Howard Blue's

Sex, Dating and Marriage

Such a sensitive topic! I write on a computer with a voice activated program and I had to try three times before the program would let me write the word "sex." Initially it insisted on writing "six."

Like many kids of my generation, I got some of my first impressions and understandings about sex from a small number of my parents' books that were on our bookshelves. (I also got some really had quite erroneous understandings from word-of-mouth from classmates and friends. Oh boy, were they erroneous!) It wouldn't hurt to leave a BROAD variety of books around your house if you have teenagers at home!

To read reviews about a book or order it, click on its title. To quickly reach one of the subtopics immediately below, click on it.

Abortion

Clarke, Lydia A. Can't Keep Silent: A Woman's 22-Year Journey of Post-Abortion Healing. Tate Publishing & Enterprises, 2006.

Edelin, Kenneth C. and Edelin, M.D. Broken Justice. PondView Press, 2007. A doctor goes on trial for performing an abortion.

Harper, Sheila. Survivor: A Journey Through Abortion and Back. Morgan James Publishing, 2009.

Kluger-Bell, Kim. Unspeakable Losses: Understanding the Experience of Pregnancy Loss, Miscarriage, and Abortion. Harper, 1998.

Wicklund, Susan. This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor. PublicAffairs, 2007. A chronicle of 20 years as a medical doctor and women’s health provider.

Abuse (Sexual)

Dominic, Magie. The Queen of Peace Room. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, 2002. Author's coming to terms with a traumatic history of childhood and sexual abuse in Newfoundland, and later, domestic violence in New York City in the 1960s and 70s.

Addiction (Sexual)

Cohen, Kerry. Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity. Hyperion, 2009. Memoir of young girl’s sex addiction.

Silverman, Sue William. Love Sick: One Woman's Journey through Sexual Addiction. W.W. Norton & Co., 2008. A story of recovery recounting the 28 days spent in a clinic for female sex addicts.

Birth Control

Djerassi, Carl. The Pill, Pygmy Chimps, and Degas' Horse: The Remarkable Autobiography of the Award-Winning Scientist Who Synthesized the Birth Control Pill. Basic Books, 1998.

Dating

Thomas, Seth. Millions of Women Are Waiting to Meet You: A Story of Life, Love and Internet Dating. De Capo Press, 2008. British novelist is assigned by a men’s magazine to explore the world of Internet dating.

Divorce

Falcone, Denise. Void of Moon: The Emotional Journey Through Marital Separation. Helm Publishing, 2005.

Finnamore, Suzanne. Split: A Memoir of Divorce. NAL Trade, 2009.

Feminism

DuPlessis, Rachel B. and Snitow, Ann. The Feminist Memoir Project: Voices from Women's Liberation. Rutgers University Press, 2007. A collection of essays from the feminist movement of the 1960s and ‘70s.

Homosexuality

Duberman, Martin. Waiting to Land: A (Mostly) Political Memoir, 1985-2008. New Press, 2009. A participant in the lesbian bisexual gay transgender (LBGT) movement that transformed American life describes the movement' s later years.

Leleux, Robert. The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy. St. Martin’s Press. 2009. Author’s humorous account of his experience of “coming out” as well as the excitements of his youth.

Moore, Honor. The Bishop’s Daughter: A Memoir. W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 2009. Author remembers her father, an Episcopal bishop in New York, his homosexual love affairs.

Picano, Felice. Art and Sex in Greenwich Village: A Memoir of Gay Literary Life After Stonewall. Basic Books, 2007. A look at the dedicated gay presses that arose in the 1970s and ‘80s.

Pomfret, Scott. Since My Last Confession. Arcade Publishing, 2008. By a gay Catholic officiate and writer of gay porn.

Incest

Dumas, Pie. Pieces of Pie: Surviving Love. Skye’s the Limit Publications, 2005. About a woman’s childhood of incest, abuse and the survival of the human spirit.

Holloway, Monica. Driving with Dead People: A Memoir. Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2007. Memories of a childhood surrounded by death suppress a girl’s real horror of living with incest.

Smith, Holly A. Fire of the Five Hearts: A Memoir of Treating Incest. Routledge, 2002. A social worker writes of her experience with children who have been sexually abused.

Love/Intimacy

Muller, Charla. 365 Nights: A Memoir of Intimacy. Berkley Trade, 2008. When the author’s husband turned 40, to revive their marriage, she decided it was time for them to have sex every day for one year.

Other

McDonnell, Evelyn. Mamarama: A Memoir of Sex, Kids, and Rock ‘n’ Roll . Da Capo Press, 2008. A music critic details her balance of career and motherhood.

