Steamy Side of Summer: Part Two

Today:  two more titles that would make me blush profusely if I saw them in one of our in-store displays! (For the sake of my complexion, you won't find these two titles on our shelves.  However, we are always happy to special order for you!)

I'm a pretty happy-go-lucky person, so when I want something racy I tend towards the light and fluffy side of the spectrum (see my blog post, The Steamy Side of Summer: Part One).  However, that's not for everyone, and I don't want to be exclusionary.  If your interest is piqued by tales of "sensual depravity" (heh, I love that term)--stories that may test your sense of propriety and perhaps even your concept of right and wrong--this is the blog post for you.

My first recommendation is "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" by Patrick Suskind.

 The protagonist--a real anti-hero--has an inhumanly sharp sense of smell and becomes a perfumer, but as he learns the secrets of the trade, his gift drives him to madness as he attempts to recreate the aromas of life--including that of a young virgin. Suskind's book gained quite a bit of popularity, thanks to its sensuality and darkness; it was even turned into a  Hollywood movie a few years ago (a disappointing one, from what I hear, as film is not the best medium for capturing scent). A sensual rather than sexual book, with a few scenes that are exceptions to the rule (including a jaw-dropping crowd scene towards the end of the book.  Yowza!)

If you like a little more boldness (okay, a LOT more boldness), I recommend "The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty." 

Behold:

A torrid, violent story of sexual enslavement, starring Sleeping Beauty of the old fairy tales.  Yikes.  I discovered this book on a shelf in my 9th grade English classroom (SO inappropriate...) and promptly "borrowed" it.  Let me tell you, it was all the rage with my friends, many of whom enjoyed this book so much that they read the whole trilogy.  Anne Rice (writing as A.N. Roquelaure, and employing perhaps the most useless pseudonym ever; see the cover above) is incredibly dark and incredibly graphic--and her readers love her for it.  She followed up this classic with two more titles, "Beauty's Punishment" and "Beauty's Release," so if you like the first in the series, never fear, there's more where that came from.

Stay tuned--next week, Pamela will share her recommendations for hot summer reads.  Oh my!

--Mica