Unzipped: What Happens When Friends Talk about Sex--A True Story

Salon Web site columnist Weaver brings her ""Unzipped"" column into print with this eponymous work, which chronicles her own and her well-educated, 30-something friends' search for love and the perfect mate (and the occasional one-night stand along the way). Surprisingly, this San Francisco-based cast is entirely heterosexual, although their stories are anything but traditional. From a not-quite-divorced, postpunk mother who rediscovers the thrills and pitfalls of sleeping around, to a nanny who finds satisfaction in S&M clubs, to men who are desperately searching for a woman willing to commit, the characters endure a slew of intriguing sexual misadventures. Weaver also offers a peek into her own often lonely life as a successful freelance writer, portraying herself in her darker moments as that most solitary of creatures: the Internet addict. As she examines the reasons why she has not found a partner and wonders what her life would be like if she did, the writing occasionally gets bogged down in maudlin self-analysis. Still, the bulk of this humorous narrative is well spun and will appeal to Gen-X readers with even the slightest of voyeuristic tendencies. (Dec.)