Prostitution

Bissell, Anne. Memoirs of a Sex Industry Survivor . Cleopatra International Publications LLC, 2004. As a teenager, the author liked the fast, easy money, from being a prostitute; in the end she concludes that prostitution is not a victimless crime.

Phone Sex

Rhys, Natalie. Call Me Mistress: Memoirs of a Phone Sex Performer . Miwok Press, 1995. Data processor by day; phone sex operator by night. Want to know more? Give us a call.

Pornography

Anderson, Bernie. Breaking the Silence: A Pastor Goes Public About His Battle with Pornography . AutumnHouse Publishing, 2007. The author reveals the truth about his lifelong battle with sexual addiction in an effort to help others.

Bright, Susie. Mommy's Little Girl: Susie Bright on Sex, Motherhood, Porn, & Cherry Pie . Da Capo Press, 2008. A collection of sketches written by the advice columnist and “sexpert” during her daughter’s first 12 years of life.

Bright, Susie. Susie Bright's Sexwise: America’s Favorite X-Rated Intellectual Does Dan Quayle, Catharine Mackinnon, Stephen King, Camille Paglia, Nicholson Baker, Madonna, the Black Panthers, and the GOP . Cleis Press, 1995. An uninhibited collection of essays, interviews and book reviews written by the author.

Dworkin, Andrea. Heartbreak: The Political Memoir of a Feminist Militant . Basic Books, 2008. A reflection on the incidents that helped shaped the ideas of the writer and anti-pornography activist.

Flynt, Larry. An Unseemly Man: My Life As Pornographer, Pundit And Social Outcast . Phoenix Books, 2008. A look at the life of the publisher of Hustler magazine.

Goldstein, Al. I, Goldstein: My Screwed Life . Da Capo Press, 2007. A chronicle of the Screw magazine publisher’s life in pornography.

Griffiths, Gavin. The Accidental Pornographer: A Story About Having a Go and Succeeding…in Failing . Capstone, 2008. Author buys magazine, the Erotic Review, and his new business fails.

Jeremy, Ron. Ron Jeremy: The Hardest (Working) Man in Showbiz . It Books, 2008. A detailed, first-hand look at the life of the porn star.

O’Hara, Scott. Autopornography: A Memoir of Life in the Lust Lane . Routledge, 1997. A collection of essays and poems from a former porn star.

Sampsell, Kevin. A Common Pornography: A Memoir . Harper Perennial, 2010. The author explores memories of youth in short stories and prose poems.

Shaw, Aiden. My Undoing: Love in the Thick of Sex, Drugs, Pornography, and Prostitution . Running Press, 2006. The legendary porn star takes readers behind the scenes of the gay adult film world.

West, Darren. My Waking Dream (Memoir of Repressed Memories). Tamarron Publishing, 2008. The author begins remembering incidents of childhood sexual abuse at the age of 44.

Rape/Assault Survivor

Bromfield, Bibish. The Dancer from Khiva: One Muslim Woman's Quest for Freedom . Grove Press, 2008. A woman’s will to survive and succeed helps her through extreme trials, from being raped and left in the desert as a child to feeling like an outsider in her own family because of her strength of spirit.

McCall, Catherine. When the Piano Stops: A Memoir of Healing From Sexual Abuse . Seal Press, 2009. Repressed memories of rape begin to surface when the author is grown, and married with children.

Sebold, Alice. Lucky: A Memoir . Back Bay Books, 2002. Author Alice Sebold writes about her own rape during her first year of college, and about the effects of violence on all parties involved.

Sadomasochism

Kelly, Joan. The Pleasure’s All Mine: A Sexual Memoir of a Professional Submissive . Da Capo Press, 2006. On the experiences of a part-time professional submissive working in a private dungeon.

McNeill, Elizabeth. Nine and a Half Weeks: A Memoir of a Love Affair . Harper Perennial, 2005. A corporate executive begins a casual affair that leads to sadomasochism.

Sex Appeal

Hulse, Bruce. Sex, Love, and Fashion: A Memoir of a Male Model . Harmony, 2008. An inside look at the modeling industry of the 1980s and ‘90s.

Sexual Revolution

Lawrence, Zola. VIRGINS! A Memoir of the Sexual Revolution . Argo and Cole Publishers, 2008. An exploration of male virginity and the lives and loves of youth in the 1960s and ‘70s.

Howard Blue's

Sex, Dating and Marriage

Such a sensitive topic! I write on a computer with a voice activated program and I had to try three times before the program would let me write the word "sex." Initially it insisted on writing "six."

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