I love reading. I might love it more than orgasms, sleeping or eating. And I will read anything, high or low, because I’ve enjoyed “smart books” like Katharine Graham’s autobiography as much as “trashy books” like The Other Boleyn Sister. I just can’t stand people who get on their high horse and sniff that a 10th grader could have written Twilight. It was a good read—who cares?

I’ve read two novels by Jodi Picoult—My Sister’s Keeper and Nineteen Minutes—which were both three-hanky reads about suburban families with troubled kids (cancer in one, a school shooting in another). But NPR has a different perspective on the Picoult oeuvre.

Not long ago, I met a guy that reminded me of that sexy NPR storyteller Ira Glass. Instantly, I fell in nerd-love with this doppelganger. After dating for a while, though, we realized we had only one thing in common: sex. So we decided to be friends with benefits. According to a Michigan State University study, sixty-percent of college co-eds have been involved in an FWB relationship, and plenty of my thirty-something girlfriends were doing it to stay satisfied, so I figured I’d give the laid back, no-romantic-attachments approach to getting laid a whirl. A year later, faux-Ira and I still hang out and hump. After our most recent rendezvous last weekend, I began to wonder what I’m doing. What are the real benefits to friends with benefits? Sure, now I have an in-case-of-sexual-emergency-hit-Glass-lookalike. At the same time, I’ve started to realize my situation is causing me to question the meaning of friendship, challenging my chances at romances, and wobbling my emotional stability.

On Showtime’s This American Life, NPR’s Robert Krulwich and his wife tell the same story but disagree on a few key factors, including whether Robert was actually present when his wife had an encounter with Jackie Onassis. Sometimes couples disagreeing can be cute, especially when they’re represented in cartoon form. My favorite part might be when they go from the present to a flashback and lose about 20 pounds off their round behinds. [This American Life via MentalFloss.com]

This Sunday night, Ira Glass is coming back to my place…through my cable provider.  From behind the desk of his NPR radio show, Glass sweet talked himself and his stories into our hearts. Now with his highly anticipated Showtime series about to start its second season, he is the face of modern American mythology and revolutionary reality television. When he took to the stage last night in New York City to boldly go where no man had gone before—doing This American Life live and via national simulcast, the sexy storyteller seduced the audience with his casual charm, quick wit, and signature tight grey suit. Our Emily and I giggled and cheered like he was a Beatle along with the gaggle of other horn-rimmed-glasses-groupies. And from what we saw of the show, the new season looks as smart and as good as the man himself!

Polyester isn’t just a fashion faux pas, it also makes you un-effable, as researcher Mary Roach writes in her new history book Bonk: The Curious Couple of Science and Sex. She has compiled interesting studies from the 19th century up until today, including one from Egypt, which found lab rats in polyester pants had less sex than their cotton-covered counterparts. So while the ‘70s were swinging, she actually credits the ‘20s flappers for the American sexual revolution. “There were sex manuals at the time that were encouraging women to try being on top,” Roach reminds us. And my how we are now!  From Kinsey’s research to Castro’s butt hole, Ms. Roach’s book approaches accounts of sexual experiments with an irreverent, albeit scientific, flair. While she laments that much remains unknown about the physiological ins and outs of sex, Roach took the research into her own, er,  hands , nd this book is still sure to teach you a thing or two. [NPR and Amazon]

Every woman loves a smooth talker, but no man appreciates a stalker- especially Garrison Keillor. The author, musician, storyteller, and host of NPR’s variety radio show A Prairie Home Companion can now add sex symbol to his resume. The generous gentleman just dropped a restraining order against a woman who wouldn’t stop sending him care packages filled with love tokens like dead beetles and an alligator foot.  The crazy companion-ophile agreed to back off the radio star and let the rest of the animals in American live, although she plans to work on a book about how she believes, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, “she and Keillor influenced each other’s creative process.” Now this gal is nuttier than a couple months worth of on-air fundraising drives! Perhaps instead of their usual radio pitches, NPR could take a cue from their fans and the firemen and make a Hot Men of Public Radio Calendar. We’re sure a shirtless Ira Glass would bring in the big bucks! [TMZ]