Drinking, Smoking and Screwing: Great Writers on Good Times

by Sara Nickles (Editor), Bob Shacochis (Introduction)

Before the notion of "political correctness" encroached on the ways people spoke, wrote, and conducted themselves in public and private, some of America's best writers embraced unsafe sex, excessive alcohol, and a good cigar. From the classically libidinous Henry Miller to the hilariously contemporary Fran Lebowitz, Drinking, Smoking and Screwing includes novel excerpts, essays, poems, and short stories in a bawdy and thoroughly entertaining anthology with no warnings -- and no apologies.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Humor, Essays, Anthologies, Classics, Poetry

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1994

Reviews

[Kirsti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I accidentally left this in plain sight on my desk at work, then started reading it at my spouse's grandmother's house. Oops. Apparently, nobody noticed. I enjoyed the book, especially the Dorothy Parker story. Poor Spaulding Gray was so neurotic.

[Rustinjd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bukowski sounds like a drunken, gassy Jabba-the-Hut that somehow finds all these 17 year olds to lift up the layers of his gut and hoover the cum out of his unwashed cock.

Ugh.

[La Petite Américaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most KICK-ASS anthology ever! Charles Bukowski, Vladimir Nabokov, and Dorothy Parker all in one book?! Writing about debauchery?!

The coolness of it ... it's been bringing me to a near seizure since I fist bought this book when I was 15.

Sigh ... :)

[Niki E · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this at City Lights Bookshop, San Francisco, in 2003 and hid it from my family in misguided shame. Then it ended up on my bookshelf for 20 years until I was reminded of it during a visit home over New Year. The title makes it out to be something more salacious and scandalous than it actually is; most pieces are from the 1920s-50s involving alcohol, tobacco or sex in some form and 90% are just pure, short-form entertainment, comedy columns or excerpts of perfect anthology length. I worked through it in one day sitting by the swimming pool.
For me the stores around sex were the most interesting, but even then most were relatively tame, except for perhaps the Mary McCarthy excerpt about virginity loss from The Group, which I’ve read previously, and a seriously unhinged story about a girl taking home a hunchback for an ‘experience’. The Bukowski and Nabokov excerpts highlighted their real writing talent but also my decision not to explore their work further. It’s an impressive collection of authors for an anthology and I’m glad I finally overcame my youthful shame and picked it up.

[D. Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good. Some not as good.

[Garrett Zecker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great little collection that reflects on the fine pleasures in life... The vices that we cannot live without. What is interesting about this little volume is its complete and utter disregard for what they chose to include - Twain, Nabokov, Gray, Parker - the authors that you might not even consider to be together in the same room, et alone a volume on vice. Regardless, this book was a wonderful little gift from my friend Aaron. It not only showcases that which we love in this world, but the effectual impact it has on our hearts and medullas. A wonderful collection that certainly compliments an extra dry martini and a smoke.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Add to the long list of inappropriate things I read when I was 14. Actually, it's really not very scandalous at all. Good writing, but PG-13 at most. It's got Dorothy Parker's You Were Perfectly Fine, which makes me happy.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spalding Gray's personal essay was worth the price of this book (at the time). Oh the debauchery!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this collection shortly after it was published. A fun collection that delivers what the title says and worth a perusal if you like decadence - and who doesn't??!

[Frances Rebollido · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a handful of gems in this anthology

[William Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This anthology of stories, essays, and poems (many of them excerpts from larger works) recalls a time when writers celebrated excess rather than worried about life’s three great pleasures: a martini before and a cigarette after. So says the excellent introduction by Shacochis.

Selections range widely, from Mark Twain on what it means to enjoy a cigar, to an acerbic feminist essay by Erica Jong excerpted from Fear of Flying. Most essays are humorous, by authors such as Dorothy Parker, James Thurber, and Art Buchwald. Some are from classic literature, by the likes of Henry James, Anais Nin, and Vladimir Nabokov.

I found that the humor has not worn well over the decades. Times and values have changed so radically in recent years, there is little humor left in jokes about getting drunk, trying not to, or trying to quit smoking. Maybe that’s a worthwhile message from the book.

As for the screwing part, there are some good essays, but again, because modern culture has become so open, there is nothing that can be written about sex any more that is shocking or even titillating. Everything possible has been written, repeatedly. What’s compelling about the selections concerning sex is not the sex, but the fine writing, such as by Henry James and Vladimir Nabokov. Articles that dwell on body parts and juices are flaccid.

The anthology is a light read that lets you sample some fine authors, and if you’re going to sample them, it might as well be on topics that are fun to read.

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those much anticipated books that turned out to be kind of a letdown. It's a veritable clip show, featuring snippets lifted from either books I've already read, or books I have no interest in reading. Here is a chunk of Lolita, there is the deflowering scene from The Group, etc.

