Rating: 
Summary: Exceptional. Sex was never so hilarious.
Review: I've long been a fan of the comic essay -- from Thurber and EB White to Woody Allen and Fran Lebowitz to David Sedaris. All of these people are brilliant. Perhaps it's because I share so many of Ames' peccadillos that he is my very favorite. People have compared the Jewish-sexually anxious (understatement of the century) Ames to Philip Roth. I understand the comparison, but Ames really is in a league of his own. I've never read anything quite like him. In the opening essay, "Pubertas Agonistes," Ames recounts his latent puberty with vivid detail and recollections of a harrowing time: He is forced to wear a corset for a back ailment, he suffers from an elevated testicle, he has no pubic hair and, as he tells it, "a secret, tiny penis......the penis of a five year old." In "Sex in Venice," he details his stint as a male nanny in Europe, where "in a mad act of affection" he steals the panties of his French "mother," tries them on and masturbates. "Then," he writes, "I threw them away, wanting to destroy the evidence of my crime." As in all of Ames' writing (both of his novels contain this), there is a tight-rope walk, balancing utter frantic joy with desperate melancholy. He is just as likely to make you weep sadly as he is to make you cry from laughing so hard. I must say, I was pretty disappointed by the assessment of this book by Kirkus Review, citing as proof of its inferiority, "The Playboys of Northern New Jersey," in which the author recounts an early sexual experience with a street hooker in Manhattan that concludes with her throwing tea in his face. Kirkus deems the essay insipid, done before. But not like this. Of the hookers who stand on the corner in the middle of winter drinking tea, he writes: "I didn't know if they drank tea to stay warm or to wash the taste of sperm out of their mouths." Lines like this abound. "My colon was clean," he writes elsewhere, " and my spirit was light." In "The Mangina," an essay about his friend Chandler who invents a prosthetic vagina for men to wear, Chandler produces a videotape of himself wearing the Mangina and playing with the labia and inserting a finger. Of this, Ame's says, "This is completely depraved....This makes Karen Finley look like a rank amateur." The same could be say of What's Not to Love? Jonathan Ames is one of a kind. And this book is absolutely hilarious. I laughed so hard, I nearly punctured a lung.
Rating: 
Summary: A harrowingly fun read
Review: In another era, Jonathan Ames would be in jail. Thank god we live in these times. The man is funny, wise and gentle. You'll be most surprised to learn that he's a father. And that will make you feel less bad for being such a pervert.
Rating: 
Summary: ok
Review: it was ok but not that good. it was trying to hard to be funny so it wasn't very funny like dave eggers or nick hornby or those guys who are more "real' writers instead of this ames character who is more of a "P.R." kind of a guy. i got this book used because it's not in the bookstores anymore which is weird because it's pretty new so i guess that means it wasn't popular but i can sort of see why. he'd be better and more fun to read if he didn't try and make you feel so sorry for him. i do feel sorry for him which is why i gave him two stars instead of one.
Rating:
Summary: The first 2/3's are to love; the last 1/3 to like.
Review: Jonathan Ames conceives of himself first and foremost as a fiction author and a column writer (for the New York Press, whence this book is drawn) very much second -- a way to stave off starvation between the advance and royalty checks. The problem is, compared with his fiction writing, I think his columns are actually better. Both draw upon the same life experiences, often even phrased in the same ways, but in a column, the confessional tone is more entertaining and less neurotic. That's not to say columnist-Ames isn't neurotic -- he's neurotic about his neuroses, for crying out loud -- but he's more endearing when simply laying his heart on the line than when trying to create a character independent of Ames in his novels, all of whom are more guarded.
What's Not to Love starts off with some of the experiences Ames has written about in The Extra Man and I Pass Like Night as well as other encounters not integrated into his works of fiction. There's an affectionate fascination of society's forgotten and dehumanized (the homeless, prostitutes, etc.), obsessions with his sexual performance, and his difficulty connecting with the opposite sex. Never cynical, Ames' New York City is an array of corner bars and personalities left out of television's prettification.
This book isn't for the easily offended; Ames doesn't hold back. At the same time, those who have dabbled in urban subcultures or anyone who reads, say, Savage Love on a regular basis won't bat an eyelash except maybe at Ames' willingness to buy tuna sandwiches from strangers on the street. (Jon tries it so you don't have to!)
What's Not to Love is not arranged chronologically, which is a shame since the author develops over the course of the book if one takes the time to divine which were written earlier. Instead, the best material is loaded in the front -- a good sales technique, but one that leads to the book petering out (no pun intended) in the last third. Regardless, fans of Ames' novels will immensely enjoy this collection.
