Literary Lust

In an earlier post back in October (“Couples Who Read Together”), I referenced a friend of mind who enjoys reading aloud passages from erotic romances to her boyfriend in order to get them both revved up and rarin’ to go. Along that same theme, a friend recently gave me a copy of Literary Lust by Stella Hyde, who takes the whole “reading passages to one another” thing to an entirely spicier level.

What Ms. Hyde does (cleverly, in my opinion) is give a quick synopsis of classic literary fiction, ranging from very early reads such as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales to 20^th century favorites like Lady Chatterley’s Lover and The Great Gatsby. Highlighted within the synopses are the fun, steamy, sexy parts. And taking it a step further, Ms. Hyde provides suggestions for how you and your lover can successfully act out these steamy scenes and spice up your sex life in all kinds of unique, ingenious ways. If you fancy yourself open to suggestions, there’s tons o’ fun to be had acting out the scenes. The author even provides a rating system to summarize the type of role playing you’ll be performing depending, of course, upon the book from which you’re drawing inspiration. She also lets you know the exertion level required, how much sexual pleasure can be derived from the role playing, and a rating system for the literary merit of the book. Lastly, each story comes with a sometimes tongue-in-cheek checklist of things you’ll need.

Let’s say you and your partner decide to act out Wuthering Heights, for example. The book provides with you a brief synopsis of the story, the sensuality, a description of the characters. Heathcliff, for example: “the archetypal dark, handsome, smoldering hero, who is fueled by the twin passions of love and revenge and knows only two speeds, ardent and psycho.” You and your lover wanna give it a go? Here’s what you’ll need, according to Ms. Hyde: Wild and windy moors (preferably in West Yorkshire, England, but similar terrain elsewhere will do); unbridled passion; sensible boots. She goes on to describe what you need to do:

No special sex skills are needed to play Healthcliff – in fact, the more brutal and savage you are the better, so run across the springy moors until your legs twang, then tear each other’s clothes off and get down to it; biting is allowed, and the whole experience is greatly improved if there are lowering storm clouds.

Then, further on:

If you want to go for the classic Heathcliff flowing white shirt look, for heaven’s sake wear something sensible underneath; there’s no shame in it – all-weather gear can be quite sexy, with all those zippers and hidden Velcro fastenings and secret map pockets.

This really is a fun book. Not only will it help you brush up on your classics, but it’s certainly inventive and original when it comes to spicing up your sex life. Ms. Hyde has come up with a fun, creative book that I highly recommend.