized his bastard son as his heir. We meet Elisabeth's sisters again and get to encounter the still slimy Wickham as he makes a pass at Elisabeth. In addition we are treated to bad guys (why didn't Austen write about a kidnapping?) and another illegitimate child about whom speculation is rife. Elisabeth has trouble getting pregnant despite the constant sex. And Darcy continues to learn that his pride is misplaced as he discovers things about his own family that disappoint him.

With as much going on in this novel as there is, the chaos and the sex aren't the things that bothered me the most. Instead it was the stilted and unintentionally hilarious writing. I know that Berdoll was trying to mimic Austen's writing but it would probably have been better to just claim her own voice instead of producing this awkwardness. In addition to this, the book was incredibly poorly edited, with sentences trailing off into nothingness or making absolutely zero sense, even after several re-readings. The characters were as static as possible, perhaps in a nod to trying to stay true to Austen's original depiction, but since so much else of the story was as Austen would never have imagined it, why bother to try and keep them slotted into their familiar molds when circumstances should have dictated growth? And even at that, some of the characters are more true to the BBC production than to the original book. I really can be forgiving of a well-done sequel, after all; who hasn't wanted to know what happened after the happily ever after wedding in P&P but this is not that sequel. Really, it's fairly egregious.

Review: The Lost Years of Jane Austen by Barbara Ker Wilson

I have a weakness for all things Jane Austen so when I saw this novel purporting to fill in the missing time in our knowledge of Austen, I snapped it up. Wilson imagines that Austen traveled with her aunt and uncle Leigh Perrot to Australia during this gap of time, drawing a well done portrait of the penal colony in the beginning of the 1800's. Starting with Aunt Jane Leigh Perrot being arrested and falsely accused of stealing lace (based on a true incident in which Mrs. Leigh Perrot spent some months in jail before being brought to trial and exonerated), Wilson imagines that Austen's uncle, an amateur lepidopterist, fixates on the idea of the strange and wonderful natural life in the Antipodes should his wife be inexplicably found guilty and transported. Meanwhile, Austen herself is in Bath with her family and falls in love with every expectation of marriage. But a letter telling her of Elliott Fordwick's untimely demise ends these happy imaginings and it takes Jane a considerable amount of time to stop grieving. With her future completely changed from all expectation, Jane jumps at the chance to accompany her aunt and uncle on the trip to Australia about which her uncle has never quite relinquished hope of taking. Many are the characters introduced in the book before and during the journey as well as once the Leigh Perrots and niece Jane arrive in Sydney; some are historic figures and some are fictional. And despite the billing on the jacket copy of the book, this is not a book about hushing up a failed romance that Austen had while Down Under. It is a well done, interesting, and unusually imagined guess at what Jane Austen could have been doing during the years there was such a dearth of letters to her sister Cassandra.

I was impressed by how well Wilson managed to invoke the language of the time, something so many post-Austen writers fail to do. I enjoyed her characterizations and the way she set up little clues for careful readers to explain things that later found themselves in Austen's actual works. She widened the focus beyond just Austen herself, fleshing out the Leigh Perrots quite extensively, which helped to give the novel a bit more heft and while that generally worked, I felt it did go on just a bit too long, given the dearth of things to do in the colony for a gently reared young lady. But the budding society in Parramatta and Sydney were well described and interesting, especially the details about the former convicts. Overall, a satisfying read that will probably appeal to most Jane-ites, despite the seeming incongruity of Austen in Australia.