How Not to Date

By Judy McGuire

On the heels of the success of How to Date in a Post-Dating World comes this polar opposite: a collection of dating nightmares that'll certainly let readers know what absolutely not to do on a date. Since the year 2000, dating columnist Judy McGuire has advised and entertained singles with her irreverent Ask DateGirl column. For every possible type of dating nightmare scenario out there, Judy's most probably heard about it, and has offered advice on what to do to resolve it if the problem date is still lingering. In this book, she collects some of the worst dates she has heard about, ranging from the bland to the incredibly frightening.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1570615322
• ISBN13: 9781570615320
• Release Date: December 2007
• Publisher: Sasquatch Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.09 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.5" x 0.6" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

A Refreshing Break from the Usual Desperate Dating Tomes

This book slayed me. It is so damn funny, and it's also worth checking out as a refreshing voice on dating - the author is clearly a woman who wants the right guy, not just any guy for the sake of having one. There are plenty of us out there, but we tend not to be the ones to write about dating - the market is saturated with silly Cinderellas looking for their prince charming and offering advice on how to compromise yourself to get a guy at any costs. These women tell us that a woman is defined by her marital status, no matter what kind of a jerk, idiot or moron their guy may be. Judy McGuire reminds us all that no one should put up with an idiot, meanie, psycho, moper, whatever, and it's better to commiserate with friends than to settle. But this is not a feminist book - no way. Judy gives just as much space to the crazy and stupid chicks out there. By sharing these entertaining and sometimes frightening tales, she reminds us all that we deserve the best, we should behave ourselves, and that men and women may well be from different planets, but we're united by our unpleasant dating experiences. It also reminds us why "sense of humor" is one of the most important thinsg to look for in any date.

Laugh-out-loud hilarious yet amazingly insightful

I'm a book editor who reads more than sixty books a year professionally and dozens for pleasure, and I have not laughed this hard in a really long while. McGuire's writing style is superb: laconic, sardonic and just plain funny. Like a seasoned cicerone she guides the reader through a series of hysterical tales of dating woe, yet even when the narrative is at its most hilarious it still manages to retain a lot of compassion for the poor souls out there trying to hook up. This is not reality-show laugh-at-the-idiot humor--it's much more sophisticated and insightful. You could even give it to a cool mom or dad. Loved it!

More Bad Dates Than You'll (Hopefully) Ever Suffer Through

Who better than Seattle Weekly's Dategirl columnist Judy McGuire to walk you through the horrors of bad dating and give you some advice on how to avoid the crazies, from just slightly to dangerous? Here, she's compiled what could be considered a "best of" awful dates, from those who lie about their marital status to those who spend the whole night with hamburger in their teeth. She also includes interviews with porn stars Tera Patrick and Joanna Angel, a shrink, a stripper, and a few other dating veterans to give some highly specific dating "do"s and "don't"s. As someone who's been on my share of bad dates but who's also committed a sin or two in the dating realm, I laughed out loud while reading this book - when I wasn't cringing in horror at some of the things people will put up with in the name of love (and nookie). What's also great about this book is that McGuire owns up to her own dating faux pas and even gives a ray of hope that even those who mess up, like her current boyfriend, who brought along friends for moral support on their first date, can be redeemed. I can only hope that my future dates will be nowhere as tragic as some of these, and at least know what to look for. Best of all, McGuire doesn't take herself or the dating dilemmas she presents here too seriously. This is not a "you must do this (or not do this)" if you ever want to find a partner type of book. It's one that, dare I say, you could even share with someone you're dating - just not on a first date.

Five-Star Hilarity.

Fans of Judy McGuire's weekly Dategirl column, which runs in Seattle Weekly and formerly ran in New York Press (where I was one of McGuire's editors), are familiar with her sharp wit and addictively readable tales. With "How Not to Date," readers new and old are in for good times. HNTD's four sections cover the spectrum of bad dates, from the boring/banal all the way to "crimes against romance." Good advice abounds, but I loved it for the you-can't-make-this-stuff-up factor. When it comes to the (many) bad dates in this book, truth is way stranger, and far funnier, than fiction.

You need this book

Anyone who's ever dated needs to feel that the monumental mistakes they've made along the way are worth laughing over, and anyone who doesn't feel that dating is a laughing matter should pick up this book right away. If painfully funny truths were nickles, this book would be worth a million. If you can't laugh about a hard-drinking wiccan who channels baby voices through her cats on the first date, well, you may not be able to laugh at all.