Bibliosmut

Neon Memes • My pulse jumped. My rate of respiration rose noticeably. And something like an animal growl sounded low in my throat. The latest Playboy? A discreet delivery from SugarDVD? The newest shipment from the Kink of the Month Klub? Well, no―the 2008 holiday sale catalog from Oxford University Press. The U.S.P.S. delivered that catalog a few days back, and to a card-carrying bookworm like me, its 32 full-color pages border on porn. Oxford University Press, of course, has long ranked among the world's preeminent publishers of reference and scholarly volumes―feel free to verify that fact using Google―and the catalog in question features sweet deals on titles like The Oxford Style Manual (discounted from $49.95 to $20) and The Oxford English Grammar (discounted from $59.95 to $26.95). It also seethes with cheap sex. Um...I mean sets. Sets. The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts in two volumes, discounted to $125. (Oh!) The Oxford History of Western Music in six volumes, discounted to $489.30. (Oh, God!) The Oxford English Dictionary in 20 volumes, discounted to $895. (Oh, sweet Jesus!) And...um...so forth. (Got a cigarette?) ―Bryan A. Hollerbach, Managing Editor