Behind the Bedroom Door and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

FREE Shipping on orders over $25.

Used - Acceptable | See details
 
   
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Start reading Behind the Bedroom Door on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Color:
Image not available

To view this video download Flash Player

 

Behind the Bedroom Door: Getting It, Giving It, Loving It, Missing It [Hardcover]

Paula Derrow
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --  
Hardcover --  
Image
Save on Popular Books This Summer
Browse our Bookshelf Favorites store for big savings on popular fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and more.

Book Description

December 30, 2008
We may not admit it, but we’re all curious about what goes on in other people’s bedrooms. After all, we live in a world saturated with sex, which makes it tough not to wonder how we measure up—and even tougher to talk about our intimate experiences honestly. In this frank, poignant collection, twenty-six acclaimed writers go Behind the Bedroom Door and lay bare the messy, mind-blowing, often hilarious encounters that make up a woman’s history.

By sharing their stories, authors like Susan Cheever, Hope Edelman, and Julie Powell bravely open a window on the passions, predilections and problems that we encounter between the sheets. In doing so, they reassure us that whatever we feel, whatever we do or don’t do in the bedroom, we’re not alone.

Telling the truth about sex—how we like it, how often we get it, how it affects us—isn’t easy. This eye-opening anthology tells the truth about women’s intimate lives, shattering some deeply entrenched myths about what goes on in the bedrooms of real women along the way: Susan Cheever upends conventional notions about women, sex, and sentiment in her essay “In Praise of One-Night Stands.”… Sex is the last thing on Lauren Slater’s mind when the bestselling author and psychologist reveals a few surprising truths, even joys, about her virtually sexless marriage in “Overcome.”… Julie Powell serves up a searing chronicle of an illicit affair in “Lost in Space”; and novelist Valerie Frankel takes a decidedly lighter view in “Ouch, You’re Lying on My Hair.”

Whether you’re twenty or seventy, single or perpetually coupled up, these frank, seriously sexy essays provide a deeply illuminating, ultimately comforting no-holds-barred look at our most private selves. Gutsy and provocative, they reveal a great deal about how far we’ve come—and how far we still have to go.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Journalist Derrow has selected essays that explore the wealth and variety of female sexual experience, making for a gender-transcending tale of sex lives that manages to be philosophical, poignant—and a great bit of naughty fun. From Hope Edelman's essay on her first love, who helped her cope with her mother's struggle with breast cancer, in The Sweetest Sex I Never Had, to Lauren Slater's joyful paean to married celibacy, Julie Powell's frank recollection of cheating on her husband with a man who fulfills her masochistic fantasies, these stories are private and fraught, frank and self-aware. The women represented are old and young; lesbian, bisexual and straight. They draw attention to the special way sex evolves for women (as in Pari Chang's essay on sex during pregnancy); their experience is so varied that it is likely readers will recognize their own untold stories and sexual selves in this collection. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“A collection of smart, steamy, and incredibly honest essays about sex by women writers.”—Redbook magazine

“The 26 writers included here . . . make a compelling case for the argument that even when we wish it weren’t so, the role sex plays in one’s life is both too complex and too fundamental to be easily classified . . ..Though the authors’ confessed desires and stories are often illuminating and hilarious, the anthology is most fascinating for all of the contradictions it lays bare…the range of voices makes [the anthology] successful.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Editor Paula Derrow knew what she was doing….Because so much in this book is so personal, I wager the reader’s experience will be personal too….I hope this anthology and its many fine sisters become a door to a more extended experience for all.”—Los Angeles Times

“It is likely readers will recognize their own untold stories and sexual selves…. [In] selected essays that explore the wealth and variety of female sexual experience, making for a gender-transcending tale of sex lives that manages to be philosophical, poignant—and a great bit of naughty fun.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Editor Paula Derrow knew what she was doing—depth, variety and intensity of personal revelation was clearly something she valued."—Los Angeles Times

"The range of voices makes it successful."—San Francisco Chronicle

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Delacorte Press (December 30, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0385341547
  • ISBN-13: 978-0385341547
  • Product Dimensions: 1.2 x 6.3 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,113,348 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Authors

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
(13)
4.5 out of 5 stars
This is a wonderful book to read and reread. H. Isaacson  |  3 reviewers made a similar statement
It made me laugh, cry & everything inbetween! Bean  |  1 reviewer made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Super Book,Super read,Super Sex January 10, 2009
Format:Hardcover
I loved reading this book.As a 71 year old grandmother, I did not expect to relate to the authors of these essays. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that I did. This is a book women and men all ages will enjoy.

