Interesting books in my stack

I get about ten books sent to me every week. I'm a slow reader, so I can't begin to get to them all. But I keep the ones that I hope to get to some day. Here are a few interesting ones in my ready-to-topple-over reading stack:

Teeny Bikini #4, by Robert Ullman. I actually did read this one already. It was easy, because it doesn't have any words, just wonderful little pencil sketches of cartoon cuties. I didn't see Issue #4 for sale on Rob's site, but you can buy earlier volumes there, along with other books and stickers.

Porn Soup, by Paul Krassner. This anthology of sex-related essays were written by Paul Krassner, the founder of The Realist and one of my cultural heroes. I've read a few of the pieces in here, and they're funny, profound, and revealing, which is what I've come to expect from Paul.
Essays include: Susie Bright Interviews Paul Krassner, Lenny Bruce Meets Blow Job Betty, In Praise of Indecency Masturbation Helper, The Man Behind The Aristocrats, Showing Pink, Pee-Wee Herman Meets Pete Townshend, Satirical Prophecy, The Marriage of Hip-Hop and Pornography, Porn and the Manson Murders, Rape and Porn, Bizarre Sexually Oriented Spam Subject Lines, Meet an FBI Porn Squad Agent, Remembering Pubic Hair, The Taste of Sperm, Disinformation Porn, Hobo Sex and Crack Whore Confessions, Eating Shit for Fun and Profit, Porn Dogs, "I Fuck Dead People," Porn Provides Product Placement, Addicted to Porn, Women and Porn.

Boy's Club 2, by Matt Furie. A comic book about the non-adventures of four post-adolescent, near-imbecilic, prank-playing, dope-smoking humanimals. I expect Judd Apatow will option this.

Doctor Olaf van Schuler's Brain, by Kirsten Menger-Anderson. I haven't started this novel, but it looks promising. The inside flap copy says it's about several generations of peculiar medical doctors, whose techniques involve spontaneous combustion, animal magnetism, phrenology, and lobotomies. I'm going to sneak this one higher up on my stack.

Porn & Pong: How Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and other Sexy Games Changed Our Culture, by Damon Brown. This one has a cover by our pal Coop, and was published by our pals at Feral House. Looking forward to reading this one, too. From the jacket copy: When the VCR first became commonly available, and the modern porn industry’s sales skyrocketed, Atari systems, with their phallic joysticks, also seized the American mind. In Porn and Pong, Playboy journalist Damon Brown reveals how these businesses have blossomed, intersected and affected our culture.

[#1 posted by mcscruffington , September 19, 2008 3:58 PM]

Hmm.. there seems to be an overarching theme here... You will have the most epic stash to hand over to your son one day, Mark.

[#2 posted by Anonymous , September 19, 2008 4:10 PM]

Simply HAM-tastic!

[#3 posted by knowles , September 19, 2008 4:33 PM]

feels good man

[#4 posted by wolfiesma , September 19, 2008 6:21 PM]

Wait, the early Atari joystick was a phallic symbol? But... I was just a kid!

[#5 posted by mrmuggles , September 19, 2008 7:37 PM]

Are you receiving all those books because of this blog? Or because of another "kind" of blog that we don't know about? :P

[#6 posted by Chuck , September 19, 2008 7:47 PM]

Aw ... terrific. Now that I've seen that last cover, it'll be weeks before I evict the image of her using a joystick as a strap-on. (And the fanboys line up around the corner.:-P)

[#7 posted by Tavie , September 19, 2008 8:28 PM]

Huh-huh. Boobies. Huh-huh-huh.

[#8 posted by Stefan Jones , September 19, 2008 10:19 PM]

#5: Mark has a book review blog that isn't updated nearly as often as it should!

http://madprofessor.net/

[#9 posted by Peter in Japan , September 20, 2008 3:17 AM]

I happen to be the #1 publisher of adult PC games (see http://www.jastusa.com). Bummer the publisher of that last book didn't know about the Japanese dating-sims or talk to me about them for the book.

[#10 posted by frankiez , September 20, 2008 6:21 AM]

@ Peter

You are right. The author doesn't even know that there is a billion dollars "sexy" game business in Japan. Who asked him to write a book about sex and videogames?!

Of course he doesn't know that the first videogames produced by ENIX (SquareEnix) back in the 80s are sexy/erotic games! Let alone that there are "things" like bishoujo, hentai, yaoii, bishonen...

But, afterall, the cover of the book is nice ^_^

[#11 posted by browndamon , September 20, 2008 9:59 AM]

Mark, thank you so much for the book mention!

FrankieZ, there is an entire Porn & Pong chapter on Japanese games. It begins with Enix's "Night Life". I hope you get a opportunity to read it.

Peter, I totally respect your perspective on the book. If you had an opportunity to read your early copy, you understand that the emphasis is on America, not on Japan, and, as with most writers, I always feel as though I could have gone deeper - even after lots of research! I apologize for any exclusion, and, as you may have read, I include you, your website and some of your wise words from previous interviews in the Japan chapter, "Otaku".

[#12 posted by Anonymous , September 20, 2008 10:02 AM]

So poor Lara had to undress completely to make the cover? What a tragic fate for a heroine. Fortunately kids these days aren't interested in "sexy" games, but good games. If they want porn they find it on the net. That is, if they can spell "boobs".

[#13 posted by kaiza , September 20, 2008 9:46 PM]

Feels good man.

[#14 posted by eschatonik , September 21, 2008 8:24 AM]

"Clam Lappers" and "Sonic Hedgehog". That was one weekend. That was EASTER weekend.

[#15 posted by RUllman , September 21, 2008 5:06 PM]

Thanks a million for the mention, kind sir! And keep your eyes peeled, #5 is on it's way!

[#16 posted by Kat Johnston , September 21, 2008 9:10 PM]

Love the book tastes! I'd most happily find a way to squeeze those few onto my own shelves somewhere. *sighs* I'm running out of book-shelf space again...

[#17 posted by william , September 29, 2008 3:37 PM]

I see that Doctor Olaf Van Schuler's Brain just became available for sale on Amazon.