Not a book I'd be recommending for school libraries ...

SPOILER WARNING: STOP READING NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THE PLOT ETC OF "FIFTY SHADES OF GREY".

Having accepted Random House's challenge "to find out what the fuss is all about" - and ironically not accepting RH's invitation to enter a competition in which I might win a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey, I purchased it. A few days ago I provided a copy of the receipt here in this blog, just so You-Know-Who can't claim that I'm accepting gifts from publishers to supplement my spectacularly generous salary (you did see that I've also joined the Sarcasm Society?).

Anyways, I've now finished the book. Not my cup of tea, I'm afraid. It started out seemingly to represent my least favorite genre, Formula Romance. Then it got really really weird. I suppose if you're into SM or excessively graphic sexual descriptions (probably 85% of the textual content) you'd probably enjoy it.

The plot? They meet, she thinks she's in love, he's weird, he shows her how weird he actually is, she leaves him. In between, they meet each others' respective (and respectable) parents.

Character development? He doesn't change, while she discovers she's exactly who she thought she was from the get-go.

Apparently this is now Part 1 of a trilogy. I guess literature is like all "art". I may not know much about it, but I know what I like. There's a whole heap of books I want to read, but the other two parts of this particular trilogy aren't in the stack.

And today I joined ...

... the Sarcasm Society. I'm sure this will greatly enhance my employment prospects, my general health and well-being, and thence (obviously) my quality of life. See how well I already comply with the expectations?

I did begin searching for the Society's manifesto, or policy documentation, or perhaps a public disclosure statement. A cynic may well suggest that perhaps I should have investigated this aspect BEFORE joining. So now I am going to abandon those particular searches, and go seek a suitable society for folk of a cynical disposition. Although, as a true cynic would say, I can't imagine why such a group would exist ...

Finished, and just about to start reading ...

OK, so I started and finished reading Paolini's Eragon. It wasn't a bad yarn (Australian for plot), but I did struggle with concentrating. The problem was that it was raved about by A Person for whom I have little regard for - I'm sure many folk will be surprised to hear that I do not uniformly love all of my fellow mankind. Others of course will not be surprised at that news.

However, my personal feelings for the 'raver' did tend to get in the way of enjoying the reading experience. So now I'm wondering if this might be the case for anyone else, or is it just me? I know sometimes it is [just me]. Now that would be a great PhD topic - "Affective Domain and Reading Enjoyment".

Anyways, although I did struggle on through Eragon, I still purchased Eldest. OK, I'll come clean and admit that I also bought Brsingr on the off chance that I might get that far. Unfortunately I am again struggling with Eldest, for the same reason I struggled with Eragon. I'm maybe a third of the way through it.

I passed on buying Inheritance for the moment. They're very thick books, and shelf space in the Home Library is not infinite. Especially since the Great Cull of 2011 and the disposal of three bookshelves. I'm sure with enough counselling and medication I will eventually get over that particular trauma.

So given I'm not especially enjoying Mr Paolini's offerings at the moment, today I purchased Fifty Shades of Grey. I noticed on Facebook that the publisher is having a competition to win a copy of that book, but I thought "to heck with it" (but not in those words) and just went and bought a copy. I'm planning on starting reading it in about half an hour.

THEN I noticed on Facebook that there's another competition by another publisher to win an author-signed copy of We Need to Talk about Kevin, seeing how the film is now out and all. I think I may have that book around the house somewhere, still unread.

But what is interesting is how the Internet (proper noun, please!) is working through Facebook to push books and promote reading. Although that could be just me. Again.