Select delivery location
See All Buying Options
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the authors

See all
Barbara Davilman
Follow
Liz Dubelman
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

What Was I Thinking?: 58 Bad Boyfriend Stories Paperback – Bargain Price, January 19, 2010

by Barbara Davilman (Author), Liz Dubelman (Author)
3.5 3.5 out of 5 stars 41 ratings
See all formats and editions
 The stories you are about to read are true. Often hilarious and always relatable, they all describe the moment when good sense and simple self-respect triumph over the human need to be loved—or, at least, the need to be with a particular man. The relationship may not last beyond lunch, or it may linger for weeks, months, or even years. But inside, you know: it’s over. Contributors include:
  • Francesca Lia Block
  • Bonnie Bruckheimer
  • Cindy Chupack
  • Kate Coe
  • Melinda Culea
  • Carrie Fisher
  • Wendy Hammers
  • Nicole Hollander
  • Maira Kalman
  • Lisa Napoli
  • Lynn Snowden Picket
  • Mimi Pond
  • Rachel Resnick
  • Penny Stallings
  • Laurie Winer
  • Amy WrubleWhether the story is funny, sad, poignant, sweet, or just plain psychotic—we bet you can’t read just one.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    224 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    St. Martin's Griffin
  4. Publication date
    January 19, 2010
  5. Dimensions
    6.47 x 0.62 x 8.29 inches
  6. See all details
Next page
The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fifty-eight boyfriend stories that are (hopefully) worse than your own! Fabulous, humorous and outrageous."--OK! Magazine “A must-read.”—O, The Oprah Magazine

“A treat for any woman.”—USA Today

“A spirited collection.”--Elle

About the Author

BARBARA DAVILMAN began her career in NY in advertising and then went on to create a greeting card company, Bittersweet, that dealt exclusively with relationships gone bad. After that, she moved to Los Angeles to become a TV writer/producer. Along with her husband, Ellis Weiner, she co-authored YIDDISH WITH DICK & JANE, YIDDISH WITH GEORGE & LAURA, and HOW TO RAISE A JEWISH DOG. In her ‘spare’ time she writes and produces reality television and is the Los Angeles Co-Coordinator for Ridgeback Rescue.

LIZ DUBELMAN is the founder of VidLit. Her pre-digital career included ten years in film production. Her television work won her two Emmys -- one as a producer and one as a director. She has consulted to all of the major studios in the area of digital rights and Internet content. Ms. Dubelman is a graduate of Hampshire College.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005IV231U
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Martin's Griffin; First Edition (January 19, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.47 x 0.62 x 8.29 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.5 3.5 out of 5 stars 41 ratings

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Previous page
  1. Katherine Tomlinson

    Katherine Tomlinson

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Katherine Tomlinson is an award-winning fictionista, a Pushcart Prize nominee for her short stories, and a screenwriter and editor. She was educated at Duke University; and began her career as a writer/editor for city magazines in Virginia, Hawaii, and California before transitioning to writing features for Copley News Service. She has worked in the entertainment industry as a development executive, researcher, and film doctor. Her pen name, Katherine Moore, is a USA Today bestselling novelist. Her pen name Kat Parrish is an international and Amazon bestselling author. An inveterate traveler, she is a digital nomad living in Portugal.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Liz Dubelman

    Liz Dubelman

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Ms. Dubelman’s current passion is the reimagining of the book publishing industry as a business and thriving art-form

    See more on the author's page
  3. Barbara Davilman

    Barbara Davilman

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

    See more on the author's page
  4. Darby Clark

    Darby Clark

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

    See more on the author's page
  5. Rhonda Talbot

    Rhonda Talbot

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Rhonda Talbot is an author, memoirist, essayist, screenwriter and journalist. She has also spent the last 15 years developing feature films and setting up Hollywood co-productions for some of the largest film entities in Europe. Some of the motion pictures she was involved in include Virgin Suicides, Italian for Beginners, Babel, Bound, Memento, Love Happens, Blair Witch, Hotel Rwanda, The Hannibal Films, Monsters Ball, The Burning Plain, Brokeback Mountain, Crash, Drive. website: http://thedevilstrifecta.com. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0847962/

    Her novel A Halfway Decent Girl was published in 2003, later optioned for film, now in pre-production. Her short story, Revenge Baby, is included in the comedic anthology What Was I Thinking, 58 Bad Boyfriend Stories, published by St. Martins. She is now finishing her 2nd book, a comedic memoir. Talbot also performs comedy throughout Los Angeles. Her stories and essays have been published in More Magazine, Literary Orphans, The Los Angeles Times, The Rusty Nail, The Examiner, Thought Catalogue, Cultural Weekly, Salon and Ploughshares to names a few. She is the featured contributor on parenting and family issues at http://www.theexaminer.com/parenting-in-los-angeles.

