Ready for hot, steamy stories from..Thoman Mann? (Yes, that Thomas Mann)

Billy Collins: A boy went to camp and made a plastic lanyard for his mother. You may not have been That Kid, but bad you if you don't read this poem. - May 5, 2008 - Dear Friends, I've never read "Buddenbrooks" (736 pages). Ditto "The Magic Mountain" (720 pages). And though I was once young and clear-eyed, I never even tackled "Doctor Faustus" (544 pages). But I didn't want to face the Lord of Literature at the Library in the Clouds without having read Thomas Mann, so I picked up a copy of "Death in Venice and Seven Other Stories" --- a snip at 400 pages. Still not Mitch Albom, but I figured I didn't need to read all eight stories to get a feel for Mann. I read all eight stories. Literary excellence and cultural relevance may not be enough to convince you to read these stories. Try this: Three of them provide the kind of pleasure not regularly available. They're dirty. Hot. Sick. Do I have your attention? Then please click to the site and read on. Reading before Tuesday noon? Click here. Reading after Tuesday noon? Click here. -- Jesse Kornbluth, for HeadButler.com