Sexy, Adulterous & Lascivious Novels

For those of you questioning fidelity, there’s always Gustave Flaubert’s classic. Depicting the trivialities of provincial life in post-Napoleonic France, the sensuous (yes, sensuous) Madame Bovary rebels against her tired routine playing out desires from the novels she reads. Yes, she cheats on her boring, devoted doctor husband. Yes, she suffers and broods. Yes, she spends a lot of time thinking about the Parisian clothing she wishes she could wear. Nevertheless, Madame Bovary’s story has captivated readers for generations.

These two slim books are the crème-de-la-crème of early 20th century sexual desire. From her accounts of ménage-a-trois’ to steamy bisexual adventures, Nin is always sure to please. Also, I highly recommend her diaries, as well as her letters to her lover, Henry Miller. For such a respectful, petite French woman, Nin was quite the conquistador of lascivious human form.

Before Henry Miller hermetically retreated to Big Sur, he was busy sleeping with every lady in Paris. This stream-of-consciousness, sexually graphic piece of bohemianism is a big turn-on. Henry Miller does not hold back – he tells you everything, even if you would rather not know. Transforming a woman’s body into a metaphor of the ins and outs, holes and gaps, in the city of Paris is imaginative and very, very sexy.

Like Tropic of Cancer, this book caused a scandal. This is the kind of novel you read to irk your sixth grade English teacher (though I certainly was not reading D.H. Lawrence in the sixth grade). It's known for its sexual frankness but it is not nearly as tinged with sex as its critics believed. Much of the story is an exploration of character, class and the relations between the sexes. At any rate, this is a literary classic.