Are You Reading Fifty Shades of Grey?
What will you be reading on the beach this summer (or should I say what will you be attempting to read)? If stats are to be believed it’s likely to be ‘mummy’ bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey. The triology by E L James has outsold JK Rowling’s seven book series on Amazon. All in all it’s sold more than four million copies, making the author the best-selling author of all time on Amazon UK.
If you’ve yet to hear about Fifty Shades of Grey – everyone from Victoria Beckham to Angelina Jolie are fans. In fact Victoria is such a big fan that she told US Glamour Magazine that she’s bought a copy for her own mum. The novel is about the relationship between a college graduate, Anastasia Steele, and a young business entrepreneur, Christian Grey. And the fuss is all about its explicitly erotic scenes featuring elements of bondage/discipline, dominance/submission. It has apparently triggered a wave of female erotica books and earned itself a new genre – ‘mummy porn’.
As yet, I haven’t read Fifty Shades purely down to time and the fact the story doesn’t sound my cup of tea. However, I have numerous friends who love it and can’t put it down and so it’s getting on my nerves that lots of people seem to be putting it down purely because it’s a female book loved by mums.
On Monday I watched a programme on the book where a stream of ‘famous’ people made smug comments about its success, the characters, the way it is written and the women who have been reading it. I’m not sure what’s so wrong with a bit of escapism in your books? Isn’t that what Harry Potter was all about?
So why does Fifty Shades make so many people irate? Could it be because it’s about sex and mums are daring to say they like it? Or is because like chick-lit anything read by women is just put down to bad taste?
Let me know what you think. Are you loving or hating Fifty Shades? Does it deserve such a media bashing?