Customer Reviews

Just Do It: How One Couple Turned Off the TV and Turned On Their Sex Lives for 101 Days (No Excuses!)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

How brave Doug and Annie Brown are! They made a pact to make love every day for 100 days, and then Doug wrote this book about it. The result is this funny and revealing story, which entertained me and, in the end, moved me.

This long-married couple achieved a magical sort of intimacy they didn't have before the three-month marathon. "We touched more," Doug writes. "Our conversations seemed easier and more lit with honesty. I felt I understood Annie's interior world better than ever, and she felt the same about me."

The book includes frank talk about all sorts of different ways the Browns spiced up their lovemaking, including Brazilian waxes, lingerie, massages, dirty movies, Viagra, yoga and Doug throwing away his comfy but icky sleeping pants. More important was the ever-present good humor and laughter, and the deep affection the two share.

Here's the chapter list:

1. What Will Help Us Cross the Finish Line?
2. I'm Going to Like It
3. Don't Wait for Chemistry
4. Screwing Ourselves Together
5. Nasal Shrapnel
6. Catcalls of the Past
7. Scat
8. The Power of Love
9. The Singing Heart
10. The Common Good
11. The First Move
12. The Reading of the Lists
13. To Bask on the Island of Our Own Creation
14. Making Love in the Afternoon
15. That's Sexcellent

So, we're on day 25 today. I read this book cover to cover and relate to so many of the issues that Doug and Annie have gone through. Our family is the same size (2 kids ages 4 and 7). My husband is in his 40's and I'm in my 30's. We're going for 102 days! Even though we have only been married for 8 years we were definitely in a rut.

I felt the book was well written and interesting enough to keep me hooked until I was done. Like several other reviewers, I had some real laugh out loud moments too! I thought Doug was humorous and real in the way he recaptured their adventure and I highly recommend this to anyone who is in a relationship and feels that there could be more spice between a spouse or partner.

After 25 days, we are planning weekends together and dreaming of things we want to do some day (not even sex related!). I, like Annie, feel so much sexier. I went from dreading sex (because of being too tired or busy or just wanting to be alone) and feeling guilty (was I pleasing my husband enough?) to stress-free and relaxed and so much more in love than I was before. We both agree that this adventure has brought elements back into our relationship that had been long gone.

What this book is:
Cute anecdotes from a Denver journalist who has a sex column. He and his wife have a sex marathon for 101 days. They get emotionally closer as a result. They decide "sex" means intercourse. They keep it basic, usually quick ins and outs late at night after they put the kids to bed. They have an occassional weekend away. They watch porn. They try out a vibrator and a cock ring and some herbs and viagra.

The book is filled with cute stories about their kids and their work lives. The author deeply loves his wife and family, and is very cheerful and very careful with what he writes about them.

What it isn't:
There isn't detail about the actual sex other than the conversations they have before and after, and a quick description of how they "do it". It is a very PG book, very clean and pc. It definitely isn't a deep exploration of the emotional landscape they traverse. The author's tone is light and chatty throughout. No problems or doubts or challenges ever surface. Which comes across is if not unbelievable, then at least somewhat whitewashed.

The sex isn't that adventurous. I imagine most college kids would have more variety in their history. This couple has sex in the basement once. And outdoors once. That's about it for creative approaches. There is very little sharing about their positions or techniques. And certainly nothing shared about what works for Annie. Sex is basically described as kissing, intercourse,sometimes with an orgasm,then sleeping (for about 200 pages). I'm sure a lot more may have occurred, but the author doesn't reveal it here.

It is definitely NOT like being a fly on the wall in someone else's sex life.

Overall, it's a cute book. Entertaining fluff. They seem like a really great, likeable couple. I enjoyed reading about their relationship, their conversations and their kids. But not about their sex.

"Just Do It" will no doubt "crinkle the fat" about the eyes of the prurient and cause the ultra-conservative to babble in shock. But such knee jerk reactions belie the true import of the book.
On January 1, 2007, Douglas Brown and his wife Annie (at her suggestion) pledged to have sex with each other for 100 straight days. While the caring, tenderness, and communication between them was good after fourteen years of marriage, their experiment enabled them to bond ever more closely--in spite of the demands of children, careers, and life in the twenty-first century.
The preparation for the project speaks of the seriousness with which the Browns tackled the chore. Besides defining parameters, there was a visit to the family doctor for both, as well as researching destinations for variety in locales and dietary considerations to enhance performance and stamina.
One destination was THE Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, which Brown, a feature writer, covered for the Denver Post. Annie asked porn star, Randy West, for an autograph, prompting Doug to approach Smoking Mary Jane with the same request. Annie took his picture with his arm around the corseted woman "bedecked in subtle dominatrix attire." And while they were there, they picked up sex toys, to add dash to their daily endeavor.
But in the way of things, glitter, neon, and swag can be supplanted by state-department-level negotiations for their two daughters' bedtimes, or tending to cases of strep throat and copious vomiting spells.
Social commentary on current attitudes toward sexual practices vies with glimpses of family life, dealing with the sale of Girl Scout cookies and story telling. Titillating sex toys are described, and the couple's physical delight in each other is revealed.
Yet the book's appeal lies in the delicate balance Brown maintains, never resorting to purple prose or raunch. The narrative is thoughtful, lively, and engaging. Annie says they have fun, and it's their fun that imbues the tale.
Douglas Brown tells a tender love story here and pays glorious tribute to his wife. But he experienced an epiphany all his own. As a result of this madcap sexventure, he learned the definition of "home."

