There is a lovely bookshop near a bookcrossing zone. Sometimes I go home with more books than I dropped off. Drats. This particular purchase was inspired by all the recent frivolous posts in the forum.
I am considering offering it as a ring to get some reviews to see if I should read it!

Participants:

8th draft draft 9/6/04 about 1800 adelaide time

jacinta2000 UK -----

xanocas portugal prefer europe, but sorry you gotta send to USA.oops no you do not. you owe mfa a drink

mfa...soon passing it on

cheli-garza USA prefer USA
megi53 usa

az628 usa
tmtdino30 USA
junegirl
writenreader
magicwritinggal
lpree
Pyan usa happy international and since last to ask, gets the big send. well done

succulent oz
ada2 oz
newk me!

thankyou all. Enjoy.

Also eager participants I have an idea about sending a similar book around BUT in the opposite direction. We can compare and contrast. That make you first in that ada2. What do you all reckon. Please PM me.

Also I just had a thought about minors on this site. It would seem to me that all participants in this ring are adults. PLEASE BE AWARE THAT BY ACCEPTING THIS BOOK THAT YOU ARE TESTIFYING TO THE FACT THAT YOU ARE OLD AND MATURE ENOUGH TO READ LITERATURE THAT CONTAINS "ADULT CONTENT".

And please before you all pass the book on could you check out the next person just to be sure. I would hate for us to get into trouble. If anyone has any worries about this please let me know

and I have deleted a member who I have just realised was holding up a VERY large number of rings. Even tho efforts are being made to get them moving I do not want to take a risk. You knoiw who you are. PM me if you wish to discuss

Thanks. Will pass it on as soon as I've read it!

CAUGHT IN TONBRIDGE UK

As for Newk reading it, well, I'd give it a miss ! It's a bit cheesy and predictable but it's fun to imagine Americans in the deep Bible Belt reading it, maybe in Dubya country. It is the sort of thing that probably gets banned over there! Have emailled the next in line.... Xanoca

Received it last Tuesday (13/07). Will read asap.

I believe it's the second time I read an erotic book.

I enjoyed this one: most of the stories are good, but some... well could be a lot better!

Overall, it's a good book, but not a GOOD book.

I'll be sending it to the next Bcer.

i've had this with me for a while - so much that i read it too long ago to have more than an overall picture in my mind, with no specific details to comment upon. i'm very sorry i didn't journal it before, but time has been sparse lately.

the most positive side to this book is, in my opinion, the way it tries to cover different aproaches to sexuality, which i find very healthy and needed. the stories are uneven in this matter, and some of them seem to live upon provocation only - i consider it a necessary step before sexuality in all its forms is accepted as part of life (and therefore literature), but i tend to demand more in pure literary terms.
the most annoying thing is the way defying a stereotype so easily becomes a stereotype in itself - for instance, masochism is always depicted in the same terms. not especially liberating for women at times, in my opinion. but what really gets into my nerves in this matter is the overdose of great, over the moon, explosive sex - is that the reality of everybody's sexuality all the time, and therefore should i consider serious therapy, or is it just another way of not discussing sexuality as a reality?

i've just realised it might not seem obvious from above, but i did enjoy reading this :)
it'll be travelling across the ocean soon!
sorry once again for keeping it for so long.

woo hoo I thought it was lost. thanks. Please let us know when you post it.

added 16/12/04..it has been posted

Received in the mail around the first of the year. Sorry I haven't logged it yet, but my computer's been messing up on me (or is it the other way around?) and I haven't had the chance to do anything until now.

Some of these stories are exquisitely written and are quite literary (does that sound right?). The Red Dress Tale was sick IMHO, if only because of her self-attitude. Come on, respect yourself!

Perhaps the most beautiful story to me was Dicks, Digits, & Dildos. It was wonderful and so poetic (at times!). This is going in the mail as soon as I get megi53's address. Thanks for sharing, newk. ;)

1-18-2005: Going in the mail tomorrow.

Arrived in this afternoon's mail. The science fiction stories look good.

The rest of it might be a bit much for me! Let me hide it under my pillow before the kids come home.

I thought some of these stories were excellent. As I'd expected I would, I really enjoyed the sf/fantasy tales, "Sex In Space: The Video" and "Old Tingo's Penis".

Two stories featuring food were my favorites, though: "Spawning" and "Vegan Lesbian Boarding School Hookers in Bondage". (The Ozvuh club was hilarious!)

"A Guest!" was unique and poetic, being composed mostly of two-word sentences: "A joke. A laugh. A glass of red. A joint. A pass. A puff. A laugh."

I appreciated the stories that had saggy, middle-aged people in them, like "The Cool Cat", "Dicks, Digits, Dildos", and "Joanie".

The last two stories I read (I skipped around a lot), "The Conductor" and "A Cool Dry Place", were tearjerkers with elaborate, memorable plots. I'm glad I had the chance to read them, because I'd never have read this book if newk hadn't joked about it in the BC forums.

Newk, if you don't have time to read anything else, try "Sex in Space: The Video" and "The Conductor", which is set near my Virginia home.

Editor Susie Bright wrote in the preface to this 2004 edition that each year's submissions (pun intended) tended to a certain theme, and that her work consisted of selecting the stories for variety. When I saw the 2005 edition of *The Best American Erotica* in the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport last week, it looked like she'd succeeded again in producing a good book with plenty of interesting differences. (Yes, I did flip through it. The kids were not with me!)

Mailing to az628 later this morning.

Great review, glad you enjoyed it. I shall look out for 2005. AND I have 2003 that a kind bxer sent me! Maybe that gives an idea of one of my areas of interest.

Great stories, I am very sorry I didn't journal and mail out sooner. I am mailing out as soon as I get the address of the next member.

Received in a book ring today. Will start reading. Thanks Teresa Finished Book Sending it out today by Priority Mail Since i told too long with it. I am sending it to junegirl. Thanks for including me in this.

Received this awhile ago but forgot to journal it right away. I've just started it and will relish it, I'm sure! Thanks for sharing and for sending.

I've held onto this book far, far too long --- hence, I've posted it to lpree today. I don't know if it has been my mood or my impending middle age birthday this year or just a sadly tired libido, but the 3 or 4 stories I read just didn't do it for me. Someone mentioned the "always mindblowing" aspect of sexuality portrayed in several stories, and I agree. I understand these are fantasy, but still. Maybe I just need a good antidepressant. Can I possibly admit this in a journal entry and not be embarrassed?! I did not make it very far into this, so please don't put too much stock into my comments, as that wouldn't be fair to the book.

Writenreader did not respond to PM's and magicwriting gal asked to be skipped, so this book continues its journey to lpree in Nebraska. Again, I apologize for the huge delay. Not that it's any excuse: I got a job in a local independent bookstore, taken on responsibilities for the store's reading groups and that has put a huge dent in my personal reading ambitions. Thank you for sharing this book from half a world away. I appreciate your generosity and patience, newk.

This arrived in yesterday's mail. I have a couple other bookrings ahead of it, but this will probably be read in bits and pieces alongside those.

Interesting stories, but didn't really do a whole lot for me. Still, as someone said, the variety of approaches was nice. Anyway, I'll get this mailed on to Pyan as soon as I can an address.

Thanks for sharing this book!

UPDATE - Pyan has asked to be skipped, so I've PMd the next person in line.