Books like The Sword of Vivienne

This book is a devastating critique of the damage that has been done in every aspect of the fabric of American society due to the massive lay-offs of our federal government workers by the Trump administration.

Lewis has done a meticulous study of the myriad ways that slashing so many of our federal agencies has harmed both workers and the public. Lewis names names and makes it very personal, showing us how Elon Musk's DOGE boys rapaciously laid off the very people who keep our air and water clean at the EPA, predict and prepare us for hurricanes and floods and fires at FEMA, predict and create vital response plans for infectious diseases at HHS, and protect us from food-borne diseases and dangerous drugs and medical devices at the FDA.

There may be a lot of unnecessary paper-pushers in the federal government, but this book makes it clear that they… show more.

The title is a serious understatement, as it is a collection of very compelling short stories about people whose problems have caused their lives to become catastrophic disasters. We meet people in these stories who have made some colossally bad decisions which have created cascading pain for themselves and everyone around them.

The authors somehow make these characters all too human, and any reader will see echoes of a particularly bad period of their own life where a challenging situation went from bad to worse. I guess it is not surprising that almost all of these sadly recognizable characters are men, including the carpenter whose job loss leads to binge drinking and a loss of his marriage and his home, two bisexual guys on a fishing trip who befriend a mentally unstable woman and end up in jail, and an unemployed man promoting his spiritual self-help program who sleeps with… show more.

I love this memoir because Leslie Morgan is a wise, funny, articulate, sex-positive, feminist BFF, who shares her emotional and sexual journey in the year after divorce and before turning 50 with pride rather than shame as she renounces the drab ex-wife role, dresses alluringly, and dates wildly.

Writing about sex and dating can be a cliché-ridden minefield, but Morgan enlivens the highs, lows, and middles with metaphors that resonate and invite you into the scene. And it’s not just about sex – it’s about the emotional truths that she learns along the way as she demonstrates an enjoyable way for older women to reclaim their sexual mojo and feel valued as an older woman. 

I love this memoir because Robin Rinaldi fiercely loves and trusts herself for being sexual, and shows us from the inside what it means to positively claim our sexuality in midlife.

Rinaldi undertook a brave and vulnerable journey—a year-long break from her companionable but passionless marriage to find passion by pursuing a variety of sexual traditions and relationships with men. Her story is not only an entertaining page-turner, but deeply vulnerable and satisfying. 

She chronicles her heart as well as her body, and reminds us that it is not always easy to take risks—there are challenges, heartaches, and rewards in creating a deeply satisfying life. Further modeling bravery, she also wrote an Atlantic article about transcending the slut shaming she received from writing the book.  

Delightful sexuality in a senior community! What better place to celebrate the different ways that women over 60 can enjoy a happy sex life—with themselves, men, women, or supernatural beings—than in a retirement community during the Pandemic lockdown? 

Stella Fosse skillfully and delightfully weaves stories of confident older women isolated in their cottages, alone or with partners, who know or discover what they want sexually, and find ways to pleasure themselves or others. Although residents are only allowed to wave at each other during their daily masked and distanced walk around the grounds, the more adventurous ones find ways to connect.

The stories all come together and culminate in a joyful post-pandemic unmasking at a romantic ball. Very sweet and positive!  

I love this anthology by women over fifty because it offers such a wide range of truths about our experiences with sex and intimate relationships.

More than fifty essays and poems cover a variety of honest reflections on the exquisite, the good, the not-so-good, and the challenging parts of older women relating sexually to men, to women, and to themselves.

Feelings expressed range from the ambivalence, disappointment, and ecstasy of dating, to the pleasures of being single, to the joy of long-term sex and commitment, to the acceptance of the sometimes sudden movement between these states. Can be read in one or two delicious gulps! 

I recommend this hot and sexy collection of erotic fiction and memoir because for me it doubles as a source of arousal and a mesmerizing glimpse of the range of sexual activities that seniors (mostly hetero, some lesbians, some gay men) imagine and carry out.

From the slow sex of long-term lovers, to hand jobs offered despite arthritic hands or carpel tunnel, to the variety of ways married couples orchestrate hot love-making, to the pleasure of “in-the-meantime” lovers, these stories sizzle and burn. They expand our view of what is sexually possible as we age, and provide an inspiring and stimulating bedside reference for singles and couples of all ages.

To be savored one story at a time, not gulped down as a whole.