Lust, Heat, Lit: A Filthy MILFs Summer Reading List
Guest post from author, creative writing professor and "Bookish" Substack creator, Christine Sneed
In the spirit of Ellen and Sophie’s great Filthy MILFs podcast, I’ve compiled a list of medium-to-very-randy books to read this summer whether you’re on the beach or the sofa, in the park or on the porch.
Some of the books below I read when I was a teenager (or, er, a tween). I checked out Fear of Flying from the library when I was 12 (…in that era, there was no internet, let alone internet porn), and when my dad spotted me inhaling it with my eyeballs, he grabbed it and promptly vanished. When I went off to college, however, I sprinted to the library for another go, knowing this time I’d be unpoliced (if Dad had spies, they botched this assignment).
Most readers probably don’t know how hard it is to write believable, titillating sex scenes. So please applaud these authors if you read their books, and then do whatever else you will with your hands.
And now, in no particular order, a libidinous feast for (book) lovers and aspiring (book) lovers:
Fear of Flying, Erica Jong—the grandmother of all feminist and just plain raunchy raunch.
Endless Love, Scott Spencer—an unbelievably great book sentence-by-sentence. And a 15-page sex scene that will make sweat beads pop on your forehead.
Luster, Raven Lelaini—an exercise in delayed gratification.
Three Women, Lisa Taddeo—a fiction/nonfiction hybrid that is voyeuristic, very frank, and beautifully written.
My Life in Heavy Metal, Steve Almond—these short stories are marvelous. And I encourage to check out Steve’s tutorial on writing hot, convincingly human sex scenes.
Fish Tales, Nettie Jones—by some reports, it’ll make your eyes pop from their sockets. (Think Jim Carrey in The Mask). In my TBR queue.
Little Rabbit, Alyssa Songsiridej—cool and lyrical and arresting—a young, bisexual woman with a considerably older, heterosexual man. Bondage, bratty youth, lots of orgasms. The author mentions in her acknowledgments that her parents should not read this book.
The Pisces, Melissa Broder—I haven’t read this yet, but I loved her candor and head-on gaze when it came to all things lust and body and longing in her essay collection So Sad Today.
Bad Thoughts, Nada Alic—this book! These stories! So funny and nuts. Not brimming with sex scenes, but a sexy book, nonetheless.
Big Swiss, Jen Beagin—hilarious and frank and huge fun. Beagin’s rapacious eye, her sense of humor are 5-star, and her horniness is cosmic.
Wifey, Judy Blume—a huge hit when it was published in the late 1970s, a number of years after another Blume staple, Forever—a great novel about teenage first love and sexual self-discovery.
Call Me by Your Name, André Aciman—a deeply romantic book and the movie is very good too.
Blue Movie, Terry Southern—a rec from my partner Adam. Southern, according to Wikipedia, “was an American novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and university lecturer, noted for his distinctive satirical style.”
Portnoy’s Complaint, Philip Roth—of the several Roth books I’ve read, this one is my favorite. It was groundbreaking—the candor, the unflattering and hilarious self-revelation—and made his reputation. It also ensured he was the enfant terrible of the New Jersey-based community (and for a time, the literary world) from which he emerged.
Paris, He Said, a novel by me—two main characters, a sexy, older Frenchman, a young American woman who moves to Paris to live with him. She’s a painter, he’s a former aspiring artist who found his niche as a gallerist.
Be sure to check out Christine’s wonderful Substack, Bookish!
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The FILTHY MILFS podcast is on spring break! And in case you haven’t heard, WE WON THE WOMEN PODCASTERS AWARD FOR BEST COMEDY!!! You can see our acceptance speech here. Woo hoo!!!
We’ll be back this summer with Season 2, but stay tuned - we’ve got some fun surprises coming during our hiatus! Catch all of Season One wherever you listen to podcasts, and follow us on the socials to keep up with your favorite MILFS!
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