Another day, another book

I've been an avid reader of romantic novels all my life. I've read the classics, the cult favorites, the trendy chick lit (not a fan of them) and also erotica. 

So of course, with all the buzz of 50 Shades of Grey, I had to go out and get my hands on a copy, right? Wrong.

I got veto-ed, yes VETO-ed by my friendly, neighborhood bookseller. 

Bookseller uncle: Girl, why are you trying to read that? Because it's popular?" (just before I could nod in agreement) Please, lah, can you read something better? The language is terrible! It's worse than teenage writing. The novels that you've been taking are much better for story value and even the sex scenes are better.

Me: Wah, uncle you have a very strong opinion about this!Bookseller uncle: Of course, I don't want my customers to just read nonsense, even it is popular

Daaaaammmmmnn, but the bookseller uncle is fiery! And so, just because I don't naturally trust first-hand advice....I went to look for an excerpt online. I shouldn't have bothered. Two paragraphs into chapter one and I clicked off the page. I'm sure the writing will be just as scintillating for the entire series. Zzzzzzzzzzz

Ok, maybe it's the hype but I don't understand how a book like this could be so popular. Or why many well-read friends are actually promoting it. Hopefully it's just a bad phase, but its a highly disturbing one. I am hardly a book snob but at the same time, I don't like reading badly written material. I especially don't like how scenes from the book are paraphrased and reproduced. C'mon! You can do better than that!

I've told a number of friends that if you want to read a good book that has lots of sex, pick up a romantic novel or better, some erotic anthologies. While romantic novels may contain the requisite  heaving bosoms and the virile men, at least the books are well plotted and written. Need a more spicy read? Go for erotic novels. Don't be shy. after all, people have been turning to these books for ages to get new ideas to bring a little heat into their bedrooms.

So what should you read? For the curious, I'd recommend authors like Susan Johnson (go for her earlier titles), Beatrice Small, Zane  and even Anne Rice's take on BDSM Sleeping Beauty Trilogy. I'm not sure if the last one is available here but, hey, there's always Amazon.com. The last one gave me a bit of a nightmare, but that said, it's a very different take on a classic children's tale and written for a more sophisticated audience. Definitely not for the faint hearted.

But for the non-believers, you can always go back to this: