cover image The World's Best Sex Writing 2005

The World's Best Sex Writing 2005

, . . Thunder's Mouth, $15.95 (254pp) ISBN 978-1-56025-772-1

Szereto, whose books include Erotic Fairy Tales: A Romp Through the Classics , tries to include something for everyone in this collection, from oral sex to anal, from a tribute to porn opponent Andrea Dworkin to an interview with porn star Harry Reems. There are explicit descriptions of sexual experiences, but it's not all fun and games: Sarah Klein examines the controversy around labioplasty and other vaginal cosmetic surgeries, and Steven Kurutz offers a sometimes hilarious article about the fallout from Alabama's incomprehensible outlawing of adult sex toys. There's even a Dave Barry essay about what horny men can learn from the male fruit fly. But not all readers will appreciate Polly Peachum's long-winded and self-satisfied discussion of the pleasures of being a submissive ("I think I assumed that all little kids dreamed of being chased naked in a circus arena by a swarm of bees trying to fly up their bottoms as the crowd laughed uproariously at such a shameful and painful predicament") or Jeannette Angell's smug account of being a college lecturer by day and call girl by night. It's all about sex, indeed—but much of it is far from erotic. (Dec. 13)