'My ideal woman is a man. Sorry, mother.'

They Call Me Naughty Lola is a new book collecting the most “witty and eccentric lonely hearts ads from the London Review of Books… It features some of the most brilliant and often absurd ads from what's been billed as the world's funniest—and most erudite—lonely-hearts column.”

At the link are some examples from the book. My favorite, aside from the one serving as the title of this post, is: “'Bald, short, fat and ugly male, 53, seeks short-sighted woman with tremendous sexual appetite.” Ha.

I’ve never actually placed a personal ad, although Mr. Shakes and I met online (just not at a dating site), and I was always impressed that he was willing to chat up a girl whose handle was “sarcasticunt.”