review: Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey

 
I was interested in this book when I started hearing about it a few months ago. At last, I thought, some sensible, thoughtful discussions about the whole "Fifty Shades of Grey" pop culture chaos. Well, not really. I read this in one night, and had mixed feelings about it. The first groups of essays,titled  Fifty Shades of Erotic Fiction,and Fifty Shades of Romance were essays from various authors and publishers on how they felt about FSoG, how it has changed the face of publishing, why Christian is a stalker, why Christian isn't a stalker, how it's bad, how it's good, and so on. The section titled Fifty Shades of Sex got a bit more interesting for me. "The McDonald's of Lust" by Lois Gresh brought up that old "female Porn" charge that romance fiction got saddled with in the past (again? Really?), but some of the other essays were more thoughtful and complex. Fifty Shades of BDSM contained essays from individuals who were in some way part of the BDSM subculture. These were the essays I was most interested in. These surprised me in that the writers who knew or lived this subculture were not all critical of E.L. James portrayal, which was not very realistic (she did her research of WIKIPEDIA, according to press I've read). The essays continue with Fifty Shades of Writing, Fifty Shades of Fanfiction, and Fifty Shades of Pop Culture. The appendix: Fifty Shades of Reading is a list of fiction and nonfiction, but is problematic in that the books suggested cross all genres. Some are romances, some are erotic romance, and some are hard core erotica, both modern and historical. If you want to study erotic fiction in various historical periods, it's a good basic list. If you liked FSoG and want some more books to read, this list isn't so good for that.

On the whole, while this book was not all I had hoped it would be, I still found it an interesting read. I have added this book to my library's collection as part of my "why we should have romance fiction in the library" collection. (Fifty Shades of Grey is a romance with a bit of BDSM erotica thrown in.) While I felt this book missed out of the "romance" aspects, the explanation of some of the erotica and BDSM elements might be helpful for readers and librarians trying to sort out these "new" genres. Secret: there is all sorts of erotica on library shelves everywhere, we just didn't talk about it. Now the patrons are asking, and we need to pay attention, and know how to do informed readers advisory. (And purchasing. For the love of heaven, know what you're buying.)

I read an advance copy of this book from NetGalley, and the opinions expressed are all my own. 

Review: Jennifer Probst: Marriage To A Billionaire series

The Marriage Bargain  is book one of Jennifer Probst's Marriage to a Billionaire series. I saw this book cross the circ desk a few times, so I gave it a read. My first thought? This is a category romance in "real" book form. 

Category romances are the small paperback romances that are uniform in appearance, published monthly by various publishers. One of the most well known would be "Harlequin Presents" published by Harlequin. They send out six books a month in this line, with the general formula of an older, experienced, super rich hero and an inexperienced (virginal), younger, usually vulnerable heroine who meet, clash, discover LOVE, and live happily ever after (HEA). There are several well know story lines used to bring the two together, and create conflict that must be overcome to get to the HEA.

The devise used in this book is the good old "marriage of convenience"

A marriage in name only . . .
To save her family home, impulsive bookstore owner Alexa Maria McKenzie casts a love spell. But she never planned on conjuring up her best friend’s older brother—the powerful man who once shattered her heart. Billionaire Nicholas Ryan doesn’t believe in marriage, but in order to inherit his father’s corporation, he needs a wife and needs one fast. When he discovers his sister’s childhood friend is in dire financial straits, he offers Alexa a bold proposition. A marriage in name only with certain rules: Avoid entanglement. Keep things all business. Do not fall in love. The arrangement is only for a year so the rules shouldn’t be that hard to follow, right? Except fate has a way of upsetting the best-laid plans . . .description from http://books.simonandschuster.com/Marriage-Bargain/Jennifer-Probst

