Best erotic literature in the last decade

The ‘Call me by your name’ of the 90s, this erotic novel by Jeanette Winterson is a seductive, passionate and uninhibited read about the novel’s genderless narrator who is obsessed with a married woman. It was complex, groundbreaking and hailed by the LGBTQIA+ community and also won many literary awards for best lesbian fiction.

This famous work (or rather series of works) was the inspiration behind HBO’s sexy vampire series ‘True Blood’. It is also the first book in the ‘Southern Vampire Mystery series’. It revolves around protagonist Sookie Stackhouse who falls for hot, irresistible and of course, mysterious vampire Bill Compton and is described as a ‘vampiric romcom’. So, do bite into this succulent novel and relish every drop!

If you grew up on the stories of Alice in Wonderland or Dorothy (Wizard of Oz) or Wendy Darling in Peter Pan, then get ready to explore a more adult side to them in this graphic novel by popular author Alan Moore (of Watchmen fame) and comic artist Melinda Gebbie. The novel follows a grown up Alice, Wendy and Dorothy as they reach their peak of sexual maturity and indulge in sexual romps and dirty adventures that cross the boundaries of an ultraconservative society and will shatter your childhood memories of these girls! The novel is the result of 16 years of collaboration between the illustrator and author.

Disclaimer: Keep out of reach of children!

This piece of erotic literature was written by Valerie Tasso who also wrote ‘Diary of a nymphomaniac/Insatiable’  (2005) which is considered one of the best modern erotic novels. 

Written in a similar vein as the former, this novel too is a compilation (one could even call it a continuation of the same) of the French author’s thoughts on sexual practices such as BDSM, fellatio and even aesthetic surgeries on genitalia (strange kink, me thinks…). 

Tasso also addresses sexual fixations, tastes, defiance of taboos as well as tries to understand sex as a game, sans any boundaries. 

Madhuri Banerjee is one of the few erotic literature authors in India and she is described as the ‘Indian Carrie Bradshaw’ . Apart from ‘Losing my virginity and other dumb ideas’, she is also the screenwriter of the erotic thriller ‘Hate Story 2’. She wrote this novel as a means of breaking boundaries and to start a dialogue around sexuality in India. The novel explores themes such as desires, conservatism, sexual liberation and fantasies. It follows 30 year old protagonist Kaveri who has decided to embark on a romantic, passionate and possibly soulful journey to find herself as well as discover a ‘new her’. Her limited notions will be shattered as she learns the passionate language of love. 

The protagonist of this novel is Dylan Ivory who is an erotic literature novelist and is rather uptight. She is researching a new novel. Her research leads her to meet Alec Walters , a psychological thriller author who is an adrenaline junkie and polar opposite of Dylan. 

Alec introduces Dylan to a BDSM club and its hidden pleasures are unleashed to the unsure uptight novelist.

Will Dylan let herself go so she can taste these new pleasures for herself? Eve Berlin invites readers to find out for themselves.

Now a renowned Netflix series, Outlander is a riveting blend of erotica, history and sci-fi and revolves around a time traveling nurse from World War 2, Claire Randall as she indulges in ‘sexy times’ with a hot and hunky 18th century Scottish Highlander . It has been described as a ‘wet dream of a novel’ & that description in itself is a great indicator of what’s to come. 

An ‘aquatic erotica’ that is akin to the movie ‘Shape of Water’, this novel is a dark and sexy read and revolves around a woman who moves to Venice Beach and finds herself in the midst of a torrid affair with a scintillating merman who is just too good at sex. The graphic sex scenes will make you desire sex with a merman yourself!

An explosive short story anthology set in 80s New York, Bad Behavior offers readers a voyeuristic view of people’s sex lives and also delves into themes such as desire, desperation and painful pangs of lust. BDSM aficionados will be glad to know that one of the short stories from this steamy compilation was adapted for the screen as the 2002 classic Secretary starring Maggie Gyllenhal and James Spader at his seductive best (I highly recommend the movie as well since it is way more erotic than the 50 Shades trilogy). A lot of the stories are devoid of romance, but are loaded with passion and desire nonetheless, although the endings can be quite heartbreaking yet human and rooted in reality.

This novel is sexy, steamy, seductive and surrealistic as hell. It centers around the House of Holes, a pleasure resort where norms and rules don’t apply and guests are invited to explore and try new things such as shagging a tree or visiting the exotic ‘Moaning Room’. To make things stranger, the resort is run by a woman with breast milk which is said to have regenerative properties. Enter this one at your own risk…

Protagonist Clara sets out on a cross country trip , only to fall into the arms of a stranger named Josh with whom she hooks up. To her pleasure, Josh certainly knows how to show a woman a good time in bed! The message behind this book is that women deserve better sex and it has been described as ‘feministic porn’. So, viva la feminism and dig in!