Reading Playboy For the Articles

by Margie

I was flipping through Playboy at the Salon, waiting for my summer highlights to set, and I came across a good column.

Now, as a subscriber to Playgirl, I am not going to try to tell you that I get the mag for the articles. That's like saying you pour over the Omaha Steaks catalog looking for vegetable side dishes. It's bull. So, I was pretty shocked to find an article in Playboy that was worth reading.

It's on the 25 Sexiest Novels Ever Written. You can see it online if you want, or you can just take my word for it. Not sure who was on the cover, and I think that's how people generally tell those issues apart. If any of you guys have it, you can share that bit of information without risk of ridicule: this is, after all, a literary blog.

The list is different from what I expected. OK, what I expected is already on the shelf in my bedroom. The only one on both is a Harold Robbins classic, THE CARPETBAGGERS. I've got Anne Rice, but it's on a different shelf. I used to own TROPIC OF CANCER, but I'm not sure where it is. I've read a few of the others, but they weren't keepers. FEAR OF FLYING--too whiny.  PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT--get a life already. LADY CHATTERLY'S LOVER--too English. The list is more like a third-year lit class on significant events in erotic publishing. Many of the books don't even sound hot by today's standards, but they have historical significance if you're a studen of that genre.

That's not why I read sexy books. If I want to learn something, I watch The History Channel.  Maybe they could do this subject as a team project with HBO's Real Sex series, if it's still on. I read sexy books because I like to feel sexy, and sometimes I'm just not in the mood, or the place, for an actual man. Lighten up, people, I'm not going to go there, and I don't every time I read something either. I'm not a teenage boy, for heaven's sake. To quote Mr. Dynamite: "Gawsh!"

Some of these books have sold millions and millions of copies, so it's not just me reading the stuff. Here's a tip: If you think you're fooling anyone by using one of those cutesy book covers, don't bet on it.

In the spirit of hot fun in the summer time, tell Aunt Margie about the hottest book you've ever read. You don't have to use your real name, but since I work here, it'll be our little secret.

Comments

[hollygee]

I don't know if it's the hottest I've ever read, but I come back to Jennifer Crusie's sex scenes in WELCOME TO TEMPTATION and the long foreplay of BET ME over and over, 'cause they make me feel goooood!

[Kathy Sweeney aka Smart Tart]

Anais Nin - I think it was Little Birds. Got it as a graduation gift from a girlfriend in college. At the time, I had never read anything like it.

Also, I didn't realize until much later that the placement of the bookmark was no accident.

For HOT with a mystery plot, Crusie is great - or try pretty much anything by Cherry Adair.

[nancy martin]

I lifeguarded one summer, and we passed around a book called The Crazy Ladies, which featured an orgy on a Thanksgiving dinner table. It was a hoot. A hot hoot, for a bunch of teenagers spending their summer in bathing suits.

Also from the teenage years: The whole Angelique series by the French couple, Sergeanne Golon. And Anais Nin.

But then I put in a stint as a romance writer, which can inure just about anyone to sexy books. So it takes a lot to light my fire now. Lawrence Block's Small Town was interesting. Ditto Susanna Moore's In The Cut, which I've mentioned way too many times now, and I'm starting to sound like a stalker.

[Stacie Penney]

My husband suscribes to Playboy and I do read the articles (which is how I learned that he really does too.)

Margaret Atwood has fiction in there this month and Lawrence Block did last month.

But hot books...Rachel Caine's Weather Warden has some great scenes in it.

[Harley]

I'm hopelessly old school. WUTHERING HEIGHTS.

[Josh]

When I was in high school, I would buy Playboy. But I did not read the articles; what earthy reason would there be for me to do that?

[Maryann]

Ashes in the Wind by Woodeweiss (although Shanna was the first one I read)...I still have to stop and take a breath and find something to fan myself with :o) If we can count plays, The Long Hot Summer does it for me...of course I just think of Paul Newman. That's all it takes :o)

[Cassie]

Brokeback Mountain -- the movie and the novella/short story. Hot hot hot.

[nancy martin]

Go study, Cass. The bar exam is only 4 weeks away.

Yeesh, when your own kid comments about sex....

[Laura Bush]

Reading is FUNdamental, even George tried it once, although he prefers bikes for erotic sensations. Three of my favs, The Book of Genesis is delicious with a glass of Port; The 2006 Texas Rangers Media Guide makes me need powder; and of course anything by Scooter Libby (who could have the 2-5 years on his hands with the Muse to write another novel). I hope he writes something naughty featuring another bear.
That's all for now, MonkeyBoy's taking me to a ballgame.

[ramona]

SUMMER OF '42, anyone?

THE WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLE (#9 on the list) is an intriguing book, by the way. The author takes interesting chances.

[Toni L.P. Kelner]

Two that I quite enjoyed for the um..educational aspects are DEAD UNTIL DARK by Charlaine Harris and GUILTY PLEASURES by Laurell K. Hamilton.

[ArkansasCyndi]

Just about any Susan Johnson can be scorching.
Jaci Burton, McKenzie McCade, etc. EC authors
Crusie writes very fine sex scenes...hot without being graphic

[Cinema Dave]

In 6th Grade,
it had to be Peter Benchlely's "Jaws."

Hooper has an affair with the Sheriff's wife. The sheriff confronts Hooper and Hooper's alibi is that he is sleeping with Daisey.
Ooops!
Daisey is the town lesbian!

I wonder why Spielberg left that subplot out of the movie, it might have been a bigger hit in 1975.

Benchley's nocturnal scenes had an impact on these Florida 6th graders in 1975.

[Dena]

Susan Johnson is really hot. So is Emma Holly.

[Too shy to say]

I read this book and the main character was named Flynn Ito. I think Susan Johnson wrote it.

[Ro]

I'll read anything by Thea Devine. I just can't read them in public. If someone read over my shoulder on the train, they'd faint.

[Kathy]

Lori Foster writes really hot series. She just published Wildly Winston, which is all four of the Winston brother's stories in one book. It sizzles.

[Jenn]

The first racy books I read were Sidney Sheldon. I've read sexier books since then, but those are the ones that stay with me

[Jackie]

Being old enough (and radical enough?) to remember the days of Grove Press (publishers of The Village Voice & The Evergreen Review - Oh, how I miss the 60's) I remember the tons of "one handed paperbacks" I read while in high school. If it's still in print, you must give "A Man With A Maid" a perusal. It was written as a Victorian maid's diary with incredibly detailed renditions of her "relationship" with her employer. It was clear-cut porn but with lovely Victorian English language. They don't write this stuff anymore which is probably a good thing.

[Felicia Pope]

The First "Sexy" book that I read was from Sandra Brown. I went on to find that I truly enjoyed them. I now am an avid reader of hers.

[Kimmy]

Nobody mentioned Jade Black, the queen of erotica. The Empress' New Clothes is so hot, you need oven mitts.

[Kathy Sweeney]

Holy smoke. I just finished "Danse Macabre" and she's started to come full circle - lots of sex, but it's secondary to a complex plot. This one is no quick read - but it's great.