 I found this a quick, light, fun read. Problem was, I kept thinking I should  like it more then I did. He was a nice guy. She was quirky. There were animals (dogs from a shelter, and a fish). There was arguing, there was making up, there was some sex. I thought that this would be a good recommendation to introduce a non-romance reader to the category romance style. This book struck me as being sort of "chick-lit" like without the first person narrative and shopping. While not a true "small town" romance, there was a "family" vibe to it. The I picked up another book in the series:

The Marriage Mistake: book 3 Marriage to a Billionaire series

 Carina Conte has had a crush on her brother Michael’s best friend, Max Gray, since she was a teenager back home in Italy. Now she’s earned her MBA and come to work at Michael’s new venture, America’s fastest-growing bakery empire. But some things never change: her overprotective family still treats her like a child. With three drop-dead gorgeous siblings, she’s still the ugly duckling of the bunch. And Max, the company’s new CEO, still barely notices her.
Max knows Carina Conte is strictly off-limits, for the sake of his job and his friendship with Michael. But hot-blooded lust wins out at a conference when the two share a scorching one-night stand—and are busted by her mother! Now, forced by old-world Italian tradition into a marriage he’s not ready for, Max is miserable—and Carina is furious. Her new husband is about to realize that hell hath no fury like a woman transformed. . . .from http://books.simonandschuster.com/Marriage-Mistake/Jennifer-Probst


Soooooo... Max and Carina are in Vegas, and  Carina's mother walks into the hotel room and finds her daughter, naked, in bed after having spent the night in unmarried bliss with Max, so she (Mama Conte) calmly sits down with Max and suggests Max and Carina get quietly married, seeing how they're in Vegas, and its the right thing, the moral thing, and blah blah blah, and I realized why I didn't enjoy these books. It's as if all the edginess that chould be, should be part of the story isn't there. No one seems to have anything to loose.

I actually stopped reading on page 86 because I just couldn't invest in the story. Vegas and mom are on page 232. SPOILER: In the end, she becomes an artist, and Max realizes " his wife's talent crackled with a passion and depth that could rock the entire art world." Wow. The entire art world. And she's a business woman. And they plan to have kids. And everyone is perfect and calm and it all works out in the end.

I'm going to try reading book 2 The Marriage Trap to see if I like that at all. It's a second "marriage of convenience" plot. I'm trying to keep an open mind.

In the end, I did buy these books for my library. These romances, while sexually  explicit, don't tip over into hard core erotica (in my opinion, for what it's worth). While the heroes are billed as "billionaires", there are no exotic locations, no big houses staffed by servants, no mention of big ticket items or big lifestyles. In fact, I saw these guys as solidly middle class business owners until I saw the "billionaires" label for the series.  

Jennifer Probst has published other books that are in the erotic romance genre. Probst website is http://jenniferprobst.com/ 

The Marriage to a Billionaire series are published by Gallery Books, Simon and Schuster.
 Simon and Schuster are at http://search.simonandschuster.com/_/N-/Ntt-jennifer%20probst

Just a few words...

 (If you think this post is too long... yes, I know, no time... read the last paragraph. It's important!)

With all the conversations we’ve been having about “Fifty Shades of Grey”, I got curious about the actual definition of some terms.

From http://www.merriam-webster.com/

Pornography:
1 : the depiction of erotic behavior (as in pictures or writing) intended to cause sexual excitement
2 : material (as books or a photograph) that depicts erotic behavior and is intended to cause sexual excitement
3 : the depiction of acts in a sensational manner so as to arouse a quick intense emotional reaction <the pornography of violence>

Erotica:
1 : literary or artistic works having an erotic theme or quality
2 : depictions of things erotic

Erotic:
1 : of, devoted to, or tending to arouse sexual love or desire <erotic art>
2 : strongly marked or affected by sexual desire

OK. So my takeaway? Pornography= sexual excitement. Erotic= sexual love or desire. One is impersonal, the other personal.

