Textured and variegated … A writer's memoir and a rumination on craft … White is so clearly in complete control of his powers, switching between coquetry and high seriousness, weaving a rich tapestry of cultural references (Jean Genet to Hello Kitty, Stendhal to Sontag) while carefully deploying his unique ability, as Alan Hollinghurst put it, to “translate libido into style” through metaphor … The book's push against prudishness also contains a subtle call for understanding and compassion – reminders that what has been gained in terms of LGBTQ rights is fragile, and a conviction that a better, bolder future is possible. Anyone can make such an optimistic vision sound appealing; only Edmund White could make it truly seductive

Ralf Webb, Guardian

Exhaustively wonderful. An unflinching, romantic and generous climax by a bright star in our literary constellation. The gayest book ever written

Henry Hoke, author of Open Throat

Intelligent, stylish, entertaining and funny

TLS

Edmund White died this year aged 85 – but the grand old man of gay literature was banging away on his keyboard (and elsewhere) right up until the end. This “sex memoir” has all the no-holds-barred candour you'd expect of an octogenarian who is too old to care what anyone else thinks. We learn everything – penis size, favoured positions – and meet dozens of the thousands of men he fell in love with . . . A hoot, and surprisingly touching

Robbie Millen, The Times/Sunday Times Books of the Year

Melancholy, erratic, wise and often ravishingly beautiful, this is just what you want from a book about sex. It's as messy, risky and emotional as the act itself – an old-age testament that bears witness not just to Ed's legendary frankness, but also to his life-long commitment to finding new ways of writing who we might be, have been and are

Neil Bartlett, author of Ready to Catch Him Should He Fall

Ecstatic, so funny, tender, very hot - a scintillating romp with a literary lion. Daddy's diary fully delivers, pungent and real, teeming with gasp-worthy disclosures, as illuminating as it is filthy.

Jeremy Atherton Lin, author of Gay Bar