Fifty Shades of Grey

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Stinkin' Fascist
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Re: Fifty Shades of Grey

Post by Stinkin' Fascist »

Yeah what you say is true, but unfortunately book fans, like many on here that prefer more classic or "real" literature do not have everyone else's tastes. For all we know half of the women reading books along the lines of these three are english teachers or actually read pride and prejudice, or some other sort of book that's a bit more... refined, and this is just their guitly pleasure. For some it's ice cream, for others it could be poorly written books. It is sad that it seems so many cheap things are taking over the greats, but that's just how it goes. Doesn't mean something good can't still happen from it, you're right, maybe these books are encouraging more reading and that's great in itself. But what can I say, that's why I read what I do, you read what you enjoy most, and they read whatever pleases them. So long as we're all happy.
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Post by mspjmunoz »

I recently caved in to all the hype and got these books on my kindle. I read through all three of them in a week. The writing was pretty simple. On occasion, I admit, that I was reduced to checking my dictionary/thesaurus for some words that the author just threw in there haphazardly. They didn't seem to fit with the rest of the simpler text. The email/text exchanges that took up so much space in the books were odd, though I admit that it's probably pretty common in current new relationships. In the beginning the erotic scenes were just that, erotic... but eventually it just became repetitive and detracted from the rest of the story. The subplots of the books, had they been developed better, would have vastly improved the books, in my opinion. The BDSM aspect of the book has made it such a hot talking point, thus propelling the books into the media, but seemed to be a total farce in the end. If that was the core subject of the book that you were most interested in, I would gladly recommend Anne Rice's Sleeping Beauty series before this one every time.
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Post by Maud Fitch »

There's been a lot of hype about FSoG breaking records; here's some facts from my local librarian and Wikipedia:

Fifty Shades Of Grey: "The series has sold 40 million copies worldwide, with book rights having been sold in 37 countries, and set the record as the fastest-selling paperback of all time, surpassing the Harry Potter series."

Harry Potter: "As of June 2011, the book series has sold about 450 million copies, making it the best-selling book series in history and has been translated into 67 languages, and the last four books consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history."

The three FSoG books in the series were only released in paperback, however, all the Harry Potters were released in both hardcover and paperback. Sales of Harry Potter are still ten times the sales of Fifty Shades Of Grey. I bet Harry Potter will be around a lot longer, too.
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Post by jennifersmith326 »

I am having the hardest time getting in to these books.
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Post by becky119 »

I just went through and read every single reply in this thread and was quite entertained. I think that a lot of people have very good points about the books, both the pros and the cons. Here is my opinion:

The Fifty Shades of Grey series is worth reading, but it is not something that I am going to read over and over. It was a nice indulgence, simple writing I'll agree, but it wasn't terrible. I enjoy reading books from all different genres. Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Sophie Kinsella, Christopher Pike, Charlotte Bronte, Charlaine Harris, Laurell K. Hamilton, Margaret Atwood...just some of my favorite authors. My two favorite books would have to be "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte and "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith. The Fifty Shades series is never going to be a classic. It is a fun read. I read a funny quote refering to the series "Women won't watch porn, but they'll read the s**t out of it".

I would not recommend this book to everyone partly because of its taboo nature. I'm not going to lend the book to my 97 year old Grandma for example, that is just weird. But I'll recommend it to my girlfriends looking for a beach read. Sometimes it's nice to have a simple read. Sometimes it's nice to read something a little naughty. :wink:
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Post by primrose777 »

I saw a funny segment on a morning show yesterday about 50 shades of grey.
They had put out a male version of 50 shades of grey....
A paint chart with... 50 shades of grey. I had a laugh.
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Post by Fran »

primrose777 wrote:I saw a funny segment on a morning show yesterday about 50 shades of grey.
They had put out a male version of 50 shades of grey....
A paint chart with... 50 shades of grey. I had a laugh.
Someone emailed that one to me too :lol: :lol: :lol:
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mattjo1

Post by mattjo1 »

I would never read the first page of this junk. It should not even be considered a "novel". It should be considered as a contest piece for a high school.
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Post by Beff With An F »

I have heard a lot of opinions on the book. Haven't not read it, I can't really comment in my own voice, though I an not inclined to read it. I have heard that it is not particularly feminist friendly. x)
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Post by cuddles203 »

I must say i do love these books have read them twice. Will read them again soon i think. Just sucked me in big time. :D
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Post by redibrd »

Maybe we can all agree to disagree. I've read the books and yes, I liked them. Maybe my reading taste is simpler than some of you... I've not read Wuthering Heights...I tried when I was a teen, in my 20's, in my 30's and even in my 40's...nope can't do it! Same with The Hobbit. Does that make me a bad reader? I think not.

