What Was I Thinking?: 58 Bad Boyfriend Stories [Hardcover]

Barbara Davilman (Author), Liz Dubelman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 3, 2009

What Was I Thinking? is a collection of first-person essays describing the moment in a relationship when, no matter how much you think it should work, or want it to work, or need it to work, you get that it’s not going to work.  Maybe you overheard the wrong thing due to the physics-defying acoustics in the ladies’ room you ducked into during a dinner date (as in Amy Wruble’s “Junk in the Trunk”).  Maybe you realized that it’s just impossible to be with a guy who orders a “creche” of wine instead of a carafe of wine, because “Hey, Baby. I'm a writer. I play with words.” (as in Lynn Snowden Picket’s “Norm Crosby Syndrome”). Or maybe it was as obvious as having your boyfriend say that he thinks of other women during sex with you (as in Rhonda Talbot’s “Revenge Baby”). 

Whatever the details of that head-slapping moment, these epiphanies make great stories—whether frantically texted, recounted over lattes, or savored in What Was I Thinking?  Included in this collection are more than fifty classic bad boyfriend stories, from writers including:

Carrie Fisher
Claudia Handler
Bonnie Bruckheimer
Maira Kalman
Cindy Chupack
Rachel Resnick
Mimi Pond
Francesca Lia Block
Nicole Hollander

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fifty-eight boyfriend stories that are (hopefully) worse than your own! Fabulous, humorous and outrageous."--OK! Magazine

About the Author

BARBARA DAVILMAN began her career in NY in advertising and then went on to create a greeting card company, Bittersweet, that dealt exclusively with relationships gone bad.  After that, she moved to Los Angeles to become a TV writer/producer.  Along with her husband, Ellis Weiner, she co-authored YIDDISH WITH DICK & JANE, YIDDISH WITH GEORGE & LAURA, and HOW TO RAISE A JEWISH DOG. In her ‘spare’ time she writes and produces reality television and is the Los Angeles Co-Coordinator for Ridgeback Rescue. 

LIZ DUBELMAN is the founder of VidLit.  Her pre-digital career included ten years in film production. Her television work won her two Emmys -- one as a producer and one as a director. She has consulted to all of the major studios in the area of digital rights and Internet content.  Ms. Dubelman  is a graduate of Hampshire College. 

 

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (February 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312384726
• ISBN-13: 978-0312384722
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #961,222 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "What Was I Thinking" Makes Me Realize I'm Not Alone!, February 4, 2009

By 

Merle Ginsberg "author and essayist" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What Was I Thinking?: 58 Bad Boyfriend Stories (Hardcover)

"What Was I Thinking?" - the new collection of essays about bad boyfriend behavior from editor/writers Liz Dubelman and Barbara Davilman - which includes essays by Carrie Fisher and Rachel Resnick (whose book "Love Junkie" made me realize I got a jones of my own) - is a sassy salve for single women everywhere. Hell, it's a salve for married women, too. Men are good for some things (some better than others) - but let's face it, they all descend into dorkdom at various stages of knowing them - some sooner than others. I am single in my forties, and have been engaged twice - I think I've been on more dates than most women in their lives. Which means, more BAD dates (leading to BAD relationships) than most women my age - most women alive, perhaps. This book comforts me and makes me feel less like I am the only femme in the world who's had to live through these excruciating, awkward, depressing - and ultimately (and much later), hilarious moments. Bad experiences always lead to hilarious literature - that's bad experience's only upside. Read this after a bad date or a bad break up - you'll feel much better! And men, read it and weep - whoops, didn't mean that - read it and LEARN.
Merle Ginsberg

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, funny, funny!, February 4, 2009

By 

B Bear "William T. Bear" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Was I Thinking?: 58 Bad Boyfriend Stories (Hardcover)

For people who think there are few things more hilarious than stories about Mr. Wrong, this book is manna from Romance Hell. The subtitle might be misleading, in that the men in question aren't necessarily bad boyfriends -- though, to be sure, many of them are horrendous -- but they are all bad choices by the women who are often dragged kicking and screaming to that realization, while we get to sit back and laugh as the evidence piles up. A "Sex and the City"-type TV series seems like a no-brainer, as does a Davilman/Dubelman talk show. Bring on the sequels.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars After the laughter, some hard truths, February 15, 2009

By 

N. Flowers (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What Was I Thinking?: 58 Bad Boyfriend Stories (Hardcover)

This collection of essays are deceptively amusing. I did laugh out loud, but I also found some hard-won wisdom, too. A great gift for the romance-prone among us.