Favorite First Times

BY: PROVOKR Staff

The Notebook

When I was in 7th grade, the most popular writer of my friend group was Nicholas Sparks. The first one I picked up from the school library was The Notebook. Reading about Noah and Allie’s escapades were very enlightening to me. At that point, I had no idea that people kissed boobs. What a formative experience that was for me. It’s safe to say I went on to read most of his books. –Georgia Davis, Contributing Writer

 

Sookie Stackhouse Novels

When the first season of HBO’s True Blood aired I was 12 years old. My parents would tell me and my brother to go to bed before they tuned in every Sunday night. That first season, they couldn’t stop talking about it to their friends because they were flamergasted at how much sex was shown. Shortly after, my dad bought my mom the box set of books the series was based on, The Sookie Stackhouse Novels by Charlene Harris. At the time, there must have been about five books. When mom didn’t get around to reading them, I wound up stealing them off her shelf and hiding them under my bed. Each night I’d go to bed early, but not early enough to make it suspicious (I was 12 remember, and 12 year olds never wanted to go to bed), and I’d pull them out and read them under the covers. The most I’d seen or read by then was Twilight, but those books are extremely tame compared to the very detailed sexual encounters that Sookie was having with vampires. After I read the box set, I found the rest of the books online. They’re better than the show. -Hannah Wigandt, Contributing Writer and Managing Entertainment Editor

 

International Male

I’d say my first experience with erotica would be when I first laid eyes upon the International Male catalogs during family trips to the bookstore.  I’d make sure no one was around the magazine section, and then go in for the kill.  I would quickly flip through the pages and pages of gorgeous muscled men in their barely-there underwear and swimwear.  As soon as mom called out that it was time to go, I’d throw the magazine down and innocently run to rejoin my family at the register with my newest RL Stine Fear Street book. – Andy Shoulders, Fashion Editor

The Happy Hooker

The Happy Hooker by Xaviera Hollander is the first erotic book that I remember reading. It was an account written by a Dutch call girl. She moved to New York City and opened a high class brothel. It was supposed to be a true account of her experiences and business. It was very explicit and I stayed up all night to read and finish the book. – Peggy Giordano, Copy Editor

 

Sex

My first encounter with true erotica happened when I was in fifth or sixth grade. A girl I knew, Terry, was reading some book with very erotic passages in it. She showed it to me and a mutual friend Andy. I don’t remember the name of the book, but it was filled with lots of paragraphs of touching and groping. When I was 13, a friend’s brother got hold of some 16mm porno films. He set up a projector in their basement and played them for some of his friends and let his brother and I watch. They were rough in production, but to the point.

Fast forward many years later and lots of viewed erotica “borrowed” from friend’s fathers and older brothers. Occasionally when I was a young adult, I would purchase a Playboy for an interview of someone famous, such as John Lennon.

A company I worked for had sent me down to Dallas, Texas, to train some new employeees. In the three months I was there, Madonna’s book, Sex, was released. I knew that this would someday be a collectors item. With photography by Steven Meisel, I wanted to purchase a copy. The only bookstore in my area was one of the large chain bookstores, Barnes and Noble. I drove over to see if they had it in stock. 

I entered the store and looked around at the tables of new releases. Nothing. I looked in the photography section and again, nothing. I walked over to the cashier, as she seemed to be the only employee around. She had short dark hair and was in her 50s. I asked her if they had Madonna’s new book Sex in stock. Se gave me a look as if I had asked her to perform a sex act on me. She responded that they did have in stock and she pulled out a copy from under the cash register shelf. I thought this was odd as the book was in a sealed foil enclosure, preventing anyone from viewing its contents. I told her I wanted to purchase it. While she was ringing me up, she was giving me this look as if I was the devil himself and not to get any strange ideas.

 – Keith Goldstein, Photo Editor

 

The Other Side of Midnight

As an 8th grader The Other Side of Midnight by Sidney Sheldon opened my eyes to a world of love, revenge, betrayal and most importantly lust. An American girl caught in a web that is intertwined with passion. The book spanned the globe, from somewhere in the U.S. to Paris and a villa in Greece with, of course, a Greek Tycoon. The twists and turns kept me reading, but it was the love scenes that made me realize that sex is about pleasure and fun. – Ramona Duoba, Editor-at-Large

 

James Bond

I started to realize something was going on with those Ian Fleming James Bond paperbacks when my older brother started collecting some.  He would lock his bedroom door to read them.  I was young and I knew my parents had read them too.  I would sneak one out of his room and read it and there it was like a four alarm fire – a sexy scene.  Wow, I was hooked.  I ended up buying them all one at a time. I got a strange look from the woman at Margie’s Luncheonette, purveyor of school supplies. magazines, paperbacks and great ice cream sundaes.  I would buy paper clips and a notebook, maybe some pencils, and a copy of Casino Royale or Dr.No. I kept one way under my bed and the collection I was building in the crawl space. I will always be a grateful Bond fan. I am not sure if I wanted to be a Bond girl or James Bond himself because he did have more fun in cool cars and very cool clothes and accessories.  The women were like dolls that he played with and tossed aside with and I did not even play with dolls. – Marian Schwindeman, CEO

 

Anais Nin

A friend of mine turned me on to Anaïs Nin in college. I first read Delta of Venus, her collection of short stories. Erotic and thrilling! In fact, my life was never the same. It encouraged me to be free to experiment and feel confident about my sexuality. – Paula Romano, C.O.O.