Sexy Sex and Animal Sex

Honestly, is there anything sexier than great comedy? The funniest books I’ve read lately would also make spectacular Valentine’s presents for the adults in your life.

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary by David Sedaris

David Sedaris wrote a great, twisted collection of short stories about relationships. Then, to add twist to the twisted, all of the characters are animals and they’re all illustrated by Ian Falconer, the same wonderful illustrator who gave us Olivia. It makes the adult content darker somehow, and much, much funnier. I’ll admit that for the first few stories, I started thinking it wasn’t Sedaris’s finest work, but then I came to the story “The Parenting Storks” featuring the first line, “The precocious stork was only two weeks old when he asked where babies come from.” Suddenly I’m thinking about the lies we tell to protect our kids and stork sex, and my daughter, seeing the familiar illustration style in the book that I’m reading comes over to ask me what I’m laughing about. Some might rule this book out as a Valentine gift because of the sheer volume of animal infidelity, but I think it’s a great way to laugh with your Valentine.

The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex by Kristen Schaal and Rich Blomquist

If you like the humor of The Daily Show but wish it came in sex book form, this is the book for you. It’s written by Kristen Schaal, Daily Show correspondent and Mel from Flight of the Conchords, and Daily Show writer Rich Blomquist. There’s much I’d like to excerpt here, but on our fine family blog I blush to put even some of the names of the page headings. There’s lots of fine history, like the sexual legacies of historical figures like Cleopatra, Catherine the Great, and Emily Dickinson. There’s helpful infographics, such as the makeup sex flow chart and the improved porn name formula. With comics, short stories, infographics and more, you’ll roll with laughter while becoming a “sexpert”. Most of the book is tongue-in-cheek, so it’s not actually meant to be instructive. It might really, really confuse your kids if they saw it. Fortunately, the book begins with places to hide the book from your kids: “Refrigerator vegetable drawer”, “In church”, and “Inside any other boring sex book”.

Note: I received a review copy of The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex and a non-valentine gift copy of Squirrel Seeks Christmas.