Zipless F*ck (read the book and you'll understand)

Ok, raise your hand if you're a woman who reads this blog? Good. Now raise your hand if you're a woman who reads this blog but has not read the book Fear of Flying? If that's you, than I'm telling you that now is the time. I heard its author, Erica Jong, speak last night and the fact that my friend and I were the youngest people there by about 30 years was troublesome. I was first given this book by my mother when I was 15. All of my other friends were at camp or hiking the Rockies or doing something else adventurous and exciting and I was home working at my local hardware store. Out of sheer boredom (who reads what their mother gives them when they're 15?) I started this book and it happened. I have read it five times since that first summer, and every time it gets a little better and becomes a little more relevant.

It's not just a book about sex (though it has that in spades), it's about relationships with men, with women, with yourself. It's about your sanity and how that is clearly affected by the insanity that surrounds you. It's about family, friends, being rude, being selfish, and above all being impetuous. It was written in 1973 but don't let that deter you--other than talk of "after the war" (WWII in this case) you will have no idea that it wasn't written last week.

I have written about reading for pleasure's sake. I have even given suggestions of books that I have liked and why reading post-college is an important and sane-making activity.

This is not that. This is required reading. And you will be tested.