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The Dirty Bits - For Girls
From zipless action in Fear of Flying to jolly romps with Jilly Cooper; from transgressions with a priest in The Thorn Birds to mischief with Mellors; from a gentle first encounter with Ralph in Forever to anything and everything but gentle in The Story of O . Even Keats, Chaucer, and Shakespeare are up to no good. These are the stories that taught us about sex, volumes pilfered from our parents’ bookshelves, favorites passed from girl to girl, hidden in desks, whispered and wondered about.
273 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
About the author
India Knight
37 books161 followersIndia Knight is a British journalist. Her novels have been translated into 28 languages.
Knight, a native French speaker, lived in Brussels until about the time she turned nine. After migrating to the United Kingdom, she was educated in London. She was awarded an exhibition to Trinity College, Cambridge, where she read Modern Languages from 1984-1987, before starting her career in journalism.
In addition to writing for and contributing to major British magazines and newspapers, India Knight writes a prominent weekly column for The Sunday Times. She is also a regular guest on British radio and television.
After writing an article in The Sunday Times about her daughter's special needs - her youngest child has DiGeorge syndrome.
Knight lives in London with her three children.
Knight, a native French speaker, lived in Brussels until about the time she turned nine. After migrating to the United Kingdom, she was educated in London. She was awarded an exhibition to Trinity College, Cambridge, where she read Modern Languages from 1984-1987, before starting her career in journalism.
In addition to writing for and contributing to major British magazines and newspapers, India Knight writes a prominent weekly column for The Sunday Times. She is also a regular guest on British radio and television.
After writing an article in The Sunday Times about her daughter's special needs - her youngest child has DiGeorge syndrome.
Knight lives in London with her three children.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 1, 2016
The Dirty Bits for Girls has been around for a while – it was first published in 2006 – but I’m reviewing it retrospectively because 1) it’s a great read and 2) it gives you enlightening glimpses into books that you might not have considered picking up otherwise.
This collection of ‘dirty’ excerpts runs the gamut – Georgette Heyer, Anaïs Nin, John Cleland, Jilly Cooper, to name just a few of the authors whose work appears in it – and, as such, caters to pretty much every taste. From the over-the-top soap opera sex of 80s Judith Krantz (Scruples) to the dark eroticism of Pauline Reage’s Story of O, Dirty Bits serves up a tasting menu of sex in literature and is perfect as means of steering you towards the books that do it for you and away from the ones that don’t.
The extract from Georgette Heyer’s Regency Buck with its smouldering, rakish hero, the Earl of Worth (a.k.a. Julian St John Audley), is toe-curlingly good. At the risk of sounding like a giddy thirteen-year-old, the guy is hot. He’s handsome. He’s arrogant. He’s dominating. He’s insolent. There’s not a single ‘traditional’ sex scene in the excerpt (or in the entire book for that matter) – the raciest it gets is a raised hem and a kiss in the back of a curricle-and-four – but the sexual frisson between him and Judith, the heroine, is brilliant. Reading this particular snippet sent me into something of a Heyer frenzy and I consumed a number of her Regency ton romances in short order after reading the Dirty Bits taster. A perfect and satisfying example of Alpha male versus feisty, spirited heroine, with sexual chemistry to boot.
John Cleland’s Fanny Hill was a welcome surprise. I’d not read Mr Cleland before picking up Dirty Bits and found his writing incredibly, incredibly sexy. His ability to describe prostitution in a way that is at once explicit and flowery is very impressive. No raw words, just some incredibly pretty euphemisms that somehow work without seeming silly: ‘downy spring-moss’, ‘luscious mouth of nature’, ‘pink slash in the glossiest white satin’. You absolutely know what he’s talking about (a bunch of men having sex with prostitutes in front of one another) but the detailed descriptions of the sexual act are artfully softened by his pretty turns of phrase.
For those of you who like it darker, the Story of O by Pauline Reage hasn’t lost any of its impact (no pun intended) since it was first published in the 1950s. This BDSM classic makes The Fifty Shades of Grey look like Enid Blyton and will either have you running for the hills or squirming deliciously in your seat. Blindfolds, cuffs, collars, whips, and multiple partners. Be warned. It’s dark.
Jilly Cooper’s Octavia and Anaïs Nin’s Delta of Venus also make welcome appearances in this anthology. (I’m going to talk about the incredibly sexy writing of Anaïs in another post but suffice to say her erotic short stories still feel contemporary and beautiful years after they were first written for a private collector for the bargain price of a dollar a page.)
I have to confess, I’m not a fan of everything in here. Time hasn’t changed my opinion, for example, of Judy Blume’s Forever, which has not improved, for me at least, since I read it at the tender age of ten (although I am pretty certain I’m in the minority). I remember forcing myself to slog through it because it was banned from the school library – half the parents had signed a petition to keep it from our young impressionable eyes – and being completely underwhelmed. It’s not that the writing is bad (it isn’t) but the whole penis-naming thing still strikes me as odd and contrived and I just can’t get past it. If you’re going to pick a name for your manly bits, for God’s sake, choose something decent. ‘Ralph’ sounds like a man from the IT department.
This collection of ‘dirty’ excerpts runs the gamut – Georgette Heyer, Anaïs Nin, John Cleland, Jilly Cooper, to name just a few of the authors whose work appears in it – and, as such, caters to pretty much every taste. From the over-the-top soap opera sex of 80s Judith Krantz (Scruples) to the dark eroticism of Pauline Reage’s Story of O, Dirty Bits serves up a tasting menu of sex in literature and is perfect as means of steering you towards the books that do it for you and away from the ones that don’t.
