The Whole Damn Meal: Sexy Fruits on Book Covers
It’s so fun to observe book cover trends as they’re unfolding. There are so many examples lately: realistic illustrated covers in young adult, books with books on the cover, self-help books with the author on the cover, and, of course, the book blob. One trend I’ve seen spiking in the last few years is an absolute delight: sexy fruits on book covers!
In the 2000s there were endless sex guidebooks with sexy fruits on the covers, all with wonderfully hilarious titles like Tickle His Pickle, She Comes First, and Passionista, but those aren’t what we’re looking at today. Recent sexy fruit books cover the gamut of genre and audience, and usually don’t have blatant innuendo like Tickle His Pickle.
The more interesting book covers are the ones with the sexily suggestive fruits on the covers of books that aren’t shelved in the sexuality or erotica sections. The memoirs, thrillers, and poetry that have strangely erotic fruits emblazoned on the covers are the ones to make you take a second look and pick it up to read the synopsis or first few pages.
Dive into these books with sexy fruits on the covers with me. Hopefully you’ll find your next great read — or at least have a hankering to snack on something healthy.
Sexy Fruits on Book Covers
Anonymous Sex Edited by Hillary Jordan and Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
Don’t you love a strawberry that has a little butt? It’s a perfect choice for this anthology of erotica from some of today’s biggest writers — including Louise Erdrich, Chigozie Obioma, Rebecca Makkai, and Helen Oyeyemi — except these stories have no bylines. Anonymous Sex is a collection of stories about sex in all its forms, from obsession to love and everything in between.
Revenge by Yoko Ogawa, Translated by Stephen Snyder
There’s something unsettling about someone who slices a strawberry in half and takes a tiny bite out of the top. It’s fitting for Yoko Ogawa’s eerie novel about a cast of strangers and their associations with death and the afterlife.
Queer Latinidad: Identity Practices, Discursive Spaces by Juana Maria Rodriguez
Ah, the papaya. Nearly as universal a symbol for sexuality as the pomegranate. Queer Latinidad is Juana María Rodríguez’s opus on queer identity as it relates to Latinos/as in the United States. She focuses on how Latine identities are transformed by language, law, and culture, and draws from her own life to show how this identity fits within the framework of representation and sexuality.
Museum of Ice Cream by Jenna Clake
Here’s a little cutie for ya. Jenna Clake’s poetry collection Museum of Ice Cream is a stunner about food and the societal norms that surround our public and private snacks. It’s a deep meditation on life itself and the human interactions that sustain us all.
Flavor: The Science of Our Most Neglected Sense by Bob Holmes
This juicy cover pairs so well with the topic at hand: what is flavor? Bob Holmes dives into the fascinating world of taste and flavor, showcasing how the other senses guide the tongue in deducing flavor profiles. Flavor is a riveting scientific look at how we describe — or can’t describe — how flavor really works.
New Animal by Ella Baxter
Amelia Aurelia is trying to find her place in the world. Her closest confidant is her mother, and when she passes suddenly, Amelia is left reeling. She flees her family’s mortuary business — she’s the cosmetic mortician — for Tasmania and joins a BDSM community. New Animal is a strange, moving novel, and has one of the best sexy fruit book covers, if you ask me.
This Is How You Vagina: All About Your Vajayjay and Why You Probably Shouldn’t Call It That by Nicole E. Williams
Oh, hello, sexy peach. In This Is How You Vagina, Dr. Nicole Williams is here to present the whole history and science of the vagina, from sexual function to childbirth. She answers frequently asked questions and debunks common myths about the most misunderstood part of anatomy. And, most importantly, reminds readers that, yes, your anatomy is most likely normal.
Talking to My Tatas: All You Need to Know from a Breast Cancer Researcher and Survivor by Dana Brantley-Sieders
These lemon titties are so clever. Dana Brantley-Sieders was a biomedical breast cancer researcher for 20 years when she got her breast cancer diagnosis. She assumed she knew it all, but it turns out that the experience is vastly different from the science. Talking to My Tatas is her story, full of humor and empathy.
Available: A Memoir of Heartbreak, Hookups, Love and Brunch by Matteson Perry
When Matteson Perry gets his heart broken by the woman he believed was The One, he makes a plan to change his ways. He’s going to spend a year single, date a lot of women, and hurt no one’s feelings. Available is the tale of that year, full of weird dates and awkward texts and self-discovery. It’s only fitting that a book about dating in the internet era has the eggplant emoji on the cover.
Black Cherry: A Black Lesbian Anthology Edited by L.M. Bennett
Of course an anthology of stories and poems about love and lust from queer Black writers would have some sexy fruit on the cover. This collection is steamy and moving.
There were so many more sexy fruits on book covers, but these are my favorites! Here’s hoping for even more in the future.