Most adults know the difference between real life and fiction. This is a work of fiction and yes, Gray is "the man of many girls' dreams". Whatever, no such man around like Gray. The sex...some was graphic, some so so. I didn't read the series for the sex, I started reading to find out what all the hype was about and then got involved with the anticipation of how the characters would become compatible for each other.

To each his own. Read what you like, like what you read, and if you don't like it, don't read it. No need to criticize those who did read this series.
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Post by red3devil »

redibrd wrote:Maybe we can all agree to disagree. I've read the books and yes, I liked them. Maybe my reading taste is simpler than some of you... I've not read Wuthering Heights...I tried when I was a teen, in my 20's, in my 30's and even in my 40's...nope can't do it! Same with The Hobbit. Does that make me a bad reader? I think not.

Most adults know the difference between real life and fiction. This is a work of fiction and yes, Gray is "the man of many girls' dreams". Whatever, no such man around like Gray. The sex...some was graphic, some so so. I didn't read the series for the sex, I started reading to find out what all the hype was about and then got involved with the anticipation of how the characters would become compatible for each other.

To each his own. Read what you like, like what you read, and if you don't like it, don't read it. No need to criticize those who did read this series.
I totally agree with this!
Every person is different and everybody has a different "taste" for books!
I don't trash books I don't like.

Yeas I read it and I like it!I Also read To kill a mockingbird and I like it! I also read Steven Jobs biography and I liked and so on! "50 shades of books" :)

About the book,yes it is about the sex but is also about two people that love each other,it is about very bad childhood and dealing with very traumatic memories and about getting to the point of happily ever after!
I got to love them both and yeah I cannot wait for the new couple from EJ JAmes!
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Post by DustyDiamond23 »

I have recently read the seris and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed them when I thought that I wouldn't - not for the fact of being a prude but sheerly because I had heard that they were written poorly. I would tend to agree that some of the vocabulary was a bit cringeworthy at times and it wasn't the best written piece of work but I still thought they were worth a read!

There were times when it was a case of 'oh dear god not again!' but there was still a plot there, a fairly easy read plot i'll grant you but a plot none the less. I think as a general rule unless you have read the books you can't really slate them. There are a lot of people out there that haven't read them but are more than willing to give their none too complimentry opinion about the series.

I do think there is a small amount of literature in there if you look past the sex. I think people are hung up on that too much. It's sex, get over it and read the book!!

I thought E L Jmaes did a fabulous job of creating a fantasy that a lot of women have and making into a best seller! I would love to see other amatuer writers who have slated her do the same! All in all I think you have to read it to make your own judgement but I enjoyed them and would - and have - recommend the series to anyone!
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Post by Fran »

DustyDiamond23 wrote:I have recently read the seris and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed them when I thought that I wouldn't - not for the fact of being a prude but sheerly because I had heard that they were written poorly. I would tend to agree that some of the vocabulary was a bit cringeworthy at times and it wasn't the best written piece of work but I still thought they were worth a read!

There were times when it was a case of 'oh dear god not again!' but there was still a plot there, a fairly easy read plot i'll grant you but a plot none the less. I think as a general rule unless you have read the books you can't really slate them. There are a lot of people out there that haven't read them but are more than willing to give their none too complimentry opinion about the series.

I do think there is a small amount of literature in there if you look past the sex. I think people are hung up on that too much. It's sex, get over it and read the book!!

I thought E L Jmaes did a fabulous job of creating a fantasy that a lot of women have and making into a best seller! I would love to see other amatuer writers who have slated her do the same! All in all I think you have to read it to make your own judgement but I enjoyed them and would - and have - recommend the series to anyone!
IMO it's really a marketing dept. achievement aided by a gullible public of course :roll:
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A world is born again that never dies.
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Post by icy-toes »

My very short opinion of the series - I started to read them out of curiosity, laughed a LOT in the beginning, then kind of got into the story.
It didn't suck, it was entertaining, it didn't get me aroused. It had kind of a sweet love story underneath.

That said, if you've read the Twilight books, you've read these, except they got rid of Jacob and added some sex instead.
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