Fifty Shades of Grey Book Club

Los Angeles, California


It's still spring, people! Ok so, for those of you who know me, I thought you'd get a big LOL out of this post title. For those of you who don't, and were actually expecting to find a circle of people here who appreciate that (or those) silly book(s), let me write this about that: You are SO barking up the wrong bedpost!


Don't get me wrong -- I read this book. Once it actually hit the shelves at Barnes and Noble (and then I saw it being sold to the masses at Costco), I had to read it, even though I knew it was The Bridges of Madison County all over again. I've always rather nastily enjoyed the memory of some of the people who gushed to me about TBoMC, trying to back-pedal when they figured out which way the wind was blowing about it. But, when a book that is so excoriated in the reviews does this well, it makes me curious. I even finished it. But I complained to my hairstylist, Bridgette, about it. She was the first person I knew who had actually read it. Before her, it was only a lot of chatter on radio and online. The sex is more or less always the same, was one of the comments I made to Bridgette. No it's not, she said. He flips her over every now and then. I also complained to my frister, Lydia (known in these parts by her monogram: LOL): The writing is terrible. She responded that the writing in books like this is never good. It's erotica! She reminded me. What about Henry Miller? And D.H. Lawrence? They got pretty hot, and still, still they refrained themselves from writing pithy phrases like: Oh my!


The set-up is an obvious play on the Austin/Bronte school of innocent lass (virgin! Yes, a college graduate virgin. Really? Really?!?) who encounters a man with a dark side. In fact, the description of Christian Grey with his auburn hair, sounds a bit like Colin Firth to me. But that could just be me. I tend to plug in the image of Colin Firth wherever I can. But I digress. Considering the possibilities with this premise, it, unfortunately, missed its opportunity to be campy. Don't know if it's still in print, but Terry Southern's Candy was a very funny send-up; an erotic novel which made the rounds when I was in junior high school, spending much of its time between the mattress and box springs in many of our homes.


Truth is, as I told Stella, a young clerk at Barnes and Noble, you can learn a lot from a bad book. And stop snickering -- I'm talking about writing. A really well-written book can seem daunting to your writing skills. But a badly-written one is like a handbook for what not to do. She was smart enough to not start her book with it was a dark and stormy night. Although, frankly, that might have been a step in the right direction.


But who am I to argue with twenty million copies sold in the USA alone? Especially since I bought one of them, which has since gone out of the house (into the hands of one of my fristers). It puts one solidly in mind of Henry Mencken's quote: No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. Still, if you want to go with the popular heavy-hitters I'm all for reading the Harry Potter books. They are fun, funny, and increasingly complex. I miss them, and am greatly looking forward to Harry growing to middle-age and then being portrayed in a next round of films by . . . you guessed it . . . Colin Firth. Holy Thunderbolt! I think I'm on to something here!! Thanks for reading my blog, even though this post was all downhill after the title (aren't they all?). Loved that title, though!