Book Review: Playboy's Stories for Swinging Readers

It's Valentine's Day 2022 at the PorPor Books Blog !

Book Review: 'Playboy's Stories for Swinging Readers'

3 / 5 Stars

Here at the PorPor Books Blog we celebrate Valentine's Day by reviewing a book, either fiction or nonfiction, that deals with love and romance. For Valentine's Day 2024, our selection is 'Playboy's Stories for Swinging Readers' ! 

Hubba-hubba !

'Swinging Readers' (217 pp.) was published by the Playboy Press in 1969, and features 18 pieces that first appeared in the magazine during the interval from 1956 to 1966. 

Needless to say, the stories in 'Swinging Readers' are quite tame in terms of explicitness. They do heartily endorse the ethos of the Mad Men era, with protagonists who are randy bachelors looking to 'score' with 'broads' who are coy, and intent on Saving Themselves for Marriage. Needless to say, modern-day feminists (and the men who sympathize with them) will find this collection of stories to be 'transgressive'.

The authors constitute a 'Who's Who' of postwar writers, a reflection of that fact that in its heyday, Playboy was the among the most influential of those 'slick' magazines that showcased a higher brow of modern fiction.

Among the better entries are 'The Darendinger Build-Up' by William F. Nolan (is that broad's 'rack' too good to be true ?), 'The Secret Formula' by Henry Slesar (there's more than one way to trick a broad into giving it up), 'Thank You, Anna' by Bill Safire (the housekeeper isn't what she seems), and 'This One Is On the House' by Pat Frank (a neat twist at the end). 

The only story in the collection that deviates from the formula is Calder Willingham's 'Bus Story', a disturbing tale of a criminal on the prowl. Its inclusion is unexpected, and evidence that some of the short fiction appearing in Playboy could firmly deviate quite firmly and effectively from a celebration of hedonism.

My recommendation ? While I can't designate 'Playboy's Stories for Swinging Readers' as a must-have, if you have a fondness for the short fiction of the postwar era, and have not been traumatized by the revelations of the Me Too movement, then if you see a copy of the book on a bookstore shelf, it's worth picking up.