All Sex, All the Time

Edward Wyatt has an overview of several new fiction and non-fiction titles written by porno stars, erotica by precocious teenagers, and self-help guides.

The current crop of books was spawned by the success two years ago of “The Sexual Life of Catherine M.” by Catherine Millet, a French art critic. The book, published by Grove Press, received mediocre reviews but spent nine weeks on the Times best-seller list, bringing a new air of respectability to the genre.

I can attest to the popularity of Millet’s book–nearly every other day I get traffic from people looking for excerpts. The new books do have at least one that I’m really interested in reading (for the articles, of course) XXX: 30 Porn-Star Portraits, with an introduction by Gore Vidal and an essay on the intersection of pornography and culture by Salman Rushdie.