The Roaring 20s

What's the Best Sex Scene in Literature?

Short of bad sex itself, is there anything worse than a bad sex scene? Luckily for us, the UK's Literary Review has come up with this year's shortlist for the worst sex scene of 2009.  (Just a sidenote, I love how The Guardian wrote about the "stiff competition.") Anyway, the shortlist is out, and author Sarah Duncan is blogging about the difficulty of writing good sex scenes: passages that transport you, arouse you, and/or deal with the logistics of making love successfully.  My highbrow choice is this excerpt from Lady Chatterley's Lover.  My low-brow choice is one steamy sex-act in a stairwell from Linda Howard's Son of the Morning.  What's your favorite sex scene in literature? Don't worry, I won't judge. 

Her Husband: Hughes and Plath, a Marriage

Ever since I started working in publishing, I've found myself picking up books, reading 20 pages or so, and putting them down indefinitely.  If a book doesn't grab me, I just simply don't force myself to finish it.  It could mean I have a tragically short attention span, a lack of patience, or an extreme form of literary pickiness.  That said, it's rare that I start reading something and compulsively turn the pages from start to finish.  But last Friday, during a trip to Strand, I fell in love.  The object of my book-lust? Diane Middlebrook's Her Husband: Hughes and Plath, a Marriage.  I bought it and brought it with me everywhere over the weekend...including a pretty luxe party in TriBeCa on Saturday night, where I proceeded to--accidentally--leave the book behind.  When I told our director, Diane, about it, she replied: "You left it on the bed in the coatroom, right? We've all been there." She was right.  And trust me, the replacement copy I ordered from Amazon can't come quickly enough.  Ever lost a book you were absolutely loving?    

Thus Spake the Cookie

Chances are, if you have a television or work outside your home, you have seen quite a bit of Sarah Palin this week.  One thing I bet you haven't seen is her likeness in cookie form.  Prepare to have your mind blown by the photo below. 

 

"You and me could write a bad romance."

This blog post combines two of my loves: Lady Gaga* and public speaking.  Well, public speaking not so much.  But today I'm doing my first webinar for Booklist and talking about our hottest romance offerings for the Spring and Summer of 2010.  I'll be giving listeners a summary of our best in the genre: historical, paranormal, inspirational, and erotic.  Register here and log-in at 4 pm EST.  Wish me luck!

*The Lady Gaga video below is really just because.  But it has romance in the title!

20something Foodies: Why We Cook

I’m the first person to admit I am addicted to cooking.  I am, dare I say it, obsessed.  I cook, and bake, and talk nonstop about what I’m cooking and baking.  I’m sure my friends are sick of hearing about my latest pesto adventure, or how an undercooked loaf of pumpkin bread actually made me cry.  One time I was making caramel and it seized up, hardening prematurely, and I freaked out…but that’s another story for another day. 

I attended an AAP Seminar last week, and we were talking about how the cookbook market is seeing a lot of growth among 20somethings.  Why do you think that is? The last few years have seen Top Chef, Iron Chef America, Chow, Eater, Grub Street, dessert trucks, and hot-shot chefs with anger management issues…Food has become a part of popular culture where it wasn’t before.  Maybe it’s that third wave feminism told women that we should have the option of getting back in the kitchen, for fun and not as housewives.   Maybe it’s just a cultural fad that will gradually shift out of style again…I have no idea.

So between episodes of Top Chefand my next pot of butternut squash soup, I’m asking my 20something readers the following question:  Why do you cook? The most thoughtful comment wins one of the following books: Kitchen Confidential, Ace of Cakes, or The Pleasure is All Mine. 

Superfreaky Friday

I'm pretty sure you've heard a lot about this title and for good reason: Dubner and Levitt deal with some controversial topics in this follow-up to their previous blockbuster, Freakonomics.   Lauren (@harperacademic) and I were lucky enough to snag tickets to their author talk at Symphony Space on the Upper West Side, and rest assured, this dynamic duo does not disappoint.  Dubner and Levitt were fast-talking, witty, and thoughtful (it doesn't hurt that they have enough of an Odd Couple-esque rapport to star in their own sitcom).

Superfreakonomics deals with subjects as varied as global warming, drunk walking, crime and altruism, and is informative without being dry, or difficult to get through.  If you're going to pick up a nonfiction book this week, I recommend this one.  My favorite chapter, "How is a Street Prostitute Like a Department Store Santa?" deals with what Dubner and Levitt term "the various costs of being a woman." Maybe my mind's in the gutter, but I found it to be extraordinarily interesting stuff.  But really, the reason I wrote this post was to ask you, dear commenters, the following question: what do you think? Would you read Superfreakonomics? If you have read it, what did you think? Has it earned the media controversy? Leave your thoughts below. 

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Top Ten Novels of Sexual Jealousy

Maybe it's just my imagination, but it seems as though lots of 20somethings enjoy...drama.  In my humble opinion, jealousy and sex are two of the most compelling topics in literature, music, philosophy, film...everything.  While Hamlet was my favorite Shakespearean tragedy for years, I eventually gave the title to Othello during college, probably as a result of this fixation.  In today's Guardian, Howard Jacobson gives us his Top 10 of the best novels that use jealousy as their terrain, including Tolstoy, Austen, Dostoevsky, and Hardy.  What do you think? Are there any novels he left off the list? Any modern novels that deal with jealousy in interesting ways?