Give me the Dickens
June 19, 2010 12:45 PM Subscribe
Saucy novel recommendations, please! I really liked Perfume, Les Liaisons Dangereuses and The Crimson Petal and the White. What are some other wry/dirty/dark period novels?
I'm really not into total softcore bodice-ripper paperbacks; I want something with a little "literary merit." I hate plain bad writing. No outright junk, just naughty tales of cobblestone and ruination. I've looked at the synopsis of Tipping the Velvet and been turned off by what seems to be too much outright sex in it. The innuendo is the best part, you see.
I'm a little obsessed with Victorian and Old West prostitutes. But lunatics and sadists are cool, too.
My overall taste in novels is pretty pedestrian and classicist. I usually read American fiction canon and SF. PK Dick, Toni Morrison, etc.
I'm really not into total softcore bodice-ripper paperbacks; I want something with a little "literary merit." I hate plain bad writing. No outright junk, just naughty tales of cobblestone and ruination. I've looked at the synopsis of Tipping the Velvet and been turned off by what seems to be too much outright sex in it. The innuendo is the best part, you see.
I'm a little obsessed with Victorian and Old West prostitutes. But lunatics and sadists are cool, too.
My overall taste in novels is pretty pedestrian and classicist. I usually read American fiction canon and SF. PK Dick, Toni Morrison, etc.
(it's may be = me sounding like someone from another century because I'm still half asleep.)
posted by scody at 12:53 PM on June 19, 2010
posted by scody at 12:53 PM on June 19, 2010
Best answer: I haven't read Tipping the Velvet, but "Yes, Sarah Waters!" leapt out at me from the question -- I feel like there's very little outright sex in Fingersmith, anyway.
posted by Jeanne at 12:56 PM on June 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Jeanne at 12:56 PM on June 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
Tom Spanbauer's The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon.
posted by ottereroticist at 1:03 PM on June 19, 2010
posted by ottereroticist at 1:03 PM on June 19, 2010
You might like Lauren Willig's Pink Carnation series. They have spies, brave women, humor, tension, some ruination, and few cobblestones.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:04 PM on June 19, 2010
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:04 PM on June 19, 2010
Best answer: How about Poison by Kathryn Harrison. "A princess-and-pauper story replete with passion, lust, dreams and ambition follows the intertwining lives of two seventeenth-century young women, one the poor daughter of a Spanish silk grower, the other the niece of Louis XIV."
posted by hazyjane at 1:07 PM on June 19, 2010
posted by hazyjane at 1:07 PM on June 19, 2010
Best answer: You need My Secret Life. Shocking, thrilling, fascinating.
posted by maya at 1:32 PM on June 19, 2010
posted by maya at 1:32 PM on June 19, 2010
Cassandra French's Finishing School for Boys is not nearly as naughty as it sounds, but is very twisted and funny.
posted by SLC Mom at 1:39 PM on June 19, 2010
posted by SLC Mom at 1:39 PM on June 19, 2010
Best answer: I'm pretty sure you'd love The Monk by Matthew Lewis.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 1:41 PM on June 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 1:41 PM on June 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
Nonfiction, but Sin in the Second City is awesome.
posted by ruby.aftermath at 1:46 PM on June 19, 2010
posted by ruby.aftermath at 1:46 PM on June 19, 2010
You would probably love Lawrence Durrell's "Alexandria Quarted". It's four novels, set in the city of Alexandria just before WWII, filled with as many scandalous couplings as you can possibly tolerate. Many incredible observations about sex and love.
The first novel in the series is named Justine.
posted by hermitosis at 2:06 PM on June 19, 2010
The first novel in the series is named Justine.
posted by hermitosis at 2:06 PM on June 19, 2010
Quartet, sorry.
The prose of these books reminds me of Nabokov at his best. I can't believe they aren't more widely read.
posted by hermitosis at 2:07 PM on June 19, 2010
The prose of these books reminds me of Nabokov at his best. I can't believe they aren't more widely read.
posted by hermitosis at 2:07 PM on June 19, 2010
Well...it's A period, totally literary and about lust and ruination. Lords and ladies, courtly settings and high society.
