Plot: Young woman, seeking to prove her love, submits to her master's every whim. Goes to finishing school, literally, accepting death as the ultimate submission.

Why it's on the list: In 1954, this book touched a nerve, tapping into a deep female instinct to surrender, to submit. It created a genre called "château porn" -- the kind of play enjoyed by nobility, with fashion sense and lots of free time. S&M had a clear-cut script, with well-defined roles for all the participants. Not the messy fumblings of simple lust. Millions of cows died to supply the whips and restraints that this book made popular. It still smokes the charts on Amazon.

Excerpt: Then they made O get up and were on the verge of untying her, probably in order to attach her to some pole or wall, when someone protested that he wanted to take her first, right there on the spot. So they made her kneel down again, this time with her bust on an ottoman, her hands still tied behind her, with her hips higher than her torso. Then one of the men, holding her with both his hands on her hips, plunged into her belly. He yielded to a second. The third wanted to force his way into the narrower passage and, driving hard, made her scream. When he let her go, sobbing and befouled by tears beneath her blindfold, she slipped to the floor, only to feel someone's knees against her face, and she realized that her mouth was not to be spared.