Fifty Shades of Grey

"Fifty Shades of Grey" has been getting a lot of buzz lately. What initially started out as a "Twilight" fan fiction by EL James has become somewhat of a literary phenomenon.  The fan fiction morphed into a totally new, adult's only, concept and James self-published her full length novel as an e-book.  The book went on to top e-book bestseller lists.  On April 3, 2012 the book was released in print by Vintage Publishing and currently tops The New York Times Bestsellers List, The Barnes and Noble Bestsellers List, among many others.  The book landed a cover story on a recent issue of "Entertainment Weekly."  The rights to the novel have even been purchased by Universal Studios Focus Films Division.  All this buzz made me wonder if this novel was truly worth its hype.  I was also a little confused by all the record sales and hype as "Fifty Shades of Grey," is an erotic novel and the genre is nothing new and rarely generates the kind of sales "Fifty Shades of Grey" is getting.  I had to see what all the fuss was about.

 

I flew through the book in two days.  The plot was definitely intriguing, "Fifty Shades of Grey," details the romance and explicit sexual relationship of the sweet, innocent 21-year-old Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey a billionaire business man in his late 20's.  Anastasia is finishing her senior year of college when she meets Mr. Grey while interviewing him for her college newspaper.  Their relationship grows slowly and Mr. Grey soon invites Anastasia into his private world of BDSM.  As there relationship grows, they both find themselves doing things they never thought they'd do.  Anastasia grows more uninhibited while Christian grows more sensitive.  

The writing is pretty good but not excellent.  The descriptions of their sexual activities definitely get your heart racing and you'll probably insert the paramour of your choice into your visualization of the scenes. My lips are sealed as to who I pictured as my own Mr. Grey.  However, some phrases were overused to the point of being annoying.  Every time Ana wants to assert herself she "summons" her "inner goddess."  She also continually refers to her vagina as her "sex."  Mr. Grey also repeatedly asks Ana "what are you doing to me?" when he lets his guard down around her.  I was also perplexed why Ana felt uncomfortable letting the wealthy Mr. Grey lavish her with gifts but didn't see any problem living rent free in her wealthy roommate's condo or wearing her roommates designer clothes.

While this was a very entertaining read and I am hooked enough to read the subsequent sequels, I really don't understand the fuss.  I am also very curious how a the future filmmakers plan on transforming this novel to a feature film that won't be starring someone like Jenna Jameson or Sasha Grey. (On second thought, Sasha Grey may be perfect for "Fifty Shades of Grey," lol)

This novel isn't straight up erotica, it's a romance with heavy erotic scenes which is precisely what Ellora's Cave Publishing has been doing for years.  Ellora's Cave describes themselves as "The world's first & foremost publisher of erotic romance for women." They specialize in, what they call, Romantica, a blend of romance and erotica (for specifics, read their definition here.)  They offer short stories, novellas and novels in both print and e-book form by various authors.  I have read many of them.  The website allows you to select your fetish of choice and you can even choose tales from wild to mild depending on how hot you like your romance.  If you enjoyed "Fifty Shades of Grey," please check out Ellora's Cave, they've been doing erotic romance a lot longer and in my opinion a lot better.


Please share your opinion.  Did you read "Fifty Shades of Grey"?  If so, what did you think of it?  What do you think or erotic novels/erotic romance in general?

The Sounds of Music

Do you hear what I hear? Music is a vital part of our lives. But teaching it to my children was a challenge. It always seemed like an optional subject. So I had to search for books that would help dispel that nonessential deception. Music was an important part of a classical education, so it should be important for today. It is interesting how music got relegated to the area of entertainment in the United States. But that is another topic altogether.

One of the books I found useful was A Young Person's Guide to Music by Neil Ardley with Music by Poul Ruders. It has a CD to accompany the text.There are two sections: the first is about the different types of instruments; the second gives a brief history of the musical periods. There is also a "How to use this book" page. I liked being able to teach about a particular instrument, show the clear pictures, and then play the CD to hear what that instrument sounded like. This book has a wealth of information, including a reference section that has "A-Z of Composers", "Musical Forms", and a glossary of musical terms.

Instruments are intriguing to study, and this book is a sure way to understand them. The illustrations show how instruments work, as well as how they relate to one another. How many notes can a woodwind player produce? 10? 20? 40? Would you believe it is 40?! On page 32 you can find out how. And what about brass instruments? How does tightening the lips affect the notes played? You will have to read the section about brass instruments to find out.

So no matter what stage of life you are in, this book makes fascinating reading if you have any interest at all in music. We are never too old to learn. That is one of the advantages of teaching my children; I learned right along with them. So pick up this book at your local bookstore and enjoy reading about and listening to music

Laydown Lowdown

I just got back from the movies and my face is still hurting from laughing so hard during "American Reunion."  If you loved the first three, don't miss this one ! But enough with the movie review, let's check out this weeks latest releases.

My reading tastes haven't really left high school which is why I love YA so much.  New in the genre today is "Pretty Amy," by Lisa Burstein, "Kill Me Softly," by Sarah Cross.  "Kill Me Softly," makes me think of that hilarious scene in "About a Boy," where Hugh Grant sings Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly."  I'm getting another smile cramp now.  Alright back to new YA releases.  Someone better warn Stacey Keibler that "Dear George Clooney: Please Marry My Mom," by Susin Nielsen is also available today along with "Book of Blood and Shadow," by Robin Wasserman.

Over in Romance, you'll find "Deadline," the latest by best-selling author Fern Michaels and the fourth entry in her "Godmothers" series.  "A Wish and a Prayer" by Beverly Jenkins is available as well as "Dark Shadows: Angelique's Descent" by Lara Parker.  Parker played Angelique of the 70's soap "Dark Shadows," which is the basis for the upcoming Johnny Depp-Tim Burton spectacle of the same name.  This novel will explore the love hate relationship between Angelique and Barnabas Collins.  I must admit this book sound way better than that mess of a trailer I've seen for the film.

Meanwhile, over in Mystery, you'll discover "A Killing Winter," by Wayne Arthurson," "A Teeny Bit of Trouble," by Michael Lee West, "The Inquisitor," by Mark Allen Smith, and "A Bad Day for Scandal," by Sophie Littlefield.

If you check out General Fiction, you'll see "Come Home," the newest novel by one of my favorite author's Lisa Scottoline.  Also available today is "Glamour in Glass," by Mary Robinette Kowal, "Cloudland," by Joseph Olshan, and "Kings of Midnight," by Wallace Stroby.

And that's the Laydown Lowdown for the 2nd week of April 2012 !  Happy Reading and remember to support your local bookstores whenever possible.  Just because our blog is online, it doesn't mean your shopping has to be. 

Happy Easter !

Happy Easter !

Also, if you're in the NYC area, you may enjoy checking out the "Spring Into the Future" author signing that some of us from the blog will be attending next Sunday, April 15.  This event features:  

LAUREN OLIVER
Pandemonium
TAHEREH MAFI
Shatter Me
VERONICA ROSSI
Under The Never Sky
ANNA CAREY
Eve 

Click here for more details.  If you can't make it, don't worry, we'll share the photos with you when we get back and maybe we'll have a little giveaway? :D

Comfort Books

Everyone has a comfort food, something that makes them feel better after a bad day like mac n' cheese or warm brownies.  But what about comfort books?  Avid readers like us bloggers have books we read time and time again.  We're sharing ours with you and would love you to share yours with us.

Alan loves to turn to his favorite authors Edgar Rice Burroughs,Tom Clancy, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, Louis L'Amour, and Mark Twain.

Jen C. likes to curl up with "Slave to Sensation" by Nalini Singh. She says the author builds an exciting and rich world around her characters, and gives her characters flaws that we can all relate to. 

  
Jess B. enjoys "The Catcher in the Rye," by J.D. Salinger.  No matter how many times she has read it, it changes her.   

Jess P. loves to get lost in the world of Harry Potter and enjoys re-reading J.K. Rowling's novels again and again.

Mallory likes to return to a simpler time by re-reading "Little House in the Big Woods," or any of Laura Ingalls Wilder's novels of growing up on the prairie.  

Melanie, can't get enough of "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky.  She responds to the poetic language the author uses.

Rachel, the biggest Harry Potter fan I know re-reads the series every year.  She also reads what she calls "the ultimate comfort book," "Anne of Green Gables," by L.M. Montgomery.  

Rebecca is also a devoted L.M. Montgomery fan.  She continues to re-read "Jane of Lantern Hill"l by  and the authors "Emily" trilogy. Her descriptions are so rich and her characters feel like my best friends.

As for me, I love returning to Stoneybrook, CT and my forever friends in Anne M. Martin's "The Baby-Sitters Club" series.  After a really tough day, nothing beats escaping reality with my fictional friends. 

I have the first lines of this book memorized !

 So, what are your comfort reads?  Let us know !  We love hearing from our readers.  Also, please follow us on twitter, @borderlessbooks !

We Have a Surprise Guest Blogger

A friend and fellow of blogger of mine, Marlena of Mohegan, recently posted a blog about books, reading, bookstores, and of course, Burgess Meredith.  I asked her this morning if I could repost her blog on our site, and she graciously consented.  So here it is...

The Joy of Reading

There is an old Twilight Zone episode featuring Burgess Meredith as a hen-pecked, overworked bank teller who never has enough time to read.  One day he is hiding in the vault reading at his bank when nuclear annihilation strikes. He emerges from the vault unharmed to find all the other people reduced to dust but buildings and books intact.  He is overcome with joy at the possibility of unlimited time to read when the unthinkable happens.  Myopic to the extreme, he drops his eyeglasses and they shatter.  The camera fades as he laments aloud that he has the books and the time but now he cannot see to read them.

