When I was in high school, I couldn't wait to be out of my mother's house so I could read whatever I wanted without fear of discovery and punishment. Of course, primarily what I wanted to read about was sex. Then I got to college and didn't have time to read anything that wasn't assigned for a class. Since graduation, I've found myself too busy for anything that isn't fluff.
At eighteen, works referred to by other writers but too obviously sexual for me to check out of the library were the bane of my existence. I knew those books were full of useful information, offering answers to the mysteries of sexuality and desire. But I wasn't even sure the public library would let me check them out (turns out they would, but I only found that out a year ago in MLIS school). The two major ones I wanted to read were the Kama Sutra and something by the Marquis de Sade.
Tons of authors reference these works in their writing. Phrases and adjectives have derived into the vernacular from both works, but I wanted to know their origins exactly. So finally I got my hands on the Kama Sutra, a nice illustrated version. And I tried to read it.
Now, I have a BA in humanities. I should be able to force myself to read just about anything. And um, I'm kind of fascinated by sex. But I couldn't make myself read all of the Kama Sutra. I read about half of it and just gave up. It's boring. All these rules and long-winded descriptions of the twelve ways of scratching with nails and the eights ways of kissing and so forth. It sounds more like a cookbook than anything fun. Plus, I could never decide what kind of yoni I have.
As for the Marquis… So far, the reputation doesn't meet the hype. I'm sure it's just because I'm jaded and our culture is more violent and more perverse that his was purported to be. But… it's boring. It' about as exciting as Fanny Hill was, which isn't saying much. Or really anything good at all. It's interesting to see how people viewed sex and "perversion" two hundred years ago, but… It doesn't excite me. I can't see it being a world-view changing work.
Then again, I may be jumping the gun a bit, since so far I've only read excerpts in a secondary work. The collection that's a straight, complete translation is too heavy to carry around and read at the gym. (Yes, I'm reading de Sade while I work out. I'm loving the irony.) But I'm not expecting anything much, frankly. The characters are flat, the sex isn't as shocking as he apparently meant it to be, and the violence, while not my personal kink, isn't as shocking as a horror movie or as well written as most of the SM/BD stuff I've read.
So I've come to a preliminary conclusion: antiquated books about sex, while useful and perhaps interesting historically, really aren't very exciting to read. Certainly not titillating. What a disappointment.