(by 4 people)
A Special Reading List
These are books that I've read and felt were important for one reason or another. Some books didn't make this list because they weren't that amazing. Others I haven't read. Feel free to make suggestions for sex worker books that you think are amazing.
The Books
Books are listed in no particular order.
- The Internet Escort's Handbook Book 1: The Foundation
- (My book, she says with a blush). Describes what escort work requires from the escort. I haven't seen anything else like it out there, which is why I wrote it.
- Working: My Life As a Prostitute
- by Dolores French
Dolores is witty, humane and adventurous. This book is a bible of sex work and has inspired many women, not just me. I've been recommending this one since I first read it in 1998. - Turning Pro: A Guide to Sex Work for the Ambitious and the Intrigued
- by Magdalene Meretrix
A very broad and general overview of just about every type of sex work imaginable. The author has participated in everything at some point or another. Some of the information is really dated, though. (Every escort I know has this one on her shelf.) - Whores and Other Feminists
- edited by Jill Nagle
There are some very good essays in here by various sex workers, as well as the usual, tired suspects. Could be eye-opening, depending on who you are. - Cop to Call Girl
- Why I Left the Lapd to Make an Honest Living As a Beverly Hills Prostitute
by Norma Jean Almodovar
This is actually more of a political book than a sex book, but you don't figure that out until the end. She's a courageous woman who truly enjoyed her work (the chicken guy is priceless). - The Exotic Entertainer's Bible
- by Melody Obourn
A level-headed 101 for strippers from a dancer honest enough to admit to making mistakes. The only bad advice she gives is to put stripping ahead of a college education. - Lapdancer
- by Juliana Beasley
An excellent photo documentary of one dancer's experience in a nude lapdance club. No posturing or philosophizing. Just her photos and essays from club patrons and dancers. - Strip City : A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America
- by Lily Burana
A fun book about stripping, although the author self-created way too much angst for someone with a bland life. - Ivy League Stripper
- by Heidi Mattson
What it's like to be a successfully hustling stripper with a cast-iron ego in the time before the population of strip clubs exploded. - Nine Lives: From Stripper to Schoolteacher : My Year-Long Odyssey in the Workplace
- by Lynn Snowden
A great book in its own right, the chapter where she worked for a month as a stripper should be mandatory reading for any strip-club patron. (And it's one of the better "stripper" essays that I've read.) - Phone Sex: Aural Thrills and Oral Skills
- by Miranda Austin
An honest look at what it's like to work as a phone sex operator. Includes hilarious conversations. No major drama, but a lot of laughs. - Pink Samurai
- by Nicholas Bornoff
A very big book covering the adult industry in Japan, including its long history. Although I'm betting quite a bit has changed since it was published in the mid-80s, it's worth reading for the detailed historical look at a society that doesn't view sex as deviant. - Working Sex: An Odyssey into Our Cultural Underworld
- by Marianne Macy
Very much written by an outsider, but one who has an open and curious mind. It's worth reading for the interviews with various sex workers she encounters. - Mayflower Madam: The Secret Life of Sydney Biddle Barrows
- by Sydney Biddle Barrows
Details a pretty good method to running an escort agency. Although a lot has changed (the Internet), the principles of fair treatment and safety still apply. - Madam 90210: My Life as Madam to the Rich and Famous
- by Elizabeth Adams
Dishes on Madam Alex, Heidi Fleiss and assorted celebrities and babes. Plenty of money and depravity within. Not to be taken seriously, but it sure is fun. - Red Light: Inside the Sex Industry
- by Sylvia Plachy (photographer), James Ridgeway
Explores the seedy side of sex work. Here are plenty of walking, talking stereotypes -- all captured on grainy black and white film. Not exactly eye-opening but these are real people and real lives. - Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl: A Novel
- by Tracy Quan
A fair-minded look at a group of callgirls who aren't victims of anything except, perhaps, their fashion addictions. Fluffy, fun and irritating (Nancy Chan has her head up her ass); much like hanging out with a group of long-time girlfriends would be. - Kushiel's Dart
- by Jacqueline Carey
Fantasy fiction about a masochistic spy/courtesan. It may not be for everyone, but it's not a bad place to start for skin-on-skin knowledge of what it's like to be a courtesan/paid companion/sex worker. My own experiences have shown that the concepts in this book really do translate to real life.
Books I Want to Read
(Again, listing is in no particular order.)
- Callgirl: Confessions of an Ivy League Lady of Pleasure
- by Jeannette Angell
She made it onto Oprah. I want to see what she has to say. (I now have a copy of the book, but I haven't read it yet. Will report when I do.) - Veronica Monet's Sex Secrets of Escorts: What Men Really Want
- by Veronica Monet
I wonder if her ideas of what men want jibes with mine. - Stripped: Twenty Years of Secrets from Inside the Strip Club
- by Brent Kenton Jordan
He's been nice to me, the least I can do is read his book.
After Hours
My personal blog, where I occassionally discuss books I've read and where I keep an active personal reading list (and Amazon Wish List!)
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byThe Notebook
My book's blog, where I will discuss various sex-worker issues, including books (when I can).
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byRelated books from Amazon
Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4)
Release Date: 08/02/2008
Amazon Price: $12.64 (as of 08/21/2008)
Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
Amazon Price: $6.04 (as of 08/21/2008)
Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3)
Release Date: 08/07/2007
Amazon Price: $10.99 (as of 08/21/2008)
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
Release Date: 04/24/2007
Amazon Price: $11.97 (as of 08/21/2008)
The Complete User's Guide to the Amazing Amazon Kindle
Amazon Price: $6.39 (as of 08/21/2008)
Suggested books or comments?
Like this lens? Want to share your feedback, or just give a thumbs up? Be the first to submit a blurb!
