Comments on: Night of a Thousand Boyfriends

By: Antonia

Antonia — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:59:18 +0000

Coool. That’s my christmas presents for my girl friends sorted!

By: Brian Herzog

Brian Herzog — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:31:06 +0000

@Elizabeth: Thanks for the information. And it’s funny you mention hypertext - when I started html coding in the late 90’s, my very first thought was “this is perfect for choose-your-own-adventure books.” It was also the basis for a Product Selection Guide I created for the company I worked for at the time, which they still use today. Yay for enduring approaches.

By: Elizabeth Thomsen

Elizabeth Thomsen — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:08:39 +0000

These chick-lit interactive novels were a mini-trend a few years back: “Pick-Your-Own-Ending Escapade,” “Date With Destiny Adventures” and the hotter “Create Your Own Erotic Fantasy” series.

The cover of “Night of a Thousand Boyfriends” was intentionally retro to be reminiscent of the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style, which was probably a marketing mistake for teens. I think the original target audience was a little older, twentysomethings who remembered the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books. But it made the 2004 ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers list, so it’s sort of officially a YA book. I think it’s one of those books that doesn’t quite fit our library and bookstores categories, and mostly got shared by word-of-mouth.

The original Choose-Your-Own-Adventures books were not great literature but they were a lot of fun and prepared a whole generation to understand the concept of hypertext and interactive storytelling. They were also had a real social component — kids often read these aloud and passed them around and essentially “played” together.

By: Brian Herzog

Brian Herzog — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:07:45 +0000

@Liz: I know, right? It was published in 2003 - I didn’t even know Choose Your Own Adventure books were still being written. And despite the style of the cover, it is very accurate to the story.

@Jen: Now that I know these are in bookstores, I might have to start looking for others again - Choose Your Own Adventure cracks me up, and adult versions opens up a whole new genre for me.

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:50:02 +0000

I actually own that one…totally not a YA book. It was definitely in the adult section of the bookstore. Don’t tell anyone!

By: Brian Herzog

Brian Herzog — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:09:24 +0000

@Amanda: Oh, don’t worry, I grabbed it immediately, and have read out all the various endings. If you’d like it, send me your address and I’ll mail it to you.

By: Liz

Liz — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:59:34 +0000

Wow - talk about not being able to judge a book by its cover. That one looks like it was published in the sixties, and the most risque choice would be holding hands on the way to the sock hop.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:38:20 +0000

Omg. I love choose your own adventure books. I had no idea there are adult-like ones out there. If I’d been you, I totally would have snagged this before it hit the book sale.