The Sexual Life of Catherine M.
by Catherine Millet, Adriana Hunter | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 1852428112 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 1852428112 Global Overview for this book
9 journalers for this copy...
Picked this up in a second hand book shop in the Algarve.
Blurb on the back:
Written in spare, elegant prose, 'The Sexual Life of Catherine M.' is the autobiography of a well-know Parisian art critic who likes to spend nights in the singles clubs of Paris and in the Bois do Boulogne where she has sex with a succession of anonymous men. Unlike many contempory women writers, there is no guilt in Millet's narrative, no chronicles of use and abuse: on the contrary, she has no regrets about a life of energetic sexual activity. Catherine Millet's writing is a subtle reflection on the boundaries of art and life and she uses her insights on the role of the body in modern art to set the scene for her multiple sexual encounters.
Blurb on the back:
Written in spare, elegant prose, 'The Sexual Life of Catherine M.' is the autobiography of a well-know Parisian art critic who likes to spend nights in the singles clubs of Paris and in the Bois do Boulogne where she has sex with a succession of anonymous men. Unlike many contempory women writers, there is no guilt in Millet's narrative, no chronicles of use and abuse: on the contrary, she has no regrets about a life of energetic sexual activity. Catherine Millet's writing is a subtle reflection on the boundaries of art and life and she uses her insights on the role of the body in modern art to set the scene for her multiple sexual encounters.
This is being made into a bookring. Rules:
1) Make a journal entry when you receive the book and when you have finished it. That way we know the book has arrived safely and what you thought of it.
2) PM the next person on their list for their address. Give them a reasonable amount of time to response (i.e. 2 weeks) then PM the next person on the list. Let me know as well.
3) Post the book of to the next person. Easy peasey!
List of participants:
wilksie - UK
Soulbalm - UK
perditaxknit - UK
sunflowergirl - UK
notingnothing - UK
kungfuprincess - US <--- book is here 08/05/2007
phantomcougar - UK
boirina - Potugal
vainilla79 - Spain
bigcurlyloz - UK
wubbaducky - UK
I tend to keep bookrings/rays open so this list may change according to participant's shipping preferences.
1) Make a journal entry when you receive the book and when you have finished it. That way we know the book has arrived safely and what you thought of it.
2) PM the next person on their list for their address. Give them a reasonable amount of time to response (i.e. 2 weeks) then PM the next person on the list. Let me know as well.
3) Post the book of to the next person. Easy peasey!
List of participants:
Soulbalm - UK
perditaxknit - UK
sunflowergirl - UK
notingnothing - UK
kungfuprincess - US <--- book is here 08/05/2007
phantomcougar - UK
boirina - Potugal
vainilla79 - Spain
bigcurlyloz - UK
wubbaducky - UK
I tend to keep bookrings/rays open so this list may change according to participant's shipping preferences.
And we're off! I sent this to wilksie via second class post this afternoon. I hope this book makes up the disappointment of "Belle De Jour" ;-)
This arrived yesterday - thank you Drusillamac.
I just have my current read to finish and I'll start this one :-)
I just have my current read to finish and I'll start this one :-)
Journal Entry 5 by wilksie from Sheffield, South Yorkshire United Kingdom on Thursday, July 27, 2006
It’s hard to say what I thought of this book. What can you say about someone who has decided to make herself always available for sex, at any time and with anyone? As with Belle du Jour, the page after page of repetitive coupling became boring but unlike B du J, I gained the impression that this was a real person writing about the way she really lived. In that way it was interesting, but so far removed from my life that I might have been reading about an alien. Sad too, in that there was little impression of character, either from the men she ‘met’ or from Catherine herself. She has no regrets, she doesn’t care for morals, in fact she doesn’t seem to care for anything much. Is her sexual activity the only way she can define herself?
Sending on to Soulbalm as soon as I get an address.
Sending on to Soulbalm as soon as I get an address.
Posted to Soulbalm this morning.
Woo hoo! Although I've signed up for lots, this is the FIRST bookring that has actually arrived for me to read. And it seems quite a suitable read for busting my cherry!
It was awaiting my arrival in Edinburgh when I moved here from the South East of England.
UPDATE 19 August 2006
Am working 15 hour days and haven't had a chance to open this let alone read it. If I don't get a chance in next 2-3 days I'll offer to send it on, so as not to hold up the ring.
It was awaiting my arrival in Edinburgh when I moved here from the South East of England.
UPDATE 19 August 2006
Am working 15 hour days and haven't had a chance to open this let alone read it. If I don't get a chance in next 2-3 days I'll offer to send it on, so as not to hold up the ring.
Wahay!