Smut:
1 : matter that soils or blackens; specifically : a particle of soot
2 : any of various destructive diseases especially of cereal grasses caused by parasitic basidiomycetous fungi (order Ustilaginales) and marked by transformation of plant parts into dark masses of spores; also : a fungus causing a smut
3 : obscene language or matter

Smutty:
1 : soiled or tainted with smut; especially : affected with smut fungus
2 : obscene, indecent <a smutty joke> 3 : resembling smut in appearance : sooty

So when I say I'm reading "smutty books", this isn't what I meant. I never knew the  origins of the word.

I think I'll stick to "erotica" or "erotic romance" when I talk about these types of books. I never use the word porn, or "mommy porn" which is a phrase I think should die a quick death. I can also live without "bodice rippers", or the really offensive "bonnet rippers" which some people have used in relation to "Amish" fiction (Beverly Lewis, Wanda Brunstetter, etc.) Just don't use it. Just. Don't.

I'm still working on a librarians guide to kinky sex. I guess I'll have to look up the origins of "kinky" now.

Harlequin (publishers) has "The Curious Readers Guide to Erotic Romance", which includes a short dictionary... in case you need to know what BDSM stands for.
                            http://harlequinblog.com/erotic-romance/
They also recommend some books, which are "erotic romance", but not always a good match for "Fifty Shades" readers. (More on readers advisory later.) Just so you know...

BDSM: Bondage and Discipline, Dominance and Submission, Sadism and Masochism. An umbrella acronym for the kink lifestyle. (from Harlequinblog.com)
 This is a very simplistic definition of a really complex subject matter.
****** Important Part******
 Word of advise... DO NOT use on-line lists of "Fifty Shades" read-a-likes without doing research so you know what you're recommending/ buying for your library. My ears are still ringing from the screaming from the patron who checked out Ann Rice's(as A.N. Roquelaure) "Claiming of Sleeping Beauty" because she thought it would be a "sweet... like a fairy tale." Not. Beauty is awakened with a bit more then a kiss, then is carted off to the castle to become a sex slave. This is erotica, with no romance. I'm still traumatized from reading "Panic Snap" by Laura Reese because it was advertized as a read-a-like, and given a new cover. In this book, the main character (female) is sexually tortured by the male character under the guise of BDSM. He rapes, beats, burns, cuts, chokes and eventually tries to kill her. It's taken me a long time to get those images out of my head, and I only skimmed the text. Know your "kink". You don't want to traumatize you patrons with what could be a very negative reading experience. 

Romances are love stories, but not all love stories are romances.

 What do I mean when I say "romance"? The Romance Writers of America website offer this simple definition:

"Two basic elements comprise every romance novel: a central love story and an emotionally-satisfying and optimistic ending.

A Central Love Story: The main plot centers around individuals falling in love and struggling to make the relationship work. A writer can include as many subplots as he/she wants as long as the love story is the main focus of the novel.

An Emotionally-Satisfying and Optimistic Ending: In a romance, the lovers who risk and struggle for each other and their relationship are rewarded with emotional justice and unconditional love."

Head over to www.rwa.org for a whole bunch of interesting articles and statistics. For a small fee, librarians are eligible to become an affiliate member. Check it out!

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre are romances.
Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet are love stories, but are not romances. 

 Wikipedia has an extensive article under "Romance Novel" which is a good overview of the genre. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_novel

Yes, I really said that.

Patron (whispering): Do you have that Fifty Shades of Grey Book?
Me: Not on the shelf, but I can put you on the waiting list. There are 550 people on the list.
Patron: Oh. Well I heard it was really hot!
Me: Not really. I was was reading something last night that would singe your eyebrows off.
Patron: Really? Sign me up for that book!

Book in question: Sweet Addiction by Maya Banks. Cover shot is of a shapely female torso, wearing pink lace panties, kneeling on a white fur rug, with her hands bound behind her back with a string of pearls.
Dare you to put that on your new book rack near the front door!

Someone took our rental copy of Fifty Shades of Grey off display and hid it back in the stacks today. Because we shouldn't have that evil book on display. Or maybe they wanted to sneak-a-peak. Really, I read it. It's not that hot. Kind of boring, really. Every library has something on the shelf that is hotter/ more explicit/ more shocking the Fifty Shades (and way better written). I'm making a list. I'll let you know.