The Void Captain's Tale, by Norman Spinrad.
One of my favorite books of all time.
posted by Gorgik at 3:53 PM on June 19, 2010
The Void Captain's Tale, by Norman Spinrad.
One of my favorite books of all time.
posted by Gorgik at 3:53 PM on June 19, 2010
Best answer: Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace
posted by lucy.verdad at 4:50 PM on June 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by lucy.verdad at 4:50 PM on June 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
The White Hotel
Seriously? I can see "Saucy" "wry/dirty/" applying to parts of it maybe, but as a whole (and not wanting to get into spoilers), it's cumulative impact is profoundly, shockingly dark.
posted by philip-random at 4:58 PM on June 19, 2010
Seriously? I can see "Saucy" "wry/dirty/" applying to parts of it maybe, but as a whole (and not wanting to get into spoilers), it's cumulative impact is profoundly, shockingly dark.
posted by philip-random at 4:58 PM on June 19, 2010
Maybe The Journal of Dora Damage, by Belinda Starling. I haven't read past the first 50 pages, though.
posted by Leon at 5:05 PM on June 19, 2010
posted by Leon at 5:05 PM on June 19, 2010
I've read all of Dora Damage, and would say it fits. Certainly has its steamy and lunatic moments.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 5:42 PM on June 19, 2010
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 5:42 PM on June 19, 2010
Best answer: I just finished A Reliable Wife and while the cover description doesn't imply it, it meets your qualifications.
posted by Sukey Says at 6:28 PM on June 19, 2010
posted by Sukey Says at 6:28 PM on June 19, 2010
> Lolita
She said "pedestrian," not...
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:27 PM on June 19, 2010
She said "pedestrian," not...
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:27 PM on June 19, 2010
A. S. Byatt's Possession
posted by brujita at 9:47 PM on June 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by brujita at 9:47 PM on June 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I heartily second the recommendation of Sarah Waters' Fingersmith. There's no outright sadomasochism, but it includes some interesting power dynamics that made it an especially fun read for me.
Also check out The Wet Nurse's Tale by Erica Eisdorfer, and Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (not Victorian, but wonderfully weird).
posted by arianell at 10:14 PM on June 19, 2010
Also check out The Wet Nurse's Tale by Erica Eisdorfer, and Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (not Victorian, but wonderfully weird).
posted by arianell at 10:14 PM on June 19, 2010
The glass books of the dream eaters. A Victorian fantasy roller-coaster. Website and Guardian review here.
posted by elgilito at 6:17 AM on June 20, 2010
posted by elgilito at 6:17 AM on June 20, 2010
Response by poster: All of these suggestions are interesting, and a few absolutely mouthwatering. Thank you so much!!!
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 11:28 AM on June 20, 2010
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 11:28 AM on June 20, 2010
No one has mentioned John Fowles's The French Lieutenant's Woman, so I will. Or -- going back a bit -- Michael Sadleir's Fanny by Gaslight (1940), if you can pick up a secondhand copy. Sadleir was an expert in Victorian literature, with a special interest in the seamy side of Victorian London, and while Fanny by Gaslight may seem a little dated (the title alone tells you it was written in more innocent times) you can't fault it for research.
George Macdonald Fraser's Flashman books might appeal to you. Less well known than the Flashman series, but just as good, are the Sergeant Verity novels, written by Donald Thomas under the pen-name 'Francis Selwyn'. These are out of print, but secondhand copies should be easy to come by. They're basically crime novels set in Victorian London, meticulously plotted, with a dash of kinky sex to whet the reader's appetite.
posted by verstegan at 3:52 PM on June 20, 2010
George Macdonald Fraser's Flashman books might appeal to you. Less well known than the Flashman series, but just as good, are the Sergeant Verity novels, written by Donald Thomas under the pen-name 'Francis Selwyn'. These are out of print, but secondhand copies should be easy to come by. They're basically crime novels set in Victorian London, meticulously plotted, with a dash of kinky sex to whet the reader's appetite.
posted by verstegan at 3:52 PM on June 20, 2010
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posted by scody at 12:52 PM on June 19, 2010