One of my favorite annual literary awards is the Bad Sex Award offered each year to the novel with the most howlingly bad descriptions of sex. Often, they are so filled with overripe metaphors that it's hard to tell if they're supposed to be sexy or not (how is one to react, for instance, to "nipples like delicate forest mushrooms"?).
The Guardian's website has the shortlist in all its eye-rolling glory:
The winner, by the way, was recently announced as the late Norman Mailer for his Hitler's-parents-are-driven-to-sex-by-demons scene from The Castle in the Forest.