My favorite was the Fran Lebowitz bit about smoking, though even that was a rerun for me. I guess I should be grateful for that fact that thanks to this book I discovered that I really don't like Spalding Gray, which means I can get rid his books that I've been moving around since the late eighties, and that I do kind of like Charles Bukowski.

You're never too old to be surprised.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this in our Free Little Library and picked it out as in-fill between the tome that was Demon Copperhead and a history of the Potomac River. The collection of shorts and excerpts from longer pieces highlight the joys of certain pleasures. The authors run the gamut from Dorothy Parker and members of the Algonquin Round Table to Charlie Bukowski and products of the 70s West Coast scene; stalwarts of New York publishing; cynics, romantics, pragmatists, and bon vivants. It's all about the joys of sex, booze, and a good smoke, sometimes in the same setting. It is a compilation of the 1990s, as the country was looking for the angels of its better nature by inculcating itself from those prurient experiences in law, while subsidizing them in practice.

Personal faves are "The Office Party", "The Group", "You Were Perfectly Fine", "When Smoke Gets in Your Eyes . . . Shut Them", and "Women".

[Christine Boyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. I thought this would be more scandalous, racier, or at least funny. Not so much.

However, I'll go as high as 3 stars, though, because I think it's a challenge for an editor to find just the right short stories and excerpts for a collection like this. So obviously these were the selections that editor Sara Nickles enjoyed or thought would add to the theme. Most were from the 1950s-1970s. I thought some were the worst representations of that "good" author. But again, I guess it's a taste issue.

There were 24 stories and I only liked two: "The Office Party" by Corey Ford and "Concerning Tobacco" by Mark Twain.

[John Brewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like I say the same thing about each short story collection I read. There were some very good stories (Anais Nin and Henry Miller), some surprising stories (Sam Shepard's in a good way), and some not-so-great ones. The book was my first experience reading Dorothy Parker and JP Donnelly and both their stories were great introductions. A fun book, an easy read, and perfect for a week of exile due to Covid.

[Mandi Bean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a highly enjoyable collection of short stories, essays, and poems by a very diverse group of talented writers all about sex, drinking, and smoking. I appreciated the tongue-in-cheek humor and am still curious as to how pieces were chosen for the collection, as there are a few pieces I would have left out. This was a great summer read.

[Ronn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought at first that someone had written a book about my abbreviated college career. It turns out to be articles, essays, book chapters by various authors about the title subjects. It is thoroughly enjoyable if not deep. The authors are as varied as Mark Twain, Dorothy Parker, and Spaulding Grey.

[Amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't quite what I expected. I thought I will find essays from writers complaining about the changing of times. Instead these are fragments or stories out of larger works, whose content could be questionable nowadays. Nevertheless I enjoyed it, but wasn't overwhelmed by it.

[Nikole · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I recieved the book and found out they were short stories instead of gossip about famous writers, I was pissed. But then I stared reading... This was a really fun read and I'm glad I gave it a chance.

[Fifi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fact that it’s pieces by different authors it’s really cool because they’re already about the same topic but I ran a different style. Some are funny others are dark.

[Robert Morgan Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun collection of licentious essays, stories and poems. Assuming a proud place on my shelf alongside Playboy Stories, Great Esquire Fiction and National Lampoon's A Dirty Book.

[Madeline Puckett]

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews...

[Almeta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stumbled across this while searching for Tom Robbins novels. How could I resist such a title?

As in all short story/essay collections, some were better than others. Over all a very entertaining read.

Written by sinning authors that we all know, relating to the sinning people that we all know. (Not me of course!)

[Anna Boudinot · Rating 2 out of 5]

With any anthology, there's always the probability that you will like some, but not all, of the stories contained therein. With this book, unfortunately, the number of pieces I liked paled in comparison to the number of pieces that were either boring or, strangely, offensive. I say "strangely" because I don't consider myself to be a delicate flower who cannot handle a book about drinking, smoking, and screwing. Yet I found the "comedy" by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg extremely off putting: it depicted a young, bohemian bimbo who seduces a physically and mentally disabled man because he reminds her of the uncle who used to molest her. An interesting story, I suppose, but a comedy? It was written with a lot of hand-wringing on the part of the innocent nymphet as she told herself "Oh, but I can't! Why am I so drawn to him? And yet... I find myself taking all my clothes off!" One word: ew.

I was also disturbed by the inclusion of a passage from Lolita in this book. I think Lolita is a great work of literature, but a description of a man drugging a child so he can rape her while she sleeps should not be included in a book called "Drinking, Smoking and Screwing." Perhaps "Drinking, Smoking and Raping." Or "Drinking, Smoking and Child Molesting."

