Fifty Shades of Grey

I'm not even sure how to begin this post, the one where I explain my thoughts on a wildly popular erotic novel... Well, perhaps first I should explain why I picked it up: I've heard so much buzz about Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James that I was beyond curious. I put the book on hold back in May but there were so many requests for the novel that I waited over two months, so I pressed on when I began reading and was turned off by the writing and the slow beginning. (One of the things I read about the book [from someone who put it down] was that it should have been called "Fifty Shades of Boring" and I had to agree.) The book is not immediately compelling, but once I continued--largely out of intrigue as to what was behind the hype--I got hooked.

I've come to understand that when a book is wildly popular and generates so much attention, it has some redeeming quality, even if it also has major shortcomings. I read something that said that this is your run-of-the-mill mature romance novel, but I have so much ignorance in the genre that I don't have anything to compare it to but I'll admit I enjoyed getting lost in the drama of 'will she win his heart?' (not to mention the heart pounding sex scenes).

It's funny because I kept thinking "She totally went off the Twilight series for her inspiration" and had a list of similarities, then I read I was mostly right about this as it all started as fan fiction featuring Bella and Edward. (She did a poor job of trying to create new characters, in my opinion. They are thinly veiled versions of Bella and Edward.) 

I'm hungry for the next installment, to see what happens with Ana and Christian, but am taking a break for now. I feel the need to read at least a couple quality novels for the sake of balance before even putting the next book on hold. Eventually though, I'll read the whole series.