The extract from Georgette Heyer’s Regency Buck with its smouldering, rakish hero, the Earl of Worth (a.k.a. Julian St John Audley), is toe-curlingly good. At the risk of sounding like a giddy thirteen-year-old, the guy is hot. He’s handsome. He’s arrogant. He’s dominating. He’s insolent. There’s not a single ‘traditional’ sex scene in the excerpt (or in the entire book for that matter) – the raciest it gets is a raised hem and a kiss in the back of a curricle-and-four – but the sexual frisson between him and Judith, the heroine, is brilliant. Reading this particular snippet sent me into something of a Heyer frenzy and I consumed a number of her Regency ton romances in short order after reading the Dirty Bits taster. A perfect and satisfying example of Alpha male versus feisty, spirited heroine, with sexual chemistry to boot.
John Cleland’s Fanny Hill was a welcome surprise. I’d not read Mr Cleland before picking up Dirty Bits and found his writing incredibly, incredibly sexy. His ability to describe prostitution in a way that is at once explicit and flowery is very impressive. No raw words, just some incredibly pretty euphemisms that somehow work without seeming silly: ‘downy spring-moss’, ‘luscious mouth of nature’, ‘pink slash in the glossiest white satin’. You absolutely know what he’s talking about (a bunch of men having sex with prostitutes in front of one another) but the detailed descriptions of the sexual act are artfully softened by his pretty turns of phrase.
For those of you who like it darker, the Story of O by Pauline Reage hasn’t lost any of its impact (no pun intended) since it was first published in the 1950s. This BDSM classic makes The Fifty Shades of Grey look like Enid Blyton and will either have you running for the hills or squirming deliciously in your seat. Blindfolds, cuffs, collars, whips, and multiple partners. Be warned. It’s dark.
Jilly Cooper’s Octavia and Anaïs Nin’s Delta of Venus also make welcome appearances in this anthology. (I’m going to talk about the incredibly sexy writing of Anaïs in another post but suffice to say her erotic short stories still feel contemporary and beautiful years after they were first written for a private collector for the bargain price of a dollar a page.)
I have to confess, I’m not a fan of everything in here. Time hasn’t changed my opinion, for example, of Judy Blume’s Forever, which has not improved, for me at least, since I read it at the tender age of ten (although I am pretty certain I’m in the minority). I remember forcing myself to slog through it because it was banned from the school library – half the parents had signed a petition to keep it from our young impressionable eyes – and being completely underwhelmed. It’s not that the writing is bad (it isn’t) but the whole penis-naming thing still strikes me as odd and contrived and I just can’t get past it. If you’re going to pick a name for your manly bits, for God’s sake, choose something decent. ‘Ralph’ sounds like a man from the IT department.
November 13, 2010
Well, only bits…only bits dirty and only bits good. Some were only horrible or stupid. It is a very individual collection of reads selected by the author, and I am honestly not sure I want to read any more from any of the works presented.
Oh, well, maybe it could be only with Erica Jong's "Fear of flying".
All of us had read forbidden books, and we don't need to be taught about it. It's always an individual experience. Maybe if I was 15 I would appreciated it more.
Oh, well, maybe it could be only with Erica Jong's "Fear of flying".
All of us had read forbidden books, and we don't need to be taught about it. It's always an individual experience. Maybe if I was 15 I would appreciated it more.
April 6, 2013
I really enjoyed this book. It was so interesting to read how erotic writing has changed through the decades and the different styles used in this genre. A hugely enjoyable read that l would fully recommend.
November 10, 2009
Got this for my girlfriend (now wife). It was useful, most useful
February 9, 2011
Found this in the YA section of my local library...
August 3, 2022
This was bought as a joke presents one Christmas when I was single. It’s taken me over ten years to get around to reading it.
I enjoyed the first story by georgette Heyer but the rest where all a bit miss for me. With out the story for context the glimpse where just ‘meh’ I don’t know I’d enjoy them if I read the novel (some I know I wouldn’t).
I’d guess if you are a teenager looking for some giggles (much as these stories where for the editor) you’d probably enjoy a lot more.
I am however going to read some more Georgette Heyer books.
I enjoyed the first story by georgette Heyer but the rest where all a bit miss for me. With out the story for context the glimpse where just ‘meh’ I don’t know I’d enjoy them if I read the novel (some I know I wouldn’t).
I’d guess if you are a teenager looking for some giggles (much as these stories where for the editor) you’d probably enjoy a lot more.
I am however going to read some more Georgette Heyer books.
August 20, 2017
This was a collection of someone's nostalgia clips of romance novels they read growing up. Also they are probably a decade or more older than me which was obvious in each piece. And so we totally didn't have the same taste. I didn't finish it and got rid of it.
January 4, 2025
I mean.... It's exactly what it says
November 12, 2016
For a more elaborate review, in Dutch, see No Dutch copy available: Fiction never translated into Dutch/Flemish
It might have (well, it most probably has) something to do with age, but The Dirty Bits for Girls was so very recognisable... :-)
Having spent my teenage years in the Netherlands, it struck me that my friends and I were strongly attracted to almost exactly the same titles India Knight mentions in her anthology, even though she grew up in England and I didn't. The nostalgia is probably part of the reason why I so much enjoyed reading The Dirty Bits for Girls ;-)
It might have (well, it most probably has) something to do with age, but The Dirty Bits for Girls was so very recognisable... :-)
Having spent my teenage years in the Netherlands, it struck me that my friends and I were strongly attracted to almost exactly the same titles India Knight mentions in her anthology, even though she grew up in England and I didn't. The nostalgia is probably part of the reason why I so much enjoyed reading The Dirty Bits for Girls ;-)
July 28, 2011
interesting and very hot!:))
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews