What are you reading right now (or if you’re between books what have you read recently) and what are you liking or not liking about it?
I just finished listening to the audio version of 50 Shades Of Grey. If you’ve been reading the blog regularly (especially the comments following posts) you know that I bought the book sometime back (in response to a recommendation from a friend on Goodreads). Then the wave of negative reviews began. While I had heard only good about the book when I bought it, before I had a chance to read it I began to hear a lot of heavy negatives that put me off reading it. A couple of weeks ago I started listening to it in audio — with a bit the bucking up and getting on with it feeling of getting down to a homework assignment. I had the book…there was a lot of hoopla about it, and it was selling like crazy so it felt like something I needed to read in order to be “in the know” about things going on in the industry. So…I took a deep breath…downloaded it to the Android and began to listen to it whilst doing my household chores.
While there were things that put me off initially they were small and overcome by the things that I did like about this book. In fact, I liked it so well that the first thing I did after finishing 50 Shades of Grey was purchase 50 Shades Darker, the next book in the trilogy. Of course…purchasing the next book in the trilogy also has a lot to do with the ending in the first book which leaves you feeling that nothing is really resolved and wanting more.
That one can dislike some aspect of a book and be won over by other things they like about a book is why I thought I’d pose the question: What are you reading and what are you liking about it?
What I like most about 50 Shades of Grey is that the characters REACT to each other. There IS chemistry between them. The story doesn’t just follow the character’s physical/sexual relationship. These characters are thinking and feeling people too. You can see the heroine thinking about what makes the hero tick…and vice versa. There is a psychological…mental connection between them that I like.
I’ve mentioned in comments elsewhere on the blog that I also liked the fact that each of the characters brought something to the table. Anna’s life is better because Christian is in it. Christian’s life is better because Anna is in it. This is in spite of the confusion that she feels as she wrangles with the fact that he is wounded and is “50 shades of messed up.”
There are several small things that I didn’t like about the book. The first person viewpoint limits the story and keeps the reader from experiencing any part of the story from Christian’s perspective. I miss his perspective. I didn’t care for the present tense telling of the story.
The thing that I dislike most however is the premise that Christian is into BDSM because he was so wounded by his childhood. That seems to put forth the idea that people who are into BDSM are usually or are always scarred, wounded, or messed up. I don’t believe that to be the case and I dislike it when the takeaway in stories is that someone is only interested in BDSM because they are somehow flawed, wounded, scarred, or messed up. That said…undoubtedly there are in the world some people who are drawn to BDSM for the reasons Christian Grey is. This isn’t a story about all or even most of the people into BDSM. It is a story about one couple and their journey into a BDSM relationship.
So what are you reading now…and what are you liking and/or disliking about it? If you’re between books what have you read recently and what did you like or dislike about it? Which recent reads would you recommend – and to which type of readers?
I really tried but cannot get into fifty shades. I really did not like the characters nor the way that the lifestyle is portrayed and that Christian is the way he is because of the hurt he suffered in the past. I keep trying to get past so much but I have to admit as much as it irks me to that this is just one of those never finish books.
Right now I am reading Game misconduct by Bianca Sommerland. This is the first in a series about a hockey team that most of its players are into the lifestyle. This is a book full of strong sexual content. So if you are easily offended I wouldn’t advise picking it up but if like me you enjoy great writing and lots of character development with hot sex than this is a book for you.
LOL I sound like an advertisement but I really do enjoy this author and this series.
It sounds like a great recommendation for those of us who like steam with our romance but who don’t want to sacrifice characterization…plot…etc.
One of the things I love about blogging is getting book recommendations from people who like some of the same things I like in books. It’s always fun to try out a new author…and always comes with the hope of finding one that makes the auto buy-gotta have the back list authors.
I found Fifty Shades hard to get into too…and groaned and moaned and felt like I was doing homework through the first three or four chapters…with some of the same complaints you have. I kept reading mostly because I’m a publisher and for whatever reason 50 Shades resonated with a lot of people and I wanted to see if I could figure out why.
Early in the book it would have been easy to put down. Later…not so much.
I think one thing that’s true is that the author takes a long time to really show Christian’s character and backstory. That’s a necessity borne at least partly from the author’s choice of single point of view…with the exception of a prologue in the beginning of the 2nd book which is in Christian’s POV.
Thanks for telling us about Bianca Sommerland. She’s an author I’ve not read before.
I know for sure what I’m not reading. Fifty Shades of Grey. I downloaded a free sample—the first chapter and a few pages of the second chapter. It’s very juvenile as if written by a fifteen year old girl. Present tense, first person would be a drag through a full length book, not to mention three of them. What I am in the middle of, is a book written by my cousin. She’s ten years younger than me and I just found out a few months ago that she writes books also. However, she writes all feudal highlander and that’s just not my cup of tea or glass of diet Pepsi. I’m almost half way through but I keep setting it aside and forgetting what I’ve read before. But, she’s family which is why I bought it. I’ve got my own writing as an excuse.
I would agree with you completely on the things you assess as bad about 50 Shades. I didn’t like the present tense and first person either. As you probably know I don’t accept first person point of view at all at BVS I dislike it so much.
Still…I kept reading because its sales are noteworthy. 20 million is a lot of sales…and they happened quickly. There are a lot of really big fans of the book…and I was curious what so many people liked so much about the book.
Though there are things I didn’t like there were things I did like…enough I bought the next book in the trilogy and started reading it right away…something I almost never do with books in a series.
What do you LIKE to read Ernie?
By the way, I’m surprised as heck to see you here. I didn’t think you liked blogging.
)
It’s not that I don’t like blogging, I just have trouble getting in to them. I’ve tried to open the ones you were so kind to create for me sometime back and I couldn’t because I couldn’t remember the codes and passwords. I just had a horrible weekend trying to keep up with E-mails that were coming in a mile a minute at a ‘camp’ that was supposed to teach how to promote an author’s writing. I’m sorry to say, I didn’t get a thing out of it, though there is a lot I could go back and re-read.
As for Fifty Shades and it’s popularity. All I can say is: remember the pet rocks and mood rings. There’s no accounting for taste. Especially when it comes to fads.
What I read? I usually stick to erotica because it’s my genre to write. Keeps the hormones fired up.
I just noticed the box for a Website entry above. I think at sometime or another I tried to create one but I’m not sure. What is the difference between it and a Blog? Well, at usual, when I get to typing, I can’t quit.
Unless you changed the login codes for the blogs I created for you I can give you the codes and passwords.
Definitely a lot of things are popular that make me wonder why. I had a mood ring…or two or three. I never had a pet rock though.
It makes sense to read the genres you write in. Erotica and erotic romance are MUCH different so if you are trying to hit the erotic romance market (I’m guessing you are) you might want to read some erotic romance to round things out a bit.
I know…a lot of guys poo-poo anything that has romance in it. But if you’re going to write it…
That would be great, though I guess it would be best outside of here with the codes. To show you how bad I am, I’m not sure what they’re called. I assume you’ve got my e-mail address but I’ll shoot it along to be sure. ewinchester@hawaii.rr.com but it’s above so I guess you don’t need it. I’m starting a new book, a sequel to the BDSM one that I thought I’d never write, but right now I’m doing research on proper etiquette at very formal dining. How’s that for slipping some learning into the readers?
A weblog entry and a blog entry or a blog are all the same thing.
Just different words for the same thing.
I haven’t had a chance to read all the summer camp messages from the list that had the book marketing camp. It did look like a ton of useful information. I’ve got the emails all in a folder so that I can look at them when I am not chasing my tail both coming and going. Hmmm…wonder when that will be.
Currently reading Stardogs: Redemption by Herbert Grosshans. It’s the second of the two books I won from him and I am really enjoying it so far.
It’s always particularly nice to win a book and then to really enjoy reading it.
What do you like about Grosshan’s books? Would you recommend his books and to what kind of readers?
I’ve just finished “Summer Days” by Susan Mallery. I enjoy her books very much.
Sounds like fun Wilma. I’ve read Susan Mallery and have enjoyed her books.
I’m currently reading DOCKSIDE by Susan Wiggs and I am uncertain exactly how I feel about it. The writing is good and the characters are all right. What bothers me is the going back and forth in time so that the reader understands how what happened in the past makes the character who they are today. I just feel it could have been done in a better, easier way. That part frustrates me and I just want to skip over it, but I don’t want to miss something I needed to know as a reader.
This seems to be part of Susan Wiggs’ style. I have one of Susan’s books in audio that I have started several times…only to quit a little ways in. Mostly because she goes backward in big clumps and it gets frustrating waiting for the story to move forward again. That said, she does give her characters some pretty heavy backstory so it is important to weave it in. It just seemed, in the one book I’ve poked at, that it comes in in big chunks and before I am curious about the backstory. A bit of hinting that there is backstory – the character acting because of SOMETHING undefined in her past would make me wonder why the character is the way she is. When I was wondering then the backstory would flow more smoothly with the rest of the story and be less intrusive. At least that’s my take from the one story by Susan Wiggs that I’ve poked at.
Would you believe I am actually read BLEAK HOUSE by Charles Dickens. I watched the BBC production & loved it. So, now I’m reading the book. I love the humour, even though it is in parts tragic. Such colourful characters.
I’ve not read BLEAK HOUSE. I find it interesting that you decided to read the book after watching the BBC production. Did you find that the TV production did justice to the book or were there parts in the movie that didn’t jive with the book?
Sometimes when I’ve seen a movie of a book it puts me off reading the book as if I’ve seen the movie I know how the book ends. Other times, reading the book after seeing the movie deepens the movie experience. In a sense it is like the book brings out the things that don’t transfer as well to visual presentation, like a character’s thoughts and feelings.
Are you finding that reading the book after seeing the TV production is deepening your experience of the TV production?
It was a BBC Mini series production. First rate all the way. The production followed the book quite closely – not having to condense. When I read I can visualize the scenes & characters beautifully. The essence was captured.