The books listed below all fall into the broad ‘erotic’ category. There are no criteria for these except that I – and of course others – have found the writing both sexually arousing but also well written. For me, the prose of an erotic novel will preferably be evocative, clever, and sensual and, ideally, frank. In other words, stimulating on an intellectual level as well as a sexual one. There are two lists: those I have read and those I have not read but which have had recommended as aligning to the above criteria of, broadly, both written as literature (ie with some artistic merit) and with erotic content.
Otherwise, they are given in no particular order. These books are from across the past four hundred plus years and some may have stood the test of time better than others. Some of them may be classed as ‘smut’, others as ‘literature’, but for me there should be at least some degree of overlap between the two. They do not meet all tastes!
Any additions to the general list, or comments on those listed, are very welcome.
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Erotic novels I have read
The Secret Life of Catherine M. (2001), Catherine Millet
The Butcher (1995), Alina Reyes
Ada or Ador (1969) Vladimir Nabakov
Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928/29) D.H. Lawrence
(The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous) Moll Flanders (1722) Daniel Defoe
Bad Behaviour (1989), Mary Gaitskill
Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1782) (Dangerous Liaisons) Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
Lofting (2001), Alma Marceau
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty (1983) Anne Rice as A. N. Roquelaure
Wetlands (2009), Charlotte Roche Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure – popularly known as Fanny Hill (1748), John Cleland
Tropic of Cancer (1934), Henry Miller
Delta of Venus(1977), Anais Nin
Histoire d’O – The Story of O (1954), Anne Desclos under the pen name Pauline Réage
The Lover – L’Amant (1984), Marguerite Duras
Three (2003), Julie Hilden
Monsieur (2012), Emma Becker
Auletris: Erotica (1950), Anaïs Nin
Tryst (2017), Monica Roffey
The Black Book (1938) Laurence Durrell
Nine and a Half Weeks (1978 – republished 2005), Elizabeth McNeill
Erotic books I have not read, but which have been recommended
Alenka: A Novel of Budapest (2015), Katerina Bukowski
Never: An Erotic Retelling of Peter Pan (2012), Elizbeta Brooke
Rapture (2003) , Suzanne Minot
An Almond for a Parrot (2017), Sally Gardner
Carrie’s Story (2002), Molly Weatherfield (Pam Rosenthal)
Sex Love Repeat (2015), Alessandra Torre
A Sport and a Pastime (1960) James Salter
The Fermata (1994) Nicholson Barker
Maidenhead (2012) Tamara Faith Berger
The Story of the Eye (1931) Georges Bataille (as ‘Lord Auch’)
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