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True Tales of Lust and Love
Anna David’s True Tales of Lust and Love began as a one-time-only reading and storytelling show in January of 2012, a venue for writers and comedians to share and laugh at their dating disaster stories. But after selling out the venue and attracting immediate press and buzz—with articles in The LA Weekly, LA Times, Time Out, Flavorpill , and LAist , among others—David agreed to produce the show every month. It has continued not only to sell out but also to attract a growing list of authors, comedians, and Hollywood writers. As Time Out declared, “This is the place to go to see strong female performers.”
With the show now booked indefinitely, and with audio recordings of each performance available on iTunes, Anna has collected the most popular and entertaining pieces into the first ever True Tales of Lust and Love anthology. The book includes essays organized into three sections—Casual Sex, Dating, and Out of the Ordinary—which collectively offer up funny, raucous, insightful, and surprisingly touching confessions about the quest for lust and love. Everyone has dating disaster stories, everyone needs to share and laugh at them, and this anthology will give readers the opportunity to do just that, with contributions from the funniest writers and comedians around, pulled from the world of books, TV, and film. True Tales of Lust and Love is the perfect complement for a funny or cynical Valentine’s Day—and beyond.
With the show now booked indefinitely, and with audio recordings of each performance available on iTunes, Anna has collected the most popular and entertaining pieces into the first ever True Tales of Lust and Love anthology. The book includes essays organized into three sections—Casual Sex, Dating, and Out of the Ordinary—which collectively offer up funny, raucous, insightful, and surprisingly touching confessions about the quest for lust and love. Everyone has dating disaster stories, everyone needs to share and laugh at them, and this anthology will give readers the opportunity to do just that, with contributions from the funniest writers and comedians around, pulled from the world of books, TV, and film. True Tales of Lust and Love is the perfect complement for a funny or cynical Valentine’s Day—and beyond.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
About the author
Anna David
45 books116 followersAnna David is a New York Times bestselling author of eight books and the founder of Legacy Launch Pad Publishing. A three-time TEDx speaker, she has appeared on Good Morning America, Today Show, The Talk and dozens of other programs.
Anna has also written for the New York Times, Time, Playboy, Vanity Fair and the Huffington Post, among many others, and been written about in such publications as Entrepreneur, Martha Stewart magazine and Forbes.
Her first novel, Party Girl, is in development as a feature film to be shot in 2023 and she's the on-air book critic for KATU Portland. Her company has published over 50 books, many of which have become Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestsellers.
She lives in Hollywood with her boyfriend, filmmaker Jim Agnew, their son Benjamin and their cranky-looking cat Bernie.
Anna has also written for the New York Times, Time, Playboy, Vanity Fair and the Huffington Post, among many others, and been written about in such publications as Entrepreneur, Martha Stewart magazine and Forbes.
Her first novel, Party Girl, is in development as a feature film to be shot in 2023 and she's the on-air book critic for KATU Portland. Her company has published over 50 books, many of which have become Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestsellers.
She lives in Hollywood with her boyfriend, filmmaker Jim Agnew, their son Benjamin and their cranky-looking cat Bernie.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 3, 2014
Funny and raunchy. Loved it! True short tales by women writers--many of them television/comedy writers. My favorites were: A La Italia; The Older Man; The Test; Summer Camp; and...I hesitate to add--because it was so dirty--Deep-Fried Southern Sex. Raunch, yes, but sophisticated raunch.
December 29, 2018
Meh. Some stories were entertaining others didn’t really seem to have a point. But, it was a short book with some funny essays by women.
November 2, 2017
I had hoped for a bit more and the first three or four stories felt like they offered something to this tittle but the rest just went down hill. I felt so depressed and disappointed with feminine sexuality after reading this ... surely there could have been better contributions or at least give me a different title - like "tales somewhat related to dating and relationships " or or "the elephant graveyard of short stories that should have been about lust and love but that died on the way" so I am less disappointed.....
December 12, 2016
With every short story book there will be some stories you like and some you don't. This one mostly had ones that I just felt meh about. I took my time chipping away at the stories. It was still an OK read though.
December 20, 2018
This was an interesting and funny light-read on dating and love. It reminded me a lot of reading those relationship funny stories in Cosmo.
February 5, 2014
This is an anthology of dating stories by women writers. Some of them are funny, and those that aren't tend towards the very sad indeed. Most of the stories were originally spoken-word narratives, and read better that way than they do as short stories. My favorite is the last one, written by my friend Laura House about a surreal trip to the Spearmint Rhino in Las Vegas. But the one that I think will stay with me is the one about a chance encounter with a childhood boyfriend now going by the cognomen of Mr. Clown. The collection is more than a little uneven, but there are enough highlights to make it worthwhile.
February 7, 2014
Just what this single girl in suburbia needed to snap out of the blues brought on by this most wicked of "holidays," Valentine's Day. I'm not alone in dreading the 21st century dating scene. I'm part of a club in which I know no one and yet they're like sisters. Lots of smart, funny, attractive women have had even more horrid, humiliating, hilarious (20/20 hindsight and all) dating, sex, and love (and lust) disasters. Hallelujah!
May 11, 2016
This book has been on my shelf forever because I expected it to be some kind of SATC type of thing, and I'm so over that. But it's not at all! It's real women sharing real stories about dating, loving and having sex. Some are super funny (several of the authors are comedians), some not at all. But every story is honest, some even to the point where it hurts. It's a pretty brilliant collection and I enjoyed reading it a lot.
August 3, 2016
An easy, fun read, with moments of brilliance. I found the third section ("Love - or something like it") to drag. Some of the essays in this section were boring and pointless, and I wondered why they were included in this anthology.
If this collection had just been the first two sections, I would have rated it 4 stars.
If this collection had just been the first two sections, I would have rated it 4 stars.
March 2, 2014
I received this as a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. My jaw dropped from page 1 and stayed that way until the very last page. I can't remember laughing so hard in ages. Excellent book! These are truly hysterical and shocking tales of love and lust.
August 27, 2016
I thought this was absolutely hilarious! All the stories are smart, funny, and touching, and definitely were relatable. It's a nice light read that's likely to make you laugh and feel like you're not alone in the odd world of dating and love.
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April 2, 2023Maybe if I had read this when I was 18 I would have found it exciting and interesting. But reading it at age 34 I just felt bored. It took me ten days to get to page 40...I kept putting it down and reading other books instead. Not for me.
January 11, 2014
Hooray for national treasure Laura House!
December 28, 2021
Hilarious
March 16, 2014
I loved this book. I laughed out loud often and I even read some of the stories to my husband... first being "Water Snake" (in case he ever gets any ideas!)
March 27, 2014
loved the first 2 sections but the last fell off a bit but overall very good
May 24, 2014
This collection of stories was worth the read. Some clearly better than others but a great book to take on a plane or vacation. Lots of varying stories on the same theme of Lust and Love.
July 6, 2014
Quite good. The stories are mostly very funny and entertaining, written by people who know how to make people laugh at their own exploits.
February 1, 2015
This was a quick, and mostly funny read that covers the sex and relationship foibles many of us make (and sometimes make again and again), but hopefully grow from and learn to laugh about.
April 27, 2015
Hilarious
May 26, 2015
I started this book too late at night and ended up laughing out loud at 1 am. Almost every raunchy story made me giggle...I was just so entertained. I even read a few of the stories twice.
October 11, 2015
The first part of this book was hilarious, the second part was entertaining, and the third part was so depressing I stopped reading.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews