Edited by Tinder James, SURPRISE is aptly named, not only because each of its two-dozenish tales ends in a twist, but because the stories are actually pretty good. See, they’re erotica — a genre in which many writers deliver the physical goods at the sacrifice of narrative ones.
Not so here. The sex is sexy, but it’s actually part of an honest-to-gosh story. Some even are satirical — especially the handful of flash-fiction single-pagers — tweaking the conventions of the genre, winking at the reader as they deliver a well-placed punchline. Better yet, the contents are varied, so it’s not like … oh, say, assuming the missionary each and every time.
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Not that I’ve seen that many sex how-to books to compare it to, but THE JOY OF MINDFUL SEX: BE IN THE MOMENT AND ENRICH YOUR LOVEMAKING seems more high-minded than others. In fact, Claudia Blake’s book subscribes to the same kind of philosophy that Oprah Winfrey and Eckhart Tolle preach about life in general: Live in the present.
It’s that attention to the moment, rather than worrying about the past or future, that allows people to focus, and that goes for acts of congress, too. This manual isn’t for those looking for killer techniques for one-night stands or casual encounters, because sex is at its very best when you connect with your committed partner on all levels — emotional, mental, spiritual — and not just the physical.
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Just because BECAUSE IT FEELS GOOD: A WOMAN’S GUIDE TO SEXUAL PLEASURE AND SATISFACTION is written for the ladies doesn’t mean a guy like me can’t learn something from it. For instance, there are roughly five different shapes of a vagina, including “slug” and “pumpkin seed.”
Oh, and the book’s author, Kinsey Institute educator Dr. Debby Herbenick, was told to keep her vulva puppet far away from President Obama. For more on that story — as well as the skinny on sex noises, vagina tents and little somethin’-somethin’ called the towel trick — read the book.
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If intelligence is sexy, I wish someone would’ve told all those girls with whom I attended high school. Marina Orlova claims smarts equal sex appeal, but then, she looks like Marina Orlova. She’s the author of HOT FOR WORDS: ANSWERS TO ALL YOUR BURNING QUESTIONS ABOUT WORDS AND THEIR MEANINGS, which no one would be publishing if she were ugly.
The book does exactly what it promises: diving into the origins of words and phrases. But never before have roots been so seemingly raunchy, as each page is accompanied by a slick, full-color photo of Orlova in fantasy-ready poses, from schoolgirl uniforms and bikinis to lingerie and eating a banana.
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Cinematically, werewolves are the coolest monsters. The man-to-wolf transformation scenes always play well, and then there’s the running through the forest and snarling and howling at the moon. You gotta love it.
But on the page, these elements don’t work as well. A novelist needs to bring something more to the party, and in WOLF’S GAMBIT, W.D. Gagliani doesn’t quite make it. His storytelling is fine and the main characters are well-drawn, but the book misses that visceral thrill we associate with tales of men changing into beasts.
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