Joyce G.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth the read. January 6, 2009
Format:Hardcover
OK. So I didn't know what to expect when I started to read this book. I was expecting something more erotic, but instead found it incredibly insightful. Each essay is written by a different author, in a different situation, and at a different point in her life (emotionally, maritally, age-wise, etc.). What brings them together is great writing, and remarkable honesty.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Sex and love and making love are slightly "risque" topics, not generally written about so openly in contemporary literature. Through the essays of 26 very talented female writers/thinkers, we are given front seats to their intimate sexual experiences.

There is something here for everyone. Shared stories, challenges, passions and troubles. We hear stories of love affairs, one night stands, entertaining afternoons, and daydreams that really occurred! There is sex and passion, but, equally as important, compassion and love. Some love fleeting and some passion everlasting, but all sweet and all beautifully shared.

This book may not be for prudes, but such opinions are best left to other readers to discuss and comment on.

This is a wonderful book to read and reread. After a few reads, one can keep on their bed stand and select chapters for rereading based on one's own needs, moods, and current experiences.

Highly recommended to enjoy and share with girlfriends!!!
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Diverse, dazzling and occasionally dreary
All the essays in this collection of women's sexual autobiographies, which uniformly pack an enormous amount of self-disclosure into a handful of pages, are extremely well written. Read more
Published 7 months ago by C. Ackerman
5.0 out of 5 stars Open mind
This book was wonderful, however, I believe you will need an open mind for it! It made me laugh, cry & everything inbetween! Read more
Published on July 29, 2010 by Bean
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended
Behind the Bedroom Door: Getting It, Giving It, Loving It, Missing It, ed. Paula Derrow, present 26 candid, often funny essays about sexual urges, preferences, experiences,... Read more
Published on December 17, 2009 by Joan Price
4.0 out of 5 stars The many ways of mating
I came across "Behind the Bedroom Door" by Paula Derrow while searching for Susan Cheever's book on sex addiction. Read more
Published on October 10, 2009 by Saad Butt
4.0 out of 5 stars They "lay" it out there...
...sorry, could not help myself.

What strikes me about this book is the honesty,,, sometimes painful honesty that all the writers use in telling their stories. WOW... Read more
Published on March 10, 2009 by Howard T
2.0 out of 5 stars I Thought It Was Depressing
I like the idea of the book, but almost every story was really depressing, and made me feel more doomed than helpful. Read more
Published on February 13, 2009 by Stephanie Austll
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Read for Everyone
I am an over-the-hill, 61-year-old male, and even I was entranced, entertained, and educated by Paula Derrow's brilliant anthology "Behind the Bedroom Door. Read more
Published on February 8, 2009 by Robert Griffin Jr.
5.0 out of 5 stars hottie among hotties
...well, that's what the L.A. times said about the book, because they were singling it out from all the many essay anthologies that have come out in recent years and pointing out... Read more
Published on January 15, 2009 by newyorker
4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book Club Book
I'm looking forward to dissecting this with the ladies in my book club (I've already shared a few of the essays with my husband, who was... Read more
Published on January 12, 2009 by P. McDonald
5.0 out of 5 stars funny, revealing provocative
The diverse essays in Paula Derrow's fascinating anthology cover all ages and ranges of female sexuality. I couldn't put it down.
Published on January 1, 2009 by Susan Shapiro
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Forums

There are no discussions about this product yet.
Be the first to discuss this product with the community.
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 



So You'd Like to...


Create a guide


Look for Similar Items by Category