There were a few gems here: Brautigan, Bukowski, Nin, and Miller. But I had already found them elsewhere, in much better books.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book, because, well, just look at that cover. Three of my favorite things together at last and some of my favorite authors are in here as well. I started this book a thousand years ago and never finished it. Then I ran out of things on my “to be read” pile, so I started from the beginning again. Now I know why I never finished it. The problem with this book is that it’s all shorts. That’s fine, if the original stories are shorts, but for the most part, they’re not. The editor just ripped out snippets from longer works. For instance, Bukowski wrote a ton of shorts that would be perfect for this book. What did they use instead? An except from the full-length novel, Women. And he’s not the only one who got the clipped treatment either. Because of the format, when they’re all noshed up together like this, it reads as clinical and didactic. I really wonder how it’s possible that such titillating subject matter could teeter on boring, but this book managed it. There are some good authors in here that are enjoyable to read, but all told, you’d be better off just reading the source material from whence the excerpts came.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great note to end the year on, an anthology by last century's great writers about some of my favorite vices! Mark Twain on cigars, Dorothy Parker on drinking, Henry Miller on - you guessed it - sex, Bukowski on drinking and sex...there were only a few stories that kind of freaked me out (always felt bad I never read Lolita until this book's excerpt, for example), but overall, really enjoyable. Fran Leibowitz's piece was hysterical ("When Smoke Gets in Your Eyes ... Shut Them"):

"Smoking is, as far as I am concerned, the entire point of being an adult. It makes growing up genuinely worthwhile .... I understand, of course, that many people find smoking objectionable. That is their right.... I myself find many - even most - things objectionable. Being offended is a natural consequence of leaving one's home. I do not like after-shave lotion, adults who roller skate, children who speak French, or anyone who is unduly tan. I do not, however, go around enacting legislation and putting up signs."

[Talie Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really enjoyed this anthology, but as the end drew closer the story selections began to disappoint me. the only stories i skipped was the tale about cigarette brands (the three-pager before Twain’s) and Erica Jong’s Candy.

something i picked up on quickly is that almost all the stories about sex usually involve the trope of an innocent, young woman being taken by a ravenous, older male. i actually found myself liking these stories the most, especially Women by Bukowski and the lady’s quest to lose her virginity to a married man. kinda romantic.

however i felt this went a little too far when an excerpt from Lolita, by Nabokov, was included. how does a ~supposed~ romantic scene between a grown man and child get included in here?

and let’s talk about Candy, by Erica Jong—a story about being almost raped by a disabled man? had to skip it.

I would say I enjoyed 2/3 of the stories included in here. out of the doozies, most were boring, hard to follow along with or just too far gone for my sexual preferences.

[giselayvonne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book so much more than I did; a compilation with three favored vices with the sub-title of "Great Writers on Good Times". Sounds good, right?

For me, it seemed trite and juvenile, like a bunch of fully grown adults writing about whimsies which evidently left many of them bitter and deranged and therefore might have been best left in their youth. Perhaps, as I finish the last sip of my beer and suck on my last cigarette of the day, I am suffering disenchantment: y'all are boring me.

Whether or not there was good writing in here seems beside the point this evening, I don't understand the objective of the 'compilator'. The compilation left me with a sour taste...perhaps it is time to give up smoking. (most definitely!) But, with an eye to the future weekend: seeing the Milky Way this weekend at Joshua Tree seems no time to give up champagne. :)

Perhaps I am compiling my own Drinking, Smoking, and Screwing...the way it should have been written.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doesn't the title say it all?

Highlights, briefly:

'How to cut down on drinking and smoking quite so much' - L. Rust Hills
"Life is (I have been known to say) a Three-Legged Stool, supported by Booze, Coffee, and Smokes, which interdepend essentially. Kick away any leg of the stool and the whole old corpus comes crashing to the kitchen floor."

'The drinking school' - Art Hoppe
"It is not true that alcohol merely makes you dizzy. It also makes you stupid. Some improperly motivated students, feeling stupid and dizzy, will quit right there. Don't be a dropout! Persevere and you will be rewarded by becoming completely irresponsible. Not to mention violently ill."

... and Fran Lebowitz's 'When Smoke Gets In Your Eyes... Shut Them' in full.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthology of short stories as well as excerpts from famous books revolving around author/character hedonism, especially as it applies to vices such as drinking, smoking, and sex. Some of the stories are incredible, including those by Spalding Gray, Erica Jong, Fran Lebowitz, Bukowski, and L. Rust Hills. These pieces in and of themselves are worth picking up the book, especially the Hills piece on "How to Cut Down on Drinking and Smoking Quite so Much." Possibly one of the funniest diatribes on curbing vices I've ever read. Other pieces I could definitely have done without, but overall, I would recommend this book as a quick read, with a nice introduction to certain writers you may not have necessarily read that much on before.