Bedside Kama Sutra Kit: Everything You Need for a Weekend of Absolute Passion [With Kama Sutra Pocket BookWith Mood Music]

When readers slide the orange paper band off the materials in this boxed set of sex aids, it exposes a female model's bare breasts: one is being suckled by a male model, the other points outward alluringly. Yet here and throughout, the effect is less exciting than genially matter-of-fact. A""Pocket Book"" illustrates 24 positions (""Chariot,""""Canopy of Stars,""""Frenzy""), demonstrating how couples can""get into"" them step-by-step and peppering the text-and-pictures with sidebar bits of lore and advice from the original Kama Sutra. A larger spiral-bound book of""Bedtime Stories"" offers bigger pictures and single-page anecdotes from the Kama Sutra; it is backed by a cardboard triangle, so it can stand up like a bedside calendar of brightly lit, soft-core photos. The words""yoni"" and""lingam"" are used throughout; despite their New Age patina, they are Sanskrit. The same couple is featured in both books: both are white, brunette, fit and appear to be in their mid '30s. The six track CD is long on reverb, pan flute and jungle sounds: think vegetarian restaurant. Perhaps the biggest drawback is the level of fitness and flexibility many of the poses seem to require. As the book hints, the less-than-stretched who try out this box along on a weekend getaway may find they have trouble getting into some of the positions--injury seems possible. Yet the text is careful and explanatory, and the pictures leave no doubt of what one is shooting for. The models get along fine, but the project doesn't feel passionate at any point.