My Less Than Secret Life is the companion volume to Jonathan Ames's first memoirish endeavor, "the mildly perverted and wildly amusing" (Vanity Fair) What's Not to Love? This collection of the cult author's fiction and essays includes Ames's public diary, the bi-weekly columns he penned for the New York Press. The entries of this diary are a record of his mad adventures: his ill-fated debut as an amateur boxer fighting as -- The Herring Wonder', a faltering liaison with a Cuban prostitute, his public outing of George Plimpton as a Jew, his discussion with Eve Ensler about his dear friend The Mangina, a renegade mission as a Jew into the heart of Waspy Maine, and other such harrowing escapades. Whether trying to round up a partner for an orgy, politely assisting in an animal sacrifice, or scamming tickets to the WWF's Royal Rumble for his son, Jonathan Ames proves himself a ballsier Everyman whose transgressions and compassionate meditations will satisfy the voyeur and encourage the halfhearted. But be warned. As Jonathan says, "I don't like to be a bad influence. It's bad enough that I have influence over myself." ". . . Ames has always been one of my favorite contemporary writers . . . for his . . . fearless commitment to the most demanding psychosexual comedies." -- Rick Moody Ames writes edgy, punchy, sexy, funny, and extremely eloquent prose, and it is no wonder he has developed cult status after appearing in the New York Press , McSweeney's , Shout , and other cutting-edge venues. His latest book is a sequel to a previous memoir, What's Not to Love (2000), and he has also written two novels, I Pass Like Night (1989) and The Extra Man (1998). This new book gathers fictional pieces as well as autobiographical ones. In either form, Ames follows themes arising from his general sentiment that life is a series of abrasions and fleeting thrills but that all of it must be taken with a sense of humor. From entering a boxing match to taking a trip to Cuba to genital waxing, his concerns in these essays and stories are not for the fastidious minded who object to frank talk about sex and anatomy; they are for readers who love language, offbeat observations, and unique but resonant impressions. Brad Hooper Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "Ames elevates himself above most other sex-mad self-deprecators with this hilarious collection." -- Entertainment Weekly, August 2002 "Ames is once again sullying reader's minds and roughing up the literary community with the release of his latest memoir." -- Shout, June/July 2002 "Ames writes edgy, punchy, sexy, funny, and extremely eloquent prose . . . for readers who love offbeat observations and unique, resonant impressions." -- Booklist, July, 1, 2002 "An amiable, if slightly twisted, shamble through life. It's infected me. I want to read everything he writes." -- Anna Keesy, The Oregonian, June 30, 2002 "Hilarious . . . compulsively readable exploits . . . alternately pervy and poignant . . . imbues the smutty with sentimentality." -- Entertainment Weekly, July 12, 2002 "If you can't laugh with him, feel free to laugh at him." -- Maxim, July 2002 "Simultaneously self-effacing and full of himself, Ames has hit on a combo that, surprisingly, works." -- Dodie Bellamy, San Francisco Chronicle Book Review, July 21, 2002 "Written in sympathetic style . . . the best stories are uncluttered by other people - just Ames and his troubled, self-conscious mind." -- Pamela Zoslov, freetimes.com, July 17-23, 2002 "[E]ntertaining . . . [Ames] is a man of appetites and this makes his book irresistible . . . you can't help being transfixed . . . highly recommended." -- Publishers Weekly, May 20, 2002 Jonathan Ames is the author of two novels, I Pass Like Night and The Extra Man, and a memoir, What’s Not to Love? A longtime contributor to New York Press, he has written for McSweeney’s, Bookforum, Conjunctions, Elle, Shout, and Gear. He is the winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship and he lives in Brooklyn, NY. His one-man show of storytelling “Oedipussy” debuted off-off-Broadway in 1999. He appears regularly as a storyteller on NPR’s New York City affiliate, WNYC. Used Book in Good Condition