Last night I dreamed that Arthur A. Levine Books (of Harry Potter fame) was publishing a young readers’ edition of The Sensuous Woman, a sex manual published in ’69 (heh) by a “liberated woman” known only as “J” who taught women how to please their man and–and this was revolutionary–themselves.

My dream makes sense in that The Sensuous Woman was in some ways a Harry Potter for its day, storming onto the bestseller lists and seeming to stay there forever. And virginal little junior high kids lapped it up (oh, I slay myself) but in secret, of course, much the same way we consumed page 27 of The Godfather, published the same year.

Putting on my Carrie Bradshaw shoes, it made me wonder: are there any books these days that get similarly covertly passed around by kids who aren’t supposed to be reading them? Or in an age when porn is available at the push of a button, does Mom hand over her copy of Fifty Shades of Grey with enthusiasm, just glad that you’re reading something?

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