One book that will never find its way to my bookshelf is Fifty Shades of Grey. For the record, I haven’t read it, but of course I’ve heard what it’s about. My husband though hasn’t. He actually thought the book had something to do with the history of black and white television. Just so you know, he’s from earth, but mentally he lives in Mars sometimes.
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| The real 50 shades of grey. |
When I posted my husband’s quip online, some of my friends got even funnier, mixing creativity, cluelessness and critique.
Rex: I’m afraid that what he’ll be reading is a story about two people getting creative on top of a black and white TV while using the antenna as a whip.
Nikki: I actually thought it was an x-ray book.
Edu: I thought it’s a book for color matching.
Me: Is the writing style in the same level as (as bad as) Stephanie Meyer or Dan Brown?
Rocky: It’s not even Dan Brown… It’s (like) a 17 year old girl writing fanfic.
That last comment from Rocky got me wondering, if there’s nothing outstanding about the writing style and there’s nothing special about it, why is the book selling like potato chips? Don’t people know there’s a great deal of this stuff for free online? Fancy some tentacles, pogo sticks or creatures from outer space? The internet has got all that covered and more by fan fiction or fantasy writers ranging from 17 years old to forgotten years old.
The ready availability of such unusual reading materials online however, is not the reason why I feel I don’t need or want Fifty Shades in my collection. Just as they say, “You are what you eat,” I believe, “You write what you read.”
I don’t mean you should Sotto copy or do the Solis. I mean if you read multiple books from a certain genre or author, you imbibe part of the vibe and style. Try this. Read 19th century Russian literature for two weeks. After that I’ll wager, you’ll start writing such brooding stories your mother will call a psychiatrist for you.
If I read Fifty Shades, I might start inserting whips and leather boots in my clients’ blog posts.
