This one tends to be taught in high school and I don't know why; it was only several years later that I managed to grok it enough to appreciate the work.

Graham examines modern animistic practices and how academia treats this religious expression. Often horribly dry, probably requires a pretty good grounding in academic discussion of religion to begin with.

Once I got used to the high-epic language, I enjoyed the series... but I sincerely wished Boromir had shut up about the freaking horn of Gondor well before someone shut him up for me.

More a book on sexual ethics and philosophy than creativity and expression, this book changed a lot of the way I thought about sexuality. It should probably be required reading.

Roger Ebert's most negative film reviews. Ebert is an occasionally funny writer, but not really a humorist, so not every one of these is laugh-out-loud hilarious. But there are a few excellent zingers and the review writing is, of course, solid.

The book tries to both show the art and discuss the inspiration and development of the artwork; unfortunately, the words get in the way of the pictures and vice-versa and short-changes both.

JBB reviews a handfull of breakthrough movies in cinema history -- at least as far as the exploration of sex is concerned. Starting with Valantino and Mae West, JBB proceeds chronologically in exhaustive and exhausting detail through the eighties.

Historical review of a handfull of movies that were considered shocking at the time they were released. JBB goes into exhausting, occasionally academic detail on the directors and actors involved, so although the book only officially covers a few films, you might end up with a significant list once you're done reading. I'll admit my eyes tended to glaze, though.

Primarily a picture book (what else do you expect from Taschen), this book highlights erotic content in cinematic history. Focus is on movies that explore sexual themes (as opposed to merely containing sexual content) and chapters are divided by topic rather than chronologically. Much more broad than Joe Bob Brigg's Profoundly Erotic, but far more shallow.

A small encyclopedia of some of the worst actors in Congress; useful for reminding yourself of the outrages against decensy and common sense of, say, Bob Ney or Bill Frist.