Can you imagine that "read alike" list? If you liked Fifty Shades of Grey... if you liked the hot bondage sex toy scenes intense physical relationship of the characters...

Fifty Shades trilogy are really three different sub-genres of romance. Book one, erotica, or "erotic romance". Book two reads like a category romance- alpha male marries young innocent girl. Book three is romantic suspense/ woman in jeopardy. Bad guy goes after girl, hero saves her.
Porn? Smut? Not even close. Trust me on this.

Just another day at the library...

The internet was broken. For the entire county. All day. Broken. No circulation. No catalog. No processing. No email. No surfing the net.

Great day for the mom with 6 kids to come to the library for the first time ever to get cards for everybody and to check-out stacks of books on each and every card, (which we have to write down to input later) which the kids then left setting on various shelves and tables all over the library, forgot about, left the building, then came back an hour later, wanting to know where their books were , (which had by then been re-shelved) and by the way, did we have any books on (insert random obscure subject here). No, I can not look that up. There is no catalog today.

The internet is broken. All day. Broken. Yes, that includes the wireless. Yes, I know the wireless is wireless, but it's still broken.Yes, it is broken. The internet is broken. All of it.

Yes, I love my job, but I'm not looking forward to tomorrow. And for the love of all things holy, please let the internet be fixed. Please.

All about Me Me Me; and why I'm here, now.

You can thank on of my neighbors for the launching of this blog this weekend. Someone somewhere was burning brush in the area, which  just happened to  include some of a magical plant called poison ivy. Yes, poison ivy, when burned, becomes airborne, and comes looking for me. When I took Dog out when I got home from work Friday, I smelled smoke. No big deal. Saturday I woke up and realized I was going to the Book Sale/ Summer Reading grand opening looking sort of like a puffer fish. Yes, dear neighbor, airborne poison ivy will cover any exposed skin...hands, arms, feet, legs, face. It can get into someones eyes, ears, nose, even someones lungs.You get the picture.

 

I was far enough away point of origin that I was dealing with puffy eyes, and batches of blisters on my hands and arms. I figured I could wait till Monday to get the medication to tell my immune system to shut the hell up. You have to yell at my immune system, or else it just laughs at you. If fact, my immune system was having so much fun, it kept me up all night. All. Night. I figured I could lie in bed, awake, forcing myself not to scratch my face off, or get up and do something. Anything. 

and in my agony,

A BLOG IS BORN!

making use of the two years worth of articles, statistics, and readings about the

ROMANCE GENRE  

Every once in a while, I grab a book that has a lot of what might be called "man-titty" on the cover, flash it a someone, who I know won't be offended, sigh loudly, and whine "Look what I have to read for work!" with my best sad face. And before you ask, yes, I have read all three "Fifty Shades of Grey", and am doing my best to forget. Please, let me forget. Just for a while.  

 On Sunday morning I realized the rest of my face was getting red and blotchy and I was in for more fun. The fact that it was around my nose and mouth made me a bit concerned I might have inhaled. So I got to have the new experience of going to one of those quick care medical places. Just for context: I have a few auto-immune disorders, so I am no stranger to all sorts doctors, had a few hospital stays, and one trip to the emergency room for a migraine. (After six hours on a gurney, they gave me an ibuprofen, and charged me a lot of money) At the quick care place, it took half an hour, I got the medication I needed, and just had a co-pay. I gave the receptionist a happy thumbs-up while I was leaving, and cheerfully told her I'd be seeing them all again sometime. She looked kind of confused. I did a happy dance to the car. 

So that was my weekend, and is why it seems like I'm doing a whole bunch of stuff in one day. I'm really just pulling out files I've been working on over the last few years, using my 15 years at the library, a lifetime of reading everything I could get my hands on, and 25 years of concentrated reading of romances. I have a few things to say.