This program was filmed in the early 1960's and has a few plot points that wouldn't hold up today.
First, eyeglasses are no longer made of glass. (Besides he might have happened on an abandoned pair somewhere or maybe a magnifying glass.)  Second,  in a nuclear holocaust the earth would probably just be totally blown away.  Third, electronic books need power.  The poor guy would not be able to recharge his Kindle if there was no source of electricity.  His unlimited book orgy wouldn't last very long.

The classic Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 also suffers a world of diminishing value to books in print. Their society does not only want to eliminate the books but also the information they hold. (Sort of "Big Brother"only wants you to know what the government wants you to know) The story starts with firefighters going from house to house burning books.  All the buildings in this future time are fireproof so the fire department had to find something else to keep them busy.  There is a secret society of book people who are dedicated to saving books for posterity.  Instead of hiding the actual books each person takes it upon himself to memorize an entire book.  They are known to each other not by their names but by the title of the books they hold in their heads.  The title of the book is the temperature at which paper burns.  If that story were written today what would it be called?  At what temperatures do plastic, glass and silicon melt?

I have always been a reader.  I'd read with my flashlight under my blankets so my parents wouldn't know I wasn't asleep.  I read in the bathroom.  If I go to someones house that has no reading material in the bathroom I might just check out their medicine cabinet for something to read just to help me relax and get the job done.  (I'm not being nosy I just need a few lines of a cough medicine label or something)  I read the backs of cereal boxes.  I like to have two or three books going at the same time because I hate that empty feeling of finishing a book and not knowing what to read next.

Electronic books take all the randomness out of reading.  At work many of us bring our old books to share.  We just place them on a table in the locker room and browse.   I've found a lot of good ones that way.  For free yet!  You can't get rid of your e-books at a tag sale or donate them to a hospital or library.

My daughter complained today that her school wasted a lot of her time forcing her to learn the Dewey Decimal System which she feels will be abandoned soon.  We no longer have those old card catalogs at the public library.  Will the books be trashed as well?

I got on this subject from reading a blog of my good friend BASSO FOR HIRE.   http://bassoforhire.blogspot.com He participates with another blog called BOOKSELLERS WITHOUT BORDERS booksellerswithoutborders.blogspot.com who all seem as rabid about reading as I am, maybe more so.  I started thinking about just how much I enjoy about reading.  Not just the print but actually turning the pages, the heft of the volume in my hand, and seeing at a glance how much I have left to read.  Many of my books are cherished friends whom I'd never consider letting go.  I'd really rather not live in a world without real, paper, pulp, hardcover, paperback, leather bound, cloth bound, brand new or careworn books.

Love to all,
Marlena of Mohegan

p.s.  HAPPY READING

Here's the link to her blog...Marlena of Mohegan

Marlena also very kindly referenced our lovely little domain here, as well as my personal blogsite, www.bassoforhire.blogspot.com.

So, in the interest of cross pollenation, I encourage you to visit her online, where you will find her stories of "Bariatric Renewal," opera, grandchildren, big coats, dogs and all kinds of clever and endearing observations on life, the universe, and everything.

Keep on reading!  It's good for you.

Laydown Lowdown

Happy April !  Easter is almost here.  Perhaps you'll find some of today's new releases in your basket on Sunday?

Mystery fans will have a full basket to look forward to.  New releases today include the 15th Regan Reilly novel, "Gypped," by Carol Higgins Clark and "Limpopo Academy of the Private Detection," the 13th "Ladies Detective Agency," novel by Alexander McCall Smith.  "Beastly Things," the 21st "Guido Brunetti," novel by Donna Leon, "Dorchester Terrace" by Anne Perry, "Miss Julia to the Rescue," by Ann B. Ross, and "Harbor Nocturne," by Joseph Wambaugh are also available today.

Bunny hop over to Romance and you'll find the latest by Amanda Ashley, "A Darker Dream," as well as "Eternal Craving," by Nina Bangs, "The Wolf Who Loved Me," by Lydia Dare, and "Enraptured," by Elizabeth Naughton.

Shake your tail over to Sci-Fi and you'll discover "Plague Town," by Dana Fredsti, "The Star Wars Essential Guide to Warfare," by Jason Fry and "Nocturnal," by Scott Sigler."

Twitch your whiskers and head on over to YA to find "Radiate," by Marley Gibson, "Grave Mercy," by Robin LaFevers, "I Hunt Killers," by Barry Lyga, and "Immortal City," by Scott Spear.
 

Finally, one of the hottest (both literally and figuratively) new releases today is a book that has already gotten tremendous publicity and was previously published as an e-book and then in print by a small publisher to wild success.  This erotic novel, geared for women, reportedly flew off the shelves in its initial printing.  Now, "Fifty Shades of Grey," by E.L. James, the first in a trilogy gets a wide release today by Knopf Publishing.  Look for a review and more on this novel next Thursday.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this weeks Laydown Lowdown !  Happy Easter and Happy Passover to those who celebrate. 

As always, remember to support your local bookstores whenever possible.  Just because our blog is online, it doesn't mean your shopping has to be.