Naughty Paris

They wouldn't let Toni Bentley read from her erotic memoir, The Surrender, in the big American bookstore chains (even though they happily sold the bestseller), so those of us who made it to her first reading ever last night at the Village Voice felt especially lucky. In Paris to launch the French translation (which has a nicer cover, of course), Toni packed out the English book store and, despite (or probably because of) the "taboo" subject matter of the memoir, managed to make us all laugh.

Toni with her French editor Mark Parent at the Village Voice Bookstore, Paris.

There's nothing better than being able to hear authors read in their own voice. And she has a great voice. Light, funny, and really touching. Not at all the detached, "worldly" personality that usually accompanies navel-gazing literature. I'm about half way through my copy, and am happy to say that this is NOT a repeat of the sad and ultimately boring memoir by the French author Catherine M. Hope you all get a chance to read it!
Signing copies afterwards. Note the French cover version on the table.