Pam Rosenthal / Molly Weatherford

 

Thanks only partly to the New York Times Book Review, people have lists on their minds. Beth Quittman, whose blog is called Book of the Day, is building an alternative “top 25 list” of recent American fiction. You can submit your lists to her via email or in the comments section to her blog. Ted Pelton has compiled a list of 113 plausible alternatives to the Philip Roth-centric Times list.

Meanwhile, Pam Rosenthal writes to note that Molly Weatherford (Pam’s porn pseudonym) has her first novel, Carrie’s Story, on Playboy’s list of the “25 Sexiest Novels Every Written,” situated at number 12 right between Lolita & Fear of Flying. Harry Matthews’ Singular Pleasures is also included on a roster that contains everything from Georges Bataille’s Story of the Eye to Peyton Place. Pam notes that

The new notoriety thus far not reflected in Amazon sales. Feel free to fulminate on the ridiculousness of the list – in fact, I'm hoping somebody fumes and fulminates loudly and publicly; it's not really a book best-of list unless it meets with shrieks of contempt and hoots of derision.

We note that a list of the 25 sexiest novels ever written that includes not one by Kathy Acker does indeed deserve “shrieks of contempt and hoots of derision.” No Dodie Bellamy? No Dennis Cooper? No John Rechy or Hubert Selby, Jr.? No William Burroughs? No Samuel R. Delany? But to get instead Harold Robbins, Erica Jong, Grace Metalious, and Norman Mailer at his very worst? Heff must have worked on this list personally – it certainly has that octogenarian touch. How Weatherford & Matthews managed to make it onto this list is an utter mystery.