My Less Than Secret Life: A Diary, Fiction, Essays [Paperback]

Jonathan Ames (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 2002

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

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Brooklyn-based Ames's wild follow-up to What's Not to Love? is an entertaining salmagundi that tosses five short stories in among 42 essays, including past New York Press column installments, book reviews and e-zine contributions. A 1987 invitation to a nonexistent literary symposium sent Ames to a paranoid precipice, and his vivid, noir-style recollection of that mystery, The Nista Affair, makes a fine centerpiece. But the author is a man of appetites for sex, for self-examination, for performance, for weird experiences and this makes his book irresistible. He's like the dirtiest, smartest kid on the playground you might cringe, but you can't help being transfixed. In Booty and the Beast, he waxes rhapsodic on waitress watching; The Orgy chronicles his failed attempts to attend one. With bodily functions and sexuality the dominant themes, Ames's public diary his New York Press columns often feels more like a pubic diary. When he meets Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues), they discuss the Mangina, a prosthetic vagina worn by performance artist Harry Chandler; Gear magazine assignments send him into a session with a female hypnotist specializing in penis enlargement and onto the set of a porn film. From recollections of prostitutes to reflections on an s&m support group, he documents numerous erotic encounters: When it comes to sexual fetishes, I can't be pigeonholed. Ames lays his soul bare here, and those who are easily offended should stay away. But for readers who don't mind the occasional squirm for the sake of the frequent belly laugh, this hodgepodge of oddities is highly recommended.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

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

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (May 31, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560253754
• ISBN-13: 978-1560253754
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #537,332 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jonathan Ames is the author of the novels Wake Up, Sir!, The Extra Man, and I Pass Like Night; a graphic novel, The Alcoholic (with artwork by Dean Haspiel), and the essay collections I Love You More Than You Know, My Less Than Secret Life, and What's Not to Love? He is the winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship and is a former columnist for New York Press. Ames performs frequently as a storyteller and has been a recurring guest on David Letterman. He has fought in two amateur boxing matches as "The Herring Wonder," and he has peformed in a number of shows. Ames had the lead role in the IFC film "The Girl Under the Waves," was a porn-extra in the porn film "C-Men," and played himself in a pilot episode for the Showtime network. At the time, he said, "It's the role I've been waiting for!" He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ames redeems the memoir, August 26, 2002

By 

Roy W. Zornow (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Less Than Secret Life: A Diary, Fiction, Essays (Paperback)

Bored, lonely, depressed and poor? Of course you are. So you look for solace in the recent glut of memoirs and find that although Andrew Solomon was vomiting from depression he once worked 12 hour days followed by attending 4 parties. Who does that? And don't get me started on the "Girl's Guide to Sex in the City" subgenre.

Jonathan Ames, on the other hand, describes the world I inhabit - one where where every sexual encounter is fraught with anxiety and guilt, where the daily choice is between the horrible and the miserable. Yet he somehow does it with a kindness, sense of decency and a wistfulness that is redeeming. The author-reader connection is intimate and the end result is a feeling of being allowed a view into someone else's life while taking a vacation from your own.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SLINGS AND EROS OF OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE, September 6, 2002

By 

Sardonica "clandestina917" (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Less Than Secret Life: A Diary, Fiction, Essays (Paperback)

Your average reader may never find him/herself participating in a backyard animal sacrifice, attending a support group for S&M enthusiasts, or being brow-beaten by a Jamaican customs official. Self-described "comic-depressive" Jonathan Ames has endured all these adventures and many more and--luckily for us--has chronicled them with astonishing candor, wit and humility in his latest collection. Ames makes you empathize with every scenario, from the most seemingly mundane indignities to the most fantastic (or phantasmagoric). His brilliantly self-deprecating prose is laugh-out-loud funny--I found myself chuckling inappropriately in public as I read how he has been dubiously appointed the expert-in-residence on venereal afflictions to his friends--but extremely poignant, too. He often gives voice to the marginalized of society--prostitutes, transsexuals, porn stars and derelicts--but never in a condescending or exploitative way. I only wish I hadn't devoured it so quickly--next time I read it, and I most definitely will--I'll try to time-release my doses of hilarity. All in all, a highly addictive, moving and oddly reassuring book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ames scores another knockout!!!, July 23, 2002

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"book-a-week-reader" (Madison, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Less Than Secret Life: A Diary, Fiction, Essays (Paperback)

I couldn't put this book down, wanting to read just one more chapter in the life of Jonathan Ames each time. The stories are nothing short of brilliant. Ames excellence stems from the fact that shares everything with the reader - the good, the bad, and even the very ugly. If he fells intimated, hurt, or embarrassed, he tells you. These stories are told exactly as they unfolded, there is no spin doctoring by the author to put him in a better light. The authors sincerity aside, the book is very amusing. Most of us will only find us in one or two of these situations in a lifetime, but Ames seems to be in one several times a month! How many orgies or animal scarifies have you been to? If you are a fan of Ames, pick this book up immediately, and if you are not a fan, this book will make you one.