LEHR, Jennifer 1969-

PERSONAL: Born 1969; married John Lehr, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Home—Los Angeles, CA. Agent—Susan Golomb Literary Agency, 875 6th Ave., Ste. 2302, New York, NY 10011.

CAREER: Writer. Founder and publisher, Private Edition Celebration Books (publishing company specializing in coffee-table books), 1998–. Designer.

AWARDS, HONORS: Best Read of 2004, New Zealand Librarians, for Ill-equipped for a Life of Sex.

WRITINGS:

Ill-equipped for a Life of Sex (memoir), Regan Books (New York, NY), 2004, published with an afterword by husband, John Lehr, 2005.

Also author of Seventy-eight Drawings of My Face.

SIDELIGHTS: Jennifer Lehr was a Los Angeles graduate student with a history of failed romances when she met her future husband, John Lehr, a struggling actor and recovering substance abuser. His looks did not appeal to her, but his intelligence and humor did. As the two fell in love and became engaged, however, a major problem emerged: John's sex drive seemed to disappear. Jennifer's efforts to increase that interest, plus a look at her previous sexual experiences, are the topic of her memoir, Ill-equipped for a Life of Sex. The couple tries a variety of potential cures for John's low libido—therapy, medication, twelve-step programs—and finally establish a satisfactory relationship. Their story features explicit descriptions of their erotic encounters and makes for a "gushy, confiding tome," commented Jennifer Reese in Entertainment Weekly; on the whole, however, the reviewer found the book "embarrassing." Booklist contributor Allison Block allowed that the book might make some readers uncomfortable by going into such intimate detail, but added that it may help others. Block expressed some reservations about Ill-equipped for a Life of Sex, writing that it sometimes "loses steam," but found the book largely "engaging" and the author's frankness "admirable." In much the same vein, a Publishers Weekly critic praised Lehr's "humor and openness" and added that her book "may help others struggling with similar issues."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Lehr, Jennifer, Ill-equipped for a Life of Sex, Regan Books (New York, NY), 2004.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 2004, Allison Block, review of Ill-equipped for a Life of Sex, p. 2.

Brooklyn Rail, November, 2004, Corrie Pikul, "No Sex in This City," review of Ill-equipped for a Life of Sex.

Charlotte Observer, October 22, 2004, Courtney Devores, "Stumbling toward Matrimony," review of Ill-equipped for a Life of Sex, p. 70.

Elle, September, 2004, Cathi Hauer, "S(ex) Files," review of Ill-equipped for a Life of Sex.

Entertainment Weekly, October 29, 2004, Jennifer Reese, review of Ill-equipped for a Life of Sex, p. 70.

Publishers Weekly, August 2, 2004, review of Ill-equipped for a Life of Sex, p. 62.