got a swell review today in the nation’s biggest newspaper. it was all perfect - except that it says i’m tall when in fact i’m short! just 5′4″ - but other than that, i could not agree more!

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/reviews/2007-02-28-naked-on-the-page_x.htm

‘Naked on the Page’ is woman’s open book

Posted 2/28/2007 8:29 PM ET

By Deirdre Donahue, USA TODAY

Jane Ganahl is indeed Naked on the Page.

In her amusing book, the San Francisco journalist recollects the 15 months leading up to her 50th birthday.

Imagine Bridget Jones if she were a 48-year-old, twice-divorced American with an adult daughter, three cats and a new gig as a columnist writing about the single life for the San Francisco Chronicle.

The best part of Naked is Ganahl’s sometimes embarrassing candor. It makes her vulnerable.

A tall, thin redhead who has enjoyed an active love life and hopes to continue to do so despite her AARP-eligible status, Ganahl captures the experience of turning from man magnet in her 30s to invisible crone in her 40s. She is attractive, smart, witty. Yet men no longer notice her.

Ganahl has many consolations: dear friends, family, a lovely child. But she refuses to become a secular nun like so many single middle-aged women. She won’t renounce her sexuality and romantic dreams in favor of knitting and Netflix.

Ganahl also is furious that men at the midcentury point only grow in appeal. Gray hair lends them a George Clooney suavity.

Naked details Ganahl’s brave but often painful search for love.

There’s a charming e-mail correspondent who turns out to be a major creep. She has an awful reunion with a college beau who is astonished that she no longer looks like an 18-year-old. Not that he does.

Ganahl also pines for Lenny, a famous rock icon with whom she has an open relationship — i.e., when he come to town on tour, they sleep together. Even if he is worthless.

Although she’s very open about some topics — her colorful past and the number of men she has slept with — “I’d say around fifty or fifty-five, but I’ve sort of lost track …” she tells her girlfriends — Ganahl is coy about certain facts, such as Lenny’s identity.

Risking ridicule, Ganahl refuses to let men and an age-obsessed culture define her sexuality. And the reader cheers, You go, girl!