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Any one else find it quite sad that 50 Shades is such a best seller?
I have no interest in reading the actual books, so won't be able to comment on style, characterisation etc.... but does it make you a bit sad that one of the fastest-selling, popular books in the world is an S&M fantasy adapted from a Twilight fan fiction?
When you think of all the amazing books written over the centuries, it's quite depressing to think that we choose smut over brilliant style and story-telling.
When you think of all the amazing books written over the centuries, it's quite depressing to think that we choose smut over brilliant style and story-telling.
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Not read it myself, not really my cup of tea.
So I do find that quite sad - the fact that there are probably a lot of far better books out there, the authors of which are just not as savvy in promoting them.
That said, 50 Shades could well be a literary masterpiece for all I know!
I have just started 50 Shades of Grey. I'm not finding it brilliant, but it passes the time, ideal for people who are casual readers or for something relaxing on holiday.
I've never been one of those people who are tempted to read 'to see what all the fuss is about' - I've never read Harry Potter or Twilight for example. I'm just not interested in their genres. I'm also a particularly fussy reader. If I really don't like a writer's style, I just can't get 'into' the story, so anything that's labelled as repetitive or badly-edited would drive me nuts; and pretty much everyone I know who has read 50 Shades says that the style of writing is so-so - they're reading it for the sex!
I guess there are a lot of authors who've grafted for decades, gone down the traditional route of finding an agent and getting a publishing house interested who must feel quietly aggrieved that a self-published Kindle erotica book could storm the world; however I'm unpublished so have no reason for complaint!
I know a lot of people who do just tend to read the same genre / author over and over again - my husband for example, tends only to read horror (apart from a spell when he only read John Grisham.) I don't get it - I mean there are certain authors I enjoy reading, but they're part of a much wider spectrum.
Going into bookstores like The Workz always leave me with mixed feelings. So many of the books there look like generic copies of one another. Forbidden love, struggling women, yummy mummies and ditsy singletons falling in and out of love, abused children, sexy vampires.... Popular fiction is fiction for a reason, but I can't understand why. I've read one or two of each genre over the years, and they're not the sort of books I write myself. I think a lot of it is fluffy mass-market dross, and it just doesn't appeal to me.
However, going into a discount book store kind of soothes the raging 'Withnail and I' character within me. I want to see my name on the cover of a book, I think any writer naturally does.... until I look at rows of books being sold for 99p, and think 'Would I be happy to see copies lying in a bargain bin?'
I think it's right that writers value their work and aim to make it about telling a great story. That's why I get sad when I'm reminded how publishing is an industry like everything else, and its really about the money. For every Costa Coffee Winner there's a hundred other paperbacks being sold in a discount book store at 3 for £5, and it's sad that we churn out the equivalent of literary chewing gum on the basis that it's erotic/shocking/by a celebrity/trendy, rather than on the basis that it's a genuinely good piece of fiction.
Most of the people I've seen on my Facebook newsfeed banging on about it probably haven't read a book since they left school, and probably won't read another book again.
I'm sorry but you can't put Harry Potter in the same league of literature as Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey. The latter two are diabolical. Potter is actually very well written, has a great story arc throughout the seven books and really immerses the reader into the world at hogwarts. It's head and shoulders above Meyer and Whoever the horny woman was that wrote Grey's standards.
I know lots of people who've not read a book for years who read the 50 shades trilogy in three days. As long as people are reading and enjoying the books they're reading, then I think that's a cause for celebration.
There is no real difference in quality between Shades, Potter and Twilight IMO I'm afraid. It's all badly written dross for the mass market. Does that make me a snob? Probably.
I could not agree more. The woman cannot write. She's repetitive and unimaginative. There is no character development, not even an attempt at it in fact and she has no ability to convey genuine human emotions. It's a book written by the vacuous for the vacuous.
In 'Angela's Ashes' Frank McCourt quotes his teacher: 'Your mind is a storehouse. You can fill it with treasures, or you can fill it with rubbish.'
(I'm not saying 50 Shades is rubbish - I can't speak from experience; but I do feel embarassed for people who think that S&M erotica can be considered life-changing or empowering. But there must be some reason everyone on FB keeps bragging that they've finished the latest installment!)
In fairness, a lot of the best-selling books of the past were
very poorly written as well. The woeful Marie Corelli used to
outsell folk like Joseph Conrad and Edith Wharton in
the 19th century, and far more British people read the
atrocious Sydney Horler than Aldous Huxley or
D. H. Lawrence in the 1920s.
And when was the last time you heard of anyone reading Sydney Horler today, except to laugh at his horrendous prose?
When was the last time I heard of anyone reading Sydney Horler at all?
I agree. The 50 shades books are fairly harmless. They may be poorly written but I don't like seeing them used as a reason to deride non readers. I'm a fan of Waugh and Saki but I didn't begin reading their stories, I began reading The Babysitter's Club and gradually chose a better quality of reading as I developed my taste. I also regularly read drivel when I want a bit of escapism. Perhaps some of these non readers are embarking on an exciting literary journey for them.
Anyone that thinks 50 Shades of Grey is a good read is a lost case as far as i'm concerned. I think this book may prove quite useful, actually.
And why exactly is 50 Shades of Grey better than Katie Price?
It does not make you a snob at all. It makes you incredibly simplistic.
Harry Potter is not literature, Harry Potter is a children's book. The fact that adults adopted the book and also enjoyed it doesn't turn it into an adult read. The whole Harry Potter world that Rowland created was one of the best things that came out for children in the last decade. Adults wanted a bit of the magic too, but the author was always securely writing for the youth market.
I am not a literary scholar or anything, I rarely read the classics, I read books for my entertainment, my enjoyment. So my book collection isn't going to meet the standards of many people on here (I enjoy Jeff Lindsay's Dexter series, Michael Connelly book, Tom Thorne Series, Song of Fire and Ice series etc.) but I read books for my enjoyment not anyone else so I wouldn't judge others for reading book that I wouldn't particularly enjoy.
Interestingly the OP hasn't mentioned what books and authors they read, is this fear of being judged themselves?
Oh and nice to see Saki get a mention on these forums.
I know lots of people that like it and lots more like me that think it's rubbish. I think the only reason it's selling well is because of hype.
I would agree with you if you were talking about other book besides 50 Shades, well maybe Breaking Dawn, but 50 Shades takes the biscuit, there is no excuse.:D
It's a shite book, written by someone that has no writing ability. I'm all for some light novels now and again, I liked Bridget jones, belle de jour etc, but this woman has zero talent. There is a reason why this book has no critical acclaim whatsoever. It's badly written and a lot of sentences don't been make sense, that is a matter of fact, not opinion.