This is poet, novelist and essayist Erica Jong’s first anthology. She has gathered a collection of great writers in their own right to not just talk about sex, but better. In Sugar in My Bowl, 29 female writers tell us stories from their real lives.
Why is a book like this needed? Jong reminds us of what Anais Nin once said–“Women who write about sex are never taken seriously as writers” and she counters by saying, that this precisely why women must do it. Men have written “more fiercely and honestly” about women for some time, and it’s time for more women to do the same.
From a wide range of ages, the stories of these excellent writers will grab, stimulate and move you. You’ll read about obsession, and indulging in kinks and fantasy. You’ll be taken down a path where sex can hold back “consciousness of mortality. You’ll be allowed in to the loss of virginity, learn how parents’ secrets “leave their mark on us” and how sex and money are “horribly linked.” And this just is the titillating tip of the iceberg.
If you are like me, the stories will conjure up memories. Like Fay Weldon describes, the essays can’t help but remind us “not just of the significance and marvel of sex, but also of its sanctity, and its healing power, and the importance it plays in our lives, and how it is wrong to deny this.”
Telling real stories about this life force we call sex is one of the many ways to live true. Writer Ariel Levy’s take particularly struck me -sometimes with sex, we’re not so much looking for love, but looking for ourselves. Sex is a “way to discover and communicate who you are” at a most personal level. And like all paths of discovery, these women show us that it continues to evolve until the end of the final chapter of our lives.
Amongst great books for women, this one is for men as well, and anyone who wants to know more about what live true means when it comes to women and their sexual lives.