Rating:
Summary: The funniest book alive
Review: Jonathan Ames has already proven his mettle as a novelist (The Extra Man). Now we can see what a hilarious (and fine) essayist he is, too. Reading this honest and embarassing collection of nonfiction pieces is as sweet and exhilirating as wrestling on the carpet with a crush. In his wild flury of a book, Ames makes you giggle and he makes you squirm. And by the end, he wins the bout. You've surrendered--it's hard not to be wiped out from all the smirking and tussling.
Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!
Review: Jonathan Ames is a brilliant and brave writer. His frank accounts about his sex life, his sexuality, his childhood and his friends and family are moving and hilarious. "What's Not To Love" allows the reader to vicariously experience eccentric people and forbidden, unusual places. Ames' stories hang in the air, sort of daring us to reject or perhaps judge what's compelled us. We all have a bit of deviance in us that most try to ignore or deny, but Ames is bold enough to reveal it - and we're better for having read this wonderful book.
Rating:
Summary: Adventures of a smart, sweet , and very funny man
Review: Jonathan Ames is a thirtysomething New Yorker, a Princeton graduate, a former taxi-driver, a performance artist, a father, a devoted son and nephew, a lover of women, a friend to many, a romantic, and a very funny man. He is a raconteur, and writes about sex a lot. Puberty arrived late for him, and he still frets about size - even the size of his nose (too big, he says). He's been a model, but thinks he's ugly. He doesn't ever have much money. He worries about flatulence, and is beset by constipation (for which he takes a fiber supplement) and stomach troubles. He watches TV with his dad. He adores his mom. He's unconventionally sexual at times - fretting guiltily that his great-aunt Pearl, a real character with whom he is wonderfully close, lives nearby some of the locations of his escapades, and he isn't going to be stopping in to visit her. He's insomniac and wonders how he could ever spend a full night with a lover, since he has so much trouble getting a good night's sleep, period. He is drawn to many women, endeavors to please them, and it would seem that he does. He is funny, but he is quite competent. Ames freely admits to intense Oedipal conflicts (except for him they aren't conflicts; he embraces them - and they don't get in his way in the least). At the age of 28 he meets an appealing woman, a composer 37 years his senior. They go to bed, and have a lovely time of it. Ames describes the event in its entirety ("Oedipus Erects"). He's sweet. He wants you to laugh and to love him, and it's easy to do both. Ames' revelations about love, attachment, sexuality, and his winsome acceptance of his own and others' foibles make this book a delight. He is sincere and sweet and uninhibited. He believes in love and friendship, and he has a great memory. This book is thoroughly worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: Endearingly depraved
Review: Jonthan Ames' claim to fame is, of course, his perverted subject matter. I won't say that fame isn't deserved, but I think it often causes people to overlook his unique gifts. First off, his prose is outstanding (though I recommend reading his novels "I Pass Like Night" or "The Extra Man" to see him really shine in that respect.) Above all else, what is most often overlooked about Ames is how really, when it comes down to it, he is just a nice, normal Jewish boy from New Jersey who deeply loves the people close to him and cares very much about what his parents think. Sure, the stories about sex and scatology are hysterical, but read his stories about his great aunt or his son and you will start to see the real Ames. It is Ames' compassion that makes these stories stand out. He's a very sweet and earnest person who is trying (with mixed results) to fit into a world that he doesn't quite understand and that doesn't quite understand him. I think anyone who has ever felt like an outsider (sexually or not) will see something of themself in these stories.
Rating:
Summary: Endearingly depraved
Review: Jonthan Ames' claim to fame is, of course, his perverted subject matter. I won't say that fame isn't deserved, but I think it often causes people to overlook his unique gifts. First off, his prose is outstanding (though I recommend reading his novels "I Pass Like Night" or "The Extra Man" to see him really shine in that respect.) Above all else, what is most often overlooked about Ames is how really, when it comes down to it, he is just a nice, normal Jewish boy from New Jersey who deeply loves the people close to him and cares very much about what his parents think. Sure, the stories about sex and scatology are hysterical, but read his stories about his great aunt or his son and you will start to see the real Ames. It is Ames' compassion that makes these stories stand out. He's a very sweet and earnest person who is trying (with mixed results) to fit into a world that he doesn't quite understand and that doesn't quite understand him. I think anyone who has ever felt like an outsider (sexually or not) will see something of themself in these stories.
Rating:
Summary: NAUSEATINGLY HUMOROUS
Review: Not for the faint-of-heart or the weak-of-stomach, Ames' memoir swerves from hilarious to nauseating, touching on every scatological subject in-between. From enemas to impotence to prosthetic sexual organs to baldness, Ames waxes poetic on every conceivable body part and its function (or, more likely, its DISfunction). In the author's own words, "What's Not to Love?" is the kind of book one's mother shouldn't read. If not always humorous, Ames' stories are always pointedly and seat-squirmingly honest. If you are in an adventurous mood and are looking for something out-of-the ordinary, "What's Not to Love?" is the book for you.
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