Naughty Bits: The Steamiest and Most Scandalous Sex Scenes from the World's Great Books

Book Info


enlarge picture	*Naughty Bits: The Steamiest and Most Scandalous Sex Scenes from the World's Great Books*
	Author:	Jack Murnighan (Editor)
	ISBN:	0609806602
	Format:	Handover
	Publish Date:	June, 2005




Book Review


*From Publishers Weekly* Jack Murnighan, former editor-in-chief of sex-friendly Web site Nerve.com, gathers short erotic excerpts from works by more than 70 authors from the Marquis de Sade to Thomas Pynchon, Sappho to Jeanette Winterson, Ovid to J.G. Ballard. Culled from his popular weekly online column, The Naughty Bits (also Brit slang for genitalia) is billed as "the book that literary perverts have been waiting for." One of several recent Nerve.com tie-ins, it's a great idea and one needn't be especially literary or perverted to enjoy it. Murnighan's thoroughly good-natured, erudite introductions add to the bawdy fun. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. *From Library Journal* Most people don't read a good book or have great sex nearly as often as they should; then again, most people don't know that the Great Works e.g., Joyce's Ulysses, Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, and Plato's The Symposium are as rife with "naughty bits" as a frat house is with hormones. The general public has Murnighan, former editor-in-chief of the popular sex web-zine Nerve.com, to thank for gleaning the gamut of world literature for amorous interludes, from the painfully romantic to the puke-inducing. Murnighan first excerpted these findings in the web site's "Naughty Bits" column, of which the cr me de la cr me is collected here. Besides giants like Shakespeare, D.H. Lawrence, Dante, and Herman Melville, lesser-knowns, such as 1960s French teen novelist Catherine Breillant, medieval English autobiographer Margery Kempe, and lesbian playwright Holly Hughes, make appearances alongside contemporary cads Larry Flynt and Kenneth Starr. Almost more savory than the wildly varied extracts are Murnighan's learned prefaces. The fan of erotica, the student of literature, and the aspiring sex worker will all relate to his language, a strangely seamless mix of lit crit and potty talk. Highly recommended for erotica collections and larger world literature collections. Heather McCormack, "Library Journal" Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. *Book Description* The literary education you've always lusted for. Fresh from the virtual pages of Nerve.com comes this collection of "naughty bits," an irreverent look into the steamy, scandalous side of literature past and present. With bite-sized salacious excerpts from the classics -- new and old -- each with a fresh, insightful introduction, The Naughty Bits presents the world's great books as you never thought you'd see them. Includes naughty bits by: Dante D. H. Lawrence Philip Roth Goethe Toni Morrison Julio Cortázar John Cheever William Shakespeare Thaddeus Rutkowski John Donne Thomas Malory Günter Grass Herman Melville John Barth Ernest Hemingway Erica Jong Thomas Carew M. F. K. Fisher William Kennedy Jeanette Winterson Paul West Harry Mathews Catullus Clarice Lispector Giovanni Boccaccio James Baldwin Nicholson Baker Tom Wolfe John Wilmot Kevin Canty Plato James Joyce Lydia Davis François Rabelais Kenneth Starr Henry Miller John Updike Geoffrey Chaucer Marquis de Sade Sir Philip Sidney Holly Hughes Martin Amis Andrew Marvell The Pearl Poet Thomas Pynchon Sappho William Gibson Mark Leyner Margery Kempe Jean Genet Edmund Spenser John Cleland Kurt Vonnegut Anaïs Nin Petronius Keith Banner Umberto Eco J. G. Ballard Mario Vargas Llosa Ovid Jean de Meun Catherine Breillat George Eliot Kenzaburo Oe Cormac McCarthy Larry Flynt Rupert Brooke The Old Testament *From the Inside Flap* The literary education you've always lusted for. Fresh from the virtual pages of Nerve.com comes this collection of "naughty bits," an irreverent look into the steamy, scandalous side of literature past and present. With bite-sized salacious excerpts from the classics -- new and old -- each with a fresh, insightful introduction, The Naughty Bits presents the world's great books as you never thought you'd see them. Includes