The Adventurous Couple's Guide to Sex Toys, by Violet Blue

(pb; 2006, 2013: sexual nonfiction / sex guide.  "Foreword" by Charles Glickman, PhD)


From the back cover:

"Violet Blue is one of the top sex educators in the world and whether she is schooling Oprah Winfrey on porn or at Google headquarters talking about sex and technology, millions are listening and learning.  With a practical, sex-positive approach to pleasure, Blue leads readers through the maze of toys for adults in [this book].  She explains the many options now available, how to use lubricant to enhance your experiences, care and cleaning, where to find reputable shops - and how to send your sensuality quotient soaring with the right tools to bring you and your partner closer than ever.  Nothing says 'sexy' like giving a sex toy to your lover."


Review:

Adventurous lives up to its back cover description.  It's an excellent, no-frills-all-informative-thrills and friendly manual that's indispensable for readers new to sex toys; beyond those readers, it looks to be a worthwhile read/update for those who are already familiar with those instruments but may be looking to expand the contents of their buzz bins.

Worth owning, this.

Whip Smart, by Melissa Febos

(hb; 2010: non-fiction)

From the inside flap:

"Melissa Febos came to New York City as a college freshman to attend the New School. And while she'd always been a bit of a non-conformist, she hadn't planned to find herself - two years later - juggling her 4.0 GPA with a job as a professional dominatrix in a Midtown dungeon.

"Whip Smart is the story of Melissa's journey into a shocking double life. And she spares no one; keen observations about the motivations of her clients, her coworkers, and, most important, herself offer a rare look inside a fascinating subculture. . ."

Review:

This is a solid, interesting read that deals with BDSM (Bondage Sadomasochism)/sex work, as well as the mindset of an intelligent, briefly self-destructive young woman, whose self-destructive traits had little or nothing to do with her job or BDSM.

Those looking for a salacious recounting are likely to be disappointed by Febos' cool, analytic (but not too analytic) style. While she describes "sessions" (BDSM scenes she dommed), as well as her personal reactions to these sessions, her writing isn't lascivious. Her recollections, written in the first person, are akin, tone-wise, to that of an anthropologist studying an alien culture - factual, with a few personal asides, perhaps, but nothing more.

Good, element-balancing work that manages to inform and entertain with its unemotional veracities: worth checking out, this.

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, by Mary Roach

(hb; 2008: science/non-fiction)

From the inside flap:

"The study of sexual physiology -- what happens, and why, and how to make it happen better -- has been a paying career or a diverting sideline for scientists as far-ranging as Leonardo da Vinci and James Watson. The research has taken place beind the closed doors of laboratories, brothels, MRI centers, pig farms, sexy toy R&D labs, and Alfred Kinsey's attic.

"Mary Roach. . . devoted the past two years to stepping behind these doors. Can a person think herself to orgasm? Can a dead man get an erection? Is vaginal orgasm a myth? Why doesn't Viagra help women -- or, for that matter, pandas? In Bonk, Roach shows how and why sexual arousal and orgasm -- two of the most complex, delightful, and amazing scientific phenomena on earth -- can be so hard to achieve and what science is doing to slowly make the bedroom a more satisfying place."


Review:

Wry, informative, oh-so-quirky: Roach delves into the world of sexual research (less titillating than one might think), chronicling unexpected -- sometimes disconcerting -- results, social approbation (towards the researchers) over the centuries and decades, and the often unintentionally hilarious situations that come about. Roach is scientific, yet her writing is approachable for those outside the medical/scientific community.

Bonk is worth your time, this. Check it out.