    See more on the author's page
Next page

Customer reviews

3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5 out of 5
41 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

B. Lafferty
5.0 out of 5 stars READ THIS!
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2022
Verified Purchase
Are you a woman? Have you ever been on a date? Your story is in these pages!
Helpful
 Report
SAG
3.0 out of 5 stars Escapism
Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2022
Verified Purchase
A good beach read.
Helpful
 Report
The Book Babe
4.0 out of 5 stars Oddly Addicting
Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2009
Ah, boyfriends. Husbands. Lovers. Men in general. Most of them are wonderful, if you meet them at the right time and right place in your life. But we usually have to go through at least one "bad boyfriend" before Mr. Right; it's so prevalent that it's almost a female rite of passage. Davilman and Dubelman started asking around and yep, just about every woman they talked to had a bad boyfriend story. More importantly, there was usually a defining moment where each woman realized "This is never going to work." The breakup might have happened immediately after that "aha!" moment, or it might have taken a couple months or years for said woman to finally throw in the towel. But they all that distinct "aha" moment where they just knew this guy wasn't going to be the one.

I had requested that our Collection Development department order my branch a copy of this collection, and when it showed up last week on a return, I thought I should read it. Why not? I mean, it was my idea to order it, right? Well, I sat down yesterday afternoon to read some of it - and ended up finishing the whole thing in just a few hours. The stories are addictive in a way I hadn't anticipated, and also very reminiscent of parts of my own life. Some are more literary than others, some are downright hilarious, some are just sad. And the "aha" moments are all so different, everything from a prospective beau mangling the French language in a restaurant to another boyfriend yelling about the "right" size noodles to use in soup. One of the funnier ones is "My Date with Homer", where the date in question starts talking about his childhood and inadvertently plants the seed in the woman's mind that she's on a date with Homer Simpson. Try as she might, she can no longer see him as her date - only as the goofy, doughnut lovin' cartoon father to Bart, Lisa and baby Maggie. Needless to say, she was over him in a hurry!

If you've ever had a relationship gone bad, if you've ever hung in long past that point when you knew you should've gotten out, if you've ever said to yourself "He'll realize how wonderful I am IF...", then you should read this book. You'll laugh, you might cry - but I guarantee that you'll nod your head in complete understanding. We've all had an "aha" moment - and we've all had a bad boyfriend.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
JK
1.0 out of 5 stars really bad
Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2014
Verified Purchase
Funny title and now I can repeat, What was I thinking... this book is so bad, I had bought it as a stocking stuffer... I think I will be giving it to Goodwill.
Helpful
 Report
Laura A. Cella
5.0 out of 5 stars Like Chatting With Friends
Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2011
Verified Purchase
Okay, I am biased - one of my stories appears in the book - but how can anyone not appreciate an amusing, often rueful, frequently self-deprecating collection of anecdotes? If you have (or wish you had) raconteurs as friends, women who can make the most heinous episode amusing for the audience's benefit, then you'll appreciate this book: however, if you are too, too literal, witless, or were absent the day satire was taught, stay far, far away, else you be trapped in the mire of misunderstanding.
Helpful
 Report
Loves teaching
2.0 out of 5 stars Depressing Book
Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2009
Verified Purchase
I didn't find this book funny at all! I found it very depressing and sad that these women tolerated the various forms of verbal/emotional abuse in order to keep a 'man.' (I use that term lightly). All I kept thinking was, "where is your self-esteem and confidence?" Apparently, in the gutter. Now, I'm not the pot calling the kettle black, but I didn't stick around for the continued abuse when I was dating. If the guy had poor character and no integrity within/about himself, he was gone. There are too many men out there to date to tolerate the garbage these women did. I also found it sad that these types of men treat other adults this way. All I wanted to scream was 'grow up already!'
I do plan on keeping the book and using it to teach my daughter about the mistakes these women made. There were so many red flag(s) moments in each story before the end finally came. I am also using this book to teach my son on how not to treat the women he dates. After a few stories, he is already disgusted with stories and shakes his head in disbelief.
I don't know, maybe I just expect people to treat each other with more respect and dignity than what is out there.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Tricia
3.0 out of 5 stars I was looking for humorous stories
Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2014
Verified Purchase
I thought this book would be a comical compilation of dating gone wrong stories. It basically is just a bunch of random dating stories - some funny, some sad, some really pathetic and some leave you scratching your head wondering what were they thinking!?!
Helpful
 Report
Rachel Vogel
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2016
Verified Purchase
Fun, great read!!! I highly recommend this book.
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Cliente de Amazon
1.0 out of 5 stars No llego el producto, querían venderlmelo nuevamente
Reviewed in Mexico on November 11, 2017
Verified Purchase
Nunca me llego el producto, se me cobro y tampoco me regresaron el dinero. Me dijeron que si lo quería volver a comprar para que me llegara. Por si no fuera poco después subió el costo.
Report