Sex and Sensibility: 28 True Romances from the Lives of Single Women

I may be a bit prejudiced (because I co-wrote one of the essays in this collection), but once I got the book (and finished re-reading my own), I turned to the front and read each essay from cover to cover in one sitting! I couldn't put it down, curious to see how I could or couldn't relate to the various stories, picking out my favorites, and finding some shocking surprises. Some are hilarious, some are so so sad, all are compelling. Just as I'll give my future kids Doug Coupland's "Shampoo Planet" if they want to know what it was like to be a new college grad in the early-90s, I'll give my future kids (especially the daughters) "Sex and Sensibility" (not "Sex and the City" reruns) if they want to know what it was like to be thirty-ish and single at the turn of the century.

Recently single, I took this book with me for airplane reading on a weekend trip. In these essays and the spaces between, I remembered both the power and blissful stillness of being alone and the enchanting buzz of dating around, both of which I had found before my last relationship. Beautifully edited, funny, sharp and sensually delightful, this book is a collection of thoughtful, vulnerable power. I read all weekend, and found myself, on the last pages of the book, after my plane had landed back in New York, straining to read in what I realized was a dark cab. I reluctantly put the book down and have returned to re-read several times since.

Most women's sex lives fall in the cracks between those four Sex and the City stereotypes. The way we live and love -- and especially, the way we lose love -- is more nuanced than any TV character could convey. This book is an amazing collection of stories, all of them located in these cracks, and all of them beautifully nuanced... they're funny, heart-wrenching, but best of all, true. And Lisa Gabriele's hilarious "How to Be Alone" is worth the cover price of the book on its own. Buy this book for your best friend or make your book club read it... you'll be talking about its stories for hours. You can even do that over Cosmos for all I care!

This is a great collection of female voices writing about what it is like to be single today. Tales of bawdiness and naughtiness, balanced with less experimental approaches to dating, and all laced with the humor one needs as a single woman - anywhere. The variety of stories is matched by the variety of styles of writing in this collection of 'true romances" and one is sure to find a silver lining in them all. A great read one should share with all their girlfriends!