This book is the true story of how a busy couple with two demanding young daughters managed to have sex every day for 101 days, and in the process strengthened their marriage and rediscovered each other. Sound intriguing and possibly a tad titillating? I thought so too! Unfortunately, this book was about 280 pages too long. Let's be honest... myself and most people reading this book want the sordid details and perhaps a warm fuzzy feeling when the couple grows closer and rediscovers why they fell in love in the first place, but what we get instead is many scenes of childrens' misbehavior and illness, descriptions of chores facing a mostly stay at home mom, and many mentions of yoga. The titillation factor is definitely approaching zero - there are more descriptions of foot massages than erotic massage, and the author's attempt to describe their love-making gives me that same awkward feeling as when my parents kiss a little too long in front of me. (Don't take me there!) I also wonder how accurately the author gauges his wife's satisfaction - almost all the chapters have a happy ending for her (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) unless someone is physically ill.

The point of this book is that couples, especially parents and professional couples, need to make their relationship and time together a priority. And physical intimacy can lead to greater emotional intimacy. However that story could have been told in a more concise manner. I would have preferred to skip the descriptions of target lingerie and discussions of how the author styles his hair to appeal to his wife. (If you have the hard cover edition of this book with the picture of the author and his wife you will see that he has a very, very high forehead - based on the picture I don't think some of his hairstyles would have been very flattering. Indeed I found my mind wandering while reading this book and returning to pondering the size of the author's forehead.)

This would have been a great magazine article, but there was not nearly enough insight to hold my interest for 300 pages.

I loved this book. Doug is a great writer and keeps you entertained with his stories. The best part is I was motivated to start things up again with my husband. Just having a baby this year, it has been hard to find the time. The 101 ways Doug and Anne find to "do it" are creative, exciting, and inspiring. I want to run out and try some of them today. I highly recommend for any one in a relationship to read.

Whoa...I just finished this book and I am floored.

I discovered this book after seeing a segment on Fox News and then watching the clip on the TODAY Show, followed by reading the posted excerpt there. I was admittedly...intrigued.

Being married for just wee bit longer than the Browns (we've been together off-and-on for 27 years, married for 15), I totally related to the situation Doug describes, which on all honesty most long-married (or long-matched) couples face. In my case, the hubby and I are married and 40-ish. Although we have no children, but devote enormous amounts of time to our careers (I'm a teacher, he's a surgical tech--in addition studying to become a surgical nurse), our scenario is similar(attention-wise).

Reading this book has underlined some drifting apart between us both, a circumstance I had noted during my summer hiatus. But now my husband has pledged to "just read it" every day, after which (I am hoping) will open up some dialogue at the least, but ultimately reawaken that elusive, alchemical "thing" that brought and held us together all these years, at the most.

Although there is SOME weird use of similies/metaphors and just a tad too many references about going back East that nearly jolt you out of the addictively-immersive factor of the story, the poignancy nearly sweeps it all away into the rosy bliss that is True Love, of which Sex is a significant part. In a great many ways, this book reminds me a bit of the "The Princess Bride", because...

"This is true love...you think this happens every day?"

Take one part Erma Bombeck's humorous insight into the inanity of everyday life, add a big slice of David Sedaris' self deprecating raconteur style, fold in a heaping spoonful of Dr. Ruth's straight talk about good sex, add ice and shake (do not stir), and you have Douglas Brown's refreshing first book about 101 marathon days of sex with his wife.

In a world where free wheeling sex is omnipresent, Brown has stumbled upon one of our remaining taboos: discussing the sex lives of married consenting adults. Carry Bradshaw we can handle, but...what will these married folks think of next? His book effectively summarizes 101 continuous days of married sex without being either salacious or vulgar, and he and his wife of 14 years learn a few things about maintaining a long term relationship along the way.

The humor, the details of family life, the internal monologues (particularly about "where is home?") all give a delightful context for the daily sex. Even the reality of the "Not really in the mood tonight, dear"...which for most of us (all of us?) would just end it right there...and then knowing that right after they felt that emotion and said those words, they went ahead anyway....I mean...Wow. I almost can't fathom the dedication that this took! Brown's book is a delicious feast featuring all that it means to be a married father in the early 21st century, complete with face-painted flat tires, vertiginous sexual interludes, and the miracles of "Brazilian waxing".

I love memoir, and enjoyed the "projects" of A.J. Jacobs The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible and The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World, so I looked at this book in the same way, and they are actually very similar.

Brown undertakes the quest of 101 nights of sex in a row (at his wife's suggestion). I thought it might be a bit "spicy" for me. While there is a bit of talk about some of their attempts to spice things up that some might find offensive, the play-by-play is spared, and in that respect this is much tamer than a Danielle Steele novel.

I loved the examination of the effect of this effort on his marriage, and the tender descriptions that he shares about his wife.

It's a bit unconventional, but I liked it.

I bought this book because I read it was more a light-hearted memoir, not a "how-to" for spicing up marriage. Douglas Brown and his wife, Annie, are a couple I could relate to-- dealing with life, work, children, while trying to manage "adult" time. They seemed to be a laid back, traditional couple, who really love their kids. I think I enjoyed learning about their family as much as I did the purpose for the memoir. Of course, it was fun reading about their trials in "sexploration." There were several "LOL" moments, particularly when struggling through sex during sickness and snot. Brown's knack for humorous writing made this a joy to read.