MADreads

Fun and sexy idea trapped in a puritanical book

February 24th, 2009 Katharine - Sequoya

Every year after Valentines Day I vow to make an effort to “keep the love alive” in my relationship.  This year I read a book about a woman that really wanted to keep the love alive and she did it by committing herself to “loving” her husband every day for a year.  I thought Charla Muller’s 365 Nights: A Memoir of Intimacy would be a great tool, lots of tips about romantic gestures and sexy ways to keep the fire going.  Not the case.  Muller’s book started out interesting and then just fizzled.  Definitely no fire building.

Muller’s starts by introducing the idea of the logistics of “loving” every day.  What time, when and where, and how to squeeze it in between your daily chores.  After a few pages of this she goes into her personal wife and mother philosophies which includes making time for herself with weekly waxings and hair coloring.  She really lost me when she started defending her SUV driving and weekly People subscription.  Take the bus and use the library for your rag mag addiction lady.  Muller’s religious and moral spin really colors this memoir of intimacy and I didn’t relate to her situation at all.  I guess I just prefer my memoirs a little more raw and gritty, not sweet and innocent, which came as a surprise considering the topic of this book.

If you’d like an “earthier” memoir, try Hollis Gillespie’s Bleachy-Haired Honky Bitch: Tales From a Bad Neighborhood, which is very sexy, sassy and sarcastic.  Maybe Gillespie’s new book Trailer Trashed: My Dubious Efforts Towards Upward Mobility just might be a better fit for my less than puritanical reading habits.  Muller’s website is interesting though because it offers a brief glimpse into her life and why she wrote the book.  So, in conclusion, (how very eighth grade term paper) 365 Nights might be a good fit for other readers, but just not my cup of tea.  Sorry.

Entry Filed under: Memoir & Biography, Nonfiction