Have started reading this. And also tried to contact next person on ring (unsuccessfully).... so after a slow start this book is on its way again!
Have started reading this. And also tried to contact next person on ring (unsuccessfully).... so after a slow start this book is on its way again!
Will post this off to perditaxknit who used to be neverbelilith (see I've held this up for so long that people are changing their names) tomorrow.
Sorry it's taken so long.
Sorry it's taken so long.
On its way via Royal Mail to neverbelilith, who is now perditaxknit.
Journal Entry 11 by perditaxknit from Sheffield, South Yorkshire United Kingdom on Monday, January 15, 2007
Got it this morning, thank you! :)
Journal Entry 12 by perditaxknit from Sheffield, South Yorkshire United Kingdom on Monday, January 15, 2007
Oh, and how could I forget, thank you for the Green & Blacks! *yum*
Journal Entry 13 by perditaxknit from Sheffield, South Yorkshire United Kingdom on Monday, January 29, 2007
Hmmm, yes, my thoughts are similar to Wilksie's. While it's great that Catherine M has found an unconventional lifestyle that suits her, this book does feel a bit like she's shouting "look at me and all the sex I'm having, me, me me me!!". I also found it a bit weird that she doesn't actually seem to be enjoying herself much, and I agree that it would have been nice to find out a little more about her personality rather than her orifices.
I could just be a bitter, jealous spinster :) Although I have to say that if she spent more time doing another interesting hobby (like knitting!) she would probably get less disgusting venereal diseases. *nods virtuously* :D
I could just be a bitter, jealous spinster :) Although I have to say that if she spent more time doing another interesting hobby (like knitting!) she would probably get less disgusting venereal diseases. *nods virtuously* :D
Journal Entry 14 by perditaxknit from Sheffield, South Yorkshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, January 31, 2007
I've got SunflowerGirl's address, so it'll be in the post today. xx
Journal Entry 15 by sunflowergirl from Carlisle, Cumbria United Kingdom on Saturday, February 17, 2007
The book arrived here this morning, thanks for sending it on perditaxknit. And thanks to drusillamac for letting me join the bookring. Amazingly, I have no ring or ray books here at the moment(!) so once I've finished the book I'm currently reading I'll be straight on to this one. I'll journal again once I've read it.
Journal Entry 16 by sunflowergirl from Carlisle, Cumbria United Kingdom on Sunday, February 18, 2007
I've just finished reading this book and thought I'd journal it straight away. I don't really know what to say about the book though. I thought Catherine's honesty about her lifestyle was refreshing but I found the book strange in that although she was a willing player in all that she did, the book seemed to have an underlying sadness about it. I thought it was strange how she wasn't really knowledgable about her own body, and for all the encounters that she'd had with men and women, it seems sad that that's the case.
I've PM'd notingnothing for her address and will send the book on as soon as I can.
I've PM'd notingnothing for her address and will send the book on as soon as I can.
I posted this book to its next reader today by second class post, so it should get there soon. Sorry for the delay in posting it, I've not been well enough to get out to the Post Office over the past couple of weeks.
Arrived safely today - thank you.
Like some of the others, not sure what I made of this book. I don't want to be critical of Catherine, because each to their own etc, but at the same time, I found the book quite self-absorbed and difficult to engage with. Felt a real sense of detachment and an underlying sadness. I wanted to know *her* and not about all the sex. Perhaps I'm getting soppy in my old age ;)
Have PMd adrienne10 for an address.
Have PMd adrienne10 for an address.
Arrived in yesterday's mail. I've started it already. It seems like an interesting read, although I did not realize it was autobiographical.
I just realized how long I have had this book. Sadly, I have been reading it all this time. I thought it would go really fast, but it did not. At this point, I am rather bored with it and sort of skimmed over the remaining sections.
I think this just was not the book for me, especially during a reading slump.
I apologize for keeping this book so long. I have sent a pm for the next reader's address and will get it in the mail as soon as I have one.
Thanks for sharing this book!
I think this just was not the book for me, especially during a reading slump.
I apologize for keeping this book so long. I have sent a pm for the next reader's address and will get it in the mail as soon as I have one.
Thanks for sharing this book!
Like many others on this on journal, I too was very disappointed in this book.
Looking for a diary of a strong woman comfortable with her sexuality, was sad to find a recount of a passive self absorbed woman, who felt being passed around was an act of heroism that needed be documented.
Pming the next one line shortly.
Looking for a diary of a strong woman comfortable with her sexuality, was sad to find a recount of a passive self absorbed woman, who felt being passed around was an act of heroism that needed be documented.
Pming the next one line shortly.
Recieved with thanks. Will read and send on.
