The Five Sexiest Writers of 2009

Read any good books lately? It's the end of the year, which means all the blogs are putting out their lists of sexiest female bloggers, but *yawn* we've heard it before. We wanted to present to you some gorgeous ladies who've actually been published, in like, you know, print. Remember that form? Our five favorite story-weavers of 2009 below.

• Belle de Jour/Dr Brooke Magnanti: When Secret Diaries Of A Call Girl first came out, we didn't pay very much attention. Another autobiographical account glamorizing the sex trade as some trendy, Carrie Bradshaw-esque empowerment b.s.? Whatever. The Showtime series wasn't so great either. But then, twists of twists, the pseudonymous author Belle de Jour revealed herself to be British research scientist Dr Brooke Magnanti back in November, and explained she had spent time as a high-class prostitute to fund her PhD studies. And you know what? That is sexy.


• Sheila McClear: The former Gawker editor who just struck a book deal about her short stint as one of the last Time Square peep show girls, McClear is a far cry from the twee Diablo Cody, though we could see where you would get that comparison from.


• Fan Wu: The Chinese-American novelists second book, Beautiful as Yesterday, was one of the top 50 notable books of the year, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. To be honest we haven't read the story of "the consequences of trapping one family between two nations," but after checking out the author, we might just pick up a copy.


• Ellen Kennedy: If you haven't heard of Sometimes My Heart Pushes My Ribs, we won't hold it against you. But if you don't know about Ellen Kennedy, CEO of ass hi books and all around brilliant sex writer, then shame on you.


• Sarah Palin: Oh come on, we just had to. Even if she didn't actually write Going Rogue, she gets a special mention on this list just for being, well, the beauty queen almost-ran of 2009. It's our little consolation prize for not being VP.