Despite the progression of sexual politics over the past few decades, there’s still a heady stigma surrounding kink and/or fetish. Jillian Keenan, a Shakespeare fanatic who happens to inhabit that particular identity, is still working through that stigma both externally and within. Sex with Shakespeare is the story of that journey, as she uses the Bard’s work to interrogate her sadomasochism while also putting a fresh lens on some of fiction’s most iconic characters. Equal parts compelling memoir, Shakespeare analysis, and treatise on kink, Sex with Shakespeare isn’t only the most surprising book of 2016, it’s also my favorite.