Okay work has been busy and life has been busy, but really... how it it July already? In 2012, I mean.
For the two people that ever look at this blog, apologies for once again going weeks without writing... life gets in the way of our best intentions, doesn't it.
I have finished reading Blockade Billy by Stephen King and Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah, as well as two more volumes of the Walking Dead graphic novel series that Robert Kirkman writes. All were interesting and had some good moments. The Stephen King book is staying, Kristin Hannah goes to whomever wants it (takers?), and the graphic novels are going on loan to another nurse on my unit at the hospital.
Really, it's just way more fun to write about books that I don't like.
Which brings me to Fifty Shades of Grey, the uber-popular first book in the Fifty Shades trilogy, penned by E.L. James. E.L. James began this series as Twilight fan fiction of a (far) more adult nature, and then it got really popular online, so she edited it and published it and it got to be a huge hit. (At least that's what I understand.)
Now, I haven't read any of the Twilight novels. I don't even want to, even a little bit, especially after reading Fifty Shades of Grey. The only thing I think Fifty Shades has going for it is some decently written sex scenes (by no means all of the sex scenes even qualify as "decently written," though). Everything else about it is uber-annoying, in particular the main characters, Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele.
Christian: he's a super rich, super damaged person (apparently), who is very into being a Dominant in the sense of consensual sado-masochistic sex. He's not interested in any other kind of relationship with a woman. And he won't let Ana touch his upper body for some reason. But at least he's up front about what he requires in a relationship. He's also annoyingly controlling, especially about Ana and what she eats (what woman can resist being repeatedly told to eat all their food?), and about... well, kind of about everything.
Ana: Oh lord, where to even start with this woman. She's 22, graduating from college, and she's not only a virgin who has never even been curious enough to masturbate, but she's never been attracted to any man before she met Christian.
Now... I know very well that there are 7 billion people on the planet and we are all different, but really... that just seems crazy to me. But okay.
I would have less of a quarrel with the story if it wasn't badly written, poorly edited, and sometimes inadvertently hilarious. There's a sex scene in which Christian takes off his watch and his jacket (I'm with you so far, Ms. James), but then the text specifies that he takes off his socks "individually." First of all, this is a sex scene and there is just nothing sexy about men's socks. I'm sorry, I don't want to hear about them in this context. I've been around the socks that men have been wearing all day. Please don't write about them in a sex scene.
Secondly... how else would one take off their socks? Go put some socks on. Now try to remove them "individually..." that is how you always do it, right? Put them back on. Try removing them simultaneously. It's not even sexy in a funny way... you just look like an idiot. Now put your socks in the laundry and forget you ever tried this experiment.
There's a series of hot sex scenes toward the middle of the book that take place over the course of two or three days... which would work better if in the text, Christian hadn't just had Ana examined by a gynecologist right before all the sexual activity starts. I know there are a lot of different people on this planet, and I'm not shocked or whatever by the S&M content in this book, but I do not even want to understand a woman who feels like having a lot of sex right after a pelvic exam.
The upside of this book is that some friends and I have had some great laughs while looking through it. It's also a fast read. I actually have a short list of friends who want to borrow it now that I'm finished with it, so I don't have to feel like it's going to stay in my house forever, taking up space. AND, if I want extra lolz, there is a blogger called Jennifer Armintrout who has read through the entire series (I think) and hilariously complained about each chapter:
http://jenniferarmintrout.blogspot.com/p/jen-reads-50-shades-of-grey.html?zx=bf3a8545c6541106
And... that is it. Fifty Shades isn't good, but it is kind of in the So Bad It's Good category, at least if you are paging through it with hilarious people.
It's not going to stay in my permanent collection, but I'm not sorry I read it. I am somewhat disturbed by the occasional Facebook posts from my friends, wishing they would find their own Christian Grey. But hey, maybe we just have really different tastes in men.
The next book I'll be finishing is Dean Koontz's Brother Odd. I have a feeling I will be blogging about it in the near future.
