FFWDWeekly.com - June 21, 2007

From her brief stint as a childhood actor (during which she met Ricky Schroder and Jason Bateman) to a five-year stint as a correspondent for The Daily Show, Esquire’s monthly sex columnist has done it all (maybe not all, but she’s done a lot!). She’s even posed as a Playboy centrefold (her pictures were never published, but they let her buy prints for two bucks each). Her about-to-be released collection of essays is hilarious. When someone came to take her lunch order on the Playboy shoot, she debated what to order: "Peach yogurt, served in a diaphragm, with a side of melba toast?" And smart. She reflects: "I was tired. Nudity is tiring, I had learned. So many feelings arise, but your mind has nowhere to put its hands." When you’ve led as varied and colourful a life as Woods, and you’re a funny, decent writer, it’d just be mean not to share.

She’s Not the Man I Married: My Life With a Transgender Husband by Helen Boyd (Seal)

Boyd’s first book, My Husband Betty, explored her life married to a cross-dresser. While a fascinating and smart read, it often felt as if she was observing and writing about someone else’s life, as if she wasn’t yet ready to actually accept and live in her own situation. The sequel, She’s Not the Man I Married, finds Boyd and her husband Betty a little further down the transgendered road and offers an intimate first-hand look at the experience of marrying and deciding to stay with the man who first wants to dress like a woman and then is considering actually becoming one. Described by one source as "part journal, part queer studies, part liberation manifesto" She’s Not the Man I Married is, as far as I’m concerned, the most personal, compassionate, relatable, well-written and reliable book on the subject of trangenderism. A great read.

Vanilla Slim: An Improbable Pimp in the Empire of Lust by Bob Armstrong (Carroll & Graf)

Armstrong’s autobiography of life as a San Francisco-based pimp or, as he explained to the cops who finally bust him, "a facilitator of liaisons for the socially challenged" reads like a vintage detective novel (and I love a good vintage dick novel in the summer) set in the colourful world of sex industry nightlife. A political leftie (who "binges on speed and watches the clock while reading The New Republic), Armstrong found himself in his 50s with little to care about and a lifetime of failure behind him. He decided pimping was a good way to really bottom out. A fascinating, fun and gritty romp.

Unlike so many female writers who are afraid to really dig in and get their hands dirty when it comes to writing about women’s sexual experiences, Berger never shies away from the dark and complicated sides of women’s relationships to sex. This book is no different as we follow Mira, whose venture into the world of amateur porn, stripping and "whoredom" is a wet ’n’ wild ride that, according to the book’s cover, "smashes the image of the nice girl forever."

Loosely based on the story of St. Mary of Egypt, a prostitute who revelled in her sexuality before repenting, the writing is razor-sharp, whip-smart, hot as hell and so refreshingly challenging I can hardly stand it.

Passionate Hearts: The Poetry of Sexual Love edited by Wendy Maltz (Second Edition, New World Library)

Cuddle up on your picnic blanket and romance your sweetie with the words of Pablo Neruda, e.e.cummings or lesser-known but talented poets. First published 10 years ago, editor Wendy Maltz – a sex therapist and author of The Sexual Healing Journey: A Guide to Survivors of Sexual Abuse – wanted to create a tool to promote and encourage healthy sexuality that was less clinical and prescriptive than those most therapists and counsellors generally employ. She sought out "poems that inspire and celebrate healthy sexual intimacy; poems in which heart connection is at the core of sexual experience." OK, a little flaky, but this collection is actually quite steamy, regularly romantic and lovingly inspirational.