naughty bits by: Dante D. H. Lawrence Philip Roth Goethe Toni Morrison Julio Cortázar John Cheever William Shakespeare Thaddeus Rutkowski John Donne Thomas Malory Günter Grass Herman Melville John Barth Ernest Hemingway Erica Jong Thomas Carew M. F. K. Fisher William Kennedy Jeanette Winterson Paul West Harry Mathews Catullus Clarice Lispector Giovanni Boccaccio James Baldwin Nicholson Baker Tom Wolfe John Wilmot Kevin Canty Plato James Joyce Lydia Davis François Rabelais Kenneth Starr Henry Miller John Updike Geoffrey Chaucer Marquis de Sade Sir Philip Sidney Holly Hughes Martin Amis Andrew Marvell The Pearl Poet Thomas Pynchon Sappho William Gibson Mark Leyner Margery Kempe Jean Genet Edmund Spenser John Cleland Kurt Vonnegut Anaïs Nin Petronius Keith Banner Umberto Eco J. G. Ballard Mario Vargas Llosa Ovid Jean de Meun Catherine Breillat George Eliot Kenzaburo Oe Cormac McCarthy Larry Flynt Rupert Brooke The Old Testament *About the Author* Jack Murnighan received a Ph.D. in literature from Duke University in 1999 while editor-in-chief of Nerve.com, the website that pioneered "literary smut." At Nerve he coedited (with Genevieve Field) the short story collection Full Frontal Fiction (Three Rivers Press, 2000). He now writes essays and fiction full-time. His stories have been chosen for The Best American Erotica in 1999, 2000, and 2001. Naughty Bits: The Steamiest and Most Scandalous Sex Scenes from the World's Great Books FROM THE PUBLISHER The literary education you've always lusted for. Fresh from the virtual pages of Nerve.com comes this collection of "naughty bits," an irreverent look into the steamy, scandalous side of literature past and present. With bite-sized salacious excerpts from the classics — new and old — each with a fresh, insightful introduction, The Naughty Bits presents the world's great books as you never thought you'd see them. Includes naughty bits by: Dante D. H. Lawrence Philip Roth Goethe Toni Morrison Julio Cortázar John Cheever William Shakespeare Thaddeus Rutkowski John Donne Thomas Malory Günter Grass Herman Melville John Barth Ernest Hemingway Erica Jong Thomas Carew M. F. K. Fisher William Kennedy Jeanette Winterson Paul West Harry Mathews Catullus Clarice Lispector Giovanni Boccaccio James Baldwin Nicholson Baker Tom Wolfe John Wilmot Kevin Canty Plato James Joyce Lydia Davis François Rabelais Kenneth Starr Henry Miller John Updike Geoffrey Chaucer Marquis de Sade Sir Philip Sidney Holly Hughes Martin Amis Andrew Marvell The Pearl Poet Thomas Pynchon Sappho William Gibson Mark Leyner Margery Kempe Jean Genet Edmund Spenser John Cleland Kurt Vonnegut Anaïs Nin Petronius Keith Banner Umberto Eco J. G. Ballard Mario Vargas Llosa Ovid Jean de Meun Catherine Breillat George Eliot Kenzaburo Oe Cormac McCarthy Larry Flynt Rupert Brooke The Old Testament FROM THE CRITICS Library Journal Most people don't read a good book or have great sex nearly as often as they should; then again, most people don't know that the Great Works e.g., Joyce's Ulysses, Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, and Plato's The Symposium are as rife with "naughty bits" as a frat house is with hormones. The general public has Murnighan, former editor-in-chief of the popular sex web-zine Nerve.com, to thank for gleaning the gamut of world literature for amorous interludes, from the painfully romantic to the puke-inducing. Murnighan first excerpted these findings in the web site's "Naughty Bits" column, of which the cr me de la cr me is collected here. Besides giants like Shakespeare, D.H. Lawrence, Dante, and Herman Melville, lesser-knowns, such as 1960s French teen novelist Catherine Breillant, medieval English autobiographer Margery Kempe, and lesbian playwright Holly Hughes, make appearances alongside contemporary cads Larry Flynt and Kenneth Starr. Almost more savory than the wildly varied extracts are Murnighan's learned prefaces. The fan of erotica, the student of literature, and the aspiring sex worker will all relate to his language, a strangely seamless mix of lit crit and potty talk. Highly recommended for erotica collections and larger world literature collections. Heather McCormack, "Library Journal" Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.