Top 5 Erotic Novels
Y'all know I write erotica but I love to read it too (surprise, she's literate!) There's so many incredible erotic writers that it's hard to know where to start sometimes, so I decided to share my TOP PICKS with you this week!
TOP 5 EROTIC
NOVELS
BEST CLASSY (C)LIT:
"DELTA OF VENUS" - Anaïs Nin
Anais Nin is hailed as one of the first women to publish erotic literature and her work is brimming with sensuality and sexual exploration; anything from orgies, submission to lesbian experiences. Her work has to be read with the time period in mind (what was provocative in the 1940s reads pretty normal now, yay progress) but still is a must read for any erotica connoisseur.
"He was now in that state of fire that she loved. She wanted to be burnt." - Anaïs Nin
BEST HARDCORE
"The Story of O" - Pauline Reage
If you think 50 Shades was provocative (did anyone?) think again. This banned novel about a Parisian photographer who submits to her master is CRAY. I still feel slightly violated, in the best nail-biting, why did I like this kind of way. And it was written by a woman! So here a line to spank you into submission:
“The chains and the silence, which should have bound her deep within herself, which should have smothered her, strangled her, on the contrary freed her from herself.” - Pauline Reage
BEST SWOON:
"20 Love Poems and a Song of Despair" - Pablo Neruda
The Chilean poet Neruda is the swoon-master! He wrote this collection of poetry with 19 years old and hence it's full of teenage intensity and gorgeous pieces like this (which made me seriously consider lowering my dating 'age range'):
"I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees." - Pablo Neruda
BEST 'DIRTY' MAN:
"TROPIC OF CANCER" - Henry Miller
Whores, writers, wine and sex. It's Paris in the 1930s and Miller writes a memoir about everything he sees and fucks. Details that burn into your heart, gut and soul. The book was banned in the US for 27 years for its obscene content and as a form of retro-protest I've read it at least 27 times. You should too.
“There’s something depraved about screwing a woman who doesn’t give a fuck about it. It heats your blood…” And then, after a moment’s meditation— “Can you imagine what she’d be like if she had any feelings?” - Henry Miller
BEST CRAZY LOVE :
"WRITTEN ON THE BODY" - Jeanette Winterson
Winterson's book is a meditation on obsessive love and a bit of a literary masturbation; she's a MASTER of metaphors. The narrator has an affair with a married woman but since the gender of him/her is never revealed you can read it multiple ways. Here's a little taste (pun intended):
“She arches her body like a cat on a stretch. She nuzzles her cunt into my face like a filly at the gate. She smells of the sea. She smells of rockpools when I was a child. She keeps a starfish in there. I crouch down to taste the salt, to run my fingers around the rim. She opens and shuts like a sea anemone. She's refilled each day with fresh tides of longing.” - Jeanette Winterson
BEST NAUGHTY ROMANCE
"Bared To You" - Sylvia Day
A list of erotica isn't complete without a bit of hilarity and romance novel 'smut'. And I say this lovingly; this book made me laugh AND turned me on, which is quite an accomplishment. The book is the first of Day's Crossfire series and the steamy love story between Eva and Gideon has already made 'literary' history. Let's see if its (ful)filling:
“Romance isn't in my repertoire, Eva. But a thousand ways to make you come are. Let me show you.” - Sylvia Day