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Sugary Soup The original Chicken Soup for the Soul so appealed to a nation bred on Reader's Digest that golfers, Christians and mothers now enjoy their own soul-soothing stories. The latest addition to this schmaltzy series, Chicken Soup for the Couple's Soul (Health Communications Inc., 372 pages, $12.95), is perhaps more palatable because waxing sentimental about love is acceptable. The book mixes celebrity accounts of romance (Charlton Heston recalls how he met his wife of 50 years, Christopher Reeve recounts his wife's response to his accident, Ekaterina Gordeeva details losing her Sergei) with relationship experts' tales and advice. The Couple's Soul is at its best when employed as a read-aloud-in-bed-with-your-partner book: Touching stories about true love make great foreplay. Many of the narratives are undeniably saccharine, but certain vignettes are as meaningful as that point of deepest penetration. Don't expect any tales of homosexual relationships or unhappy endings; the accounts are as old-fashioned as George Burns' love for Gracie Allen. (CM) The Joy of Licking If chef Julia Child and director Adrian Lyne (91/2 Weeks, Lolita) got together to make a chocolate sauce that could be applied to either the cold curves of a dish of ice cream or the dishy curves of an ice princess, the result would be Chocoholics Body Frosting ($9.99 for an 11-ounce jar at the Crimson Phoenix, 1876 SW 5th Ave., 228-0129). The low-fat treat comes with a list of serving suggestions like fruit, ice cream, coffee and cake, but the directions read as follows: "Undress completely. Apply Body Frosting. Be creative. Use a little on special places. Or use a lot. It all depends on the appetite of your guest. Serve warm." While these instructions are certainly cute, I would suggest caution unless you really lust after chocolate; it ain't called Chocoholics for nothing. The sauce provides great comic relief: Just try to keep a straight face while brown swatches spread across your lover's face and body. At the end of one of these desserts, you'll both look as if you've had a randy roll in the hay, the bushes, the shrubs and just about every other earthy place. (MM) Intergalactic Gender War Straight out of John Gray's sexual-stereotype empire comes the new interplanetary board game Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus ($40 at the Game Keeper, 12000 SE 82nd Ave., 794-1759). To foster gender divisiveness, teams are same-sex, not mixed. The game's contents include a red "cone"-shaped playing piece for men and a teal hourglass for women--as if men belong with an oblong organ and women are built to bear children. Players advance by answering multiple-choice questions from categories like Communication, Gender Benders, In the Flesh and Island Fantasies; points are scored by guessing how a person will answer a given question. The teams start from their respective planets, and the one that reaches earth first wins. During a recent round, it took only three turns for the female participants to get over their initial cynicism and listen courteously to each other's opinions on true love. The men, on the other hand, got drunk and debated how best to win the game. Which just goes to show that no matter how many relationship remedies Gray pushes, the sexes will not be reconciled. (DS)
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