Sunday, August 12, 2012

50 Shades of Grey… and Jodi Picoult

There has been plenty of hours worked, books read, navel gazing accomplished and the odd tantrum (or hundred) thrown in for good measure…. and all without even one teeny, tiny bit of blogging about it! Which i might add, in light of recently learning from the fabulous Ms Louise that i’m a bit of a story fondler– basic Martha Beck translation: i deal with stress by rehashing the offending stories to every poor sod that will listen – is rather interesting because it’s hardly been the best few months of my life and there would have been some real goodies to share!

But do not fret, two months later, here i am again to share and share and share some more. Oh, c’mon, you so know that you’ve missed my insightful takes on lifey things!

Today’s lifey thing is all around spanking, safe words and a naughty little book called Fifty Shades of Grey. I so tried to stay away from this one and not get sucked into the madness. I turned away from the ‘three book deals’ and made myself deaf to the heightening chatter… but eventually i could resist no more and The Book Depository got to add another purchase to my weighty history. And, yes, it was just as hot, just as horny and just as averagely written as I’d heard (does EL James have no other cuss words in her depository other than holy f*ck or holy crap???)… i quite enjoyed it - full review here.

But what truly fascinates me about this whole Fifty thing is how some things just grabs the world’s attention and suddenly, it’s trending online, it’s on talk shows galore, and snippets of discussions are caught everywhere from mommy coffee groups at the local cafe to the treadmill section at the gym.

That’s what i love… that there is just no way of predicting what’s going to go viral! It’s awesome that we humans are still so random, so fickle and so unpredictable that the things you least expect are the things that get the most attention. Fact in point – one of the most watched You Tube videos EVER is ‘Charlie bit my finger’… have you seen it?? It’s not that funny. I’ve seen much funnier things… like the sneezing panda, or the dog that tries to chew its own leg. And my husband laughed so hard at Afro Ninja, i thought he was having a hysteria produced coronary. But no, it was a little boy biting his brother’s finger that made it big. IT IS JUST SO RANDOM!

Which brings me onto my next tangent - the right to comment on something that you haven’t actually read, seen or experienced yourself! Oh, man, that PISSES ME OFF! So stand back… ‘cause here it comes!

So, i went and saw Jodi Picoult recently… she was in NZ promoting the book she has written with her daughter, Samantha van Leer. Her daughter was an absolute darl’, i'm sure her mother must be very proud of her. But Jodi… well, i must say her honesty on a lot of things was rather interesting. I thought that being famous didn’t leave a lot of room to say how you actually felt about stuff… or perhaps NZ is so far removed from the rest of the world, what you say here doesn’t count! Either way… it was refreshing and interesting… until she commented on Fifty Shades of Grey.

Now, i’m sure you all know about how this story found its beginnings. But just in case, i’ll add here that it was posted on a Twilight fan site as fan fiction. And i’ll also admit here, that when i first read the book, this i did not know and i did think that Christian Grey (CG) was a bit like Edward in some ways (okay… it was the hair… there aren’t that many leading men with copper coloured hair!). And then there was the minor detail that CG likes to well, how do we say, get a bit rough with his partners… whereas Edward won’t even TOUCH Bella… at least until much later. Jodi commented that EL James had plagiarised (not sure it was that exact word) Twilight to a degree and that she would not be taking it as well as Stephenie Meyer had because it’s downright unethical. Honestly, i can’t recall the exact wording because by this stage, there was ringing in my ears but I’m sure you get the gist. For me though, the real clanger was that SHE HADN’T EVEN READ THE BOOK!!!!! Which, in my eyes, means that you pretty much have to keep your comments to yourself!!!! If she had read the book, i’m she would have worked out that the stories were very, very, VERY different… but i kind of got the feeling that she felt too good for that sort of trash anyhoo!

But honestly Jodi, c’mon, there aren’t any truly original stories to be told anymore… just variations of the same themes. So why not give little EL James a break. Or read the book – then you can comment to your heart’s content.

Ok, i need a wee little lie down after that.

Kiss kiss love love

BBxx

4 comments:

  1. Couldn't agree more BB. You can't comment on much less trash a book if you haven't read it! For me 50 Shades was a very irritating read...the continual "Oh My" drove me INSANE!! Am sure your book will be 1000% bettert han that! Louise x

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  2. Hey Bon, love reading your blogs. I have read the 3 books - could not resist (had to see what everyone was talking about) and frankly, I loved them. I thought the emotions protrayed were very real and it was a page turner for me. The kinkiness facinated me but then I have always had an idea that there is another world out there, past the edges of my bubble and (haha) I had to go and google some of the doodaas that she talks about because I just could not get a mental picture..... Love you lots Debs aka cousin

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    1. He he he, Debs... I know!!! Was very educational for me too! I was actually fascinated by how she was going to deal with the cost of being with him when that is was she wanted... made me wonder about how i would deal with it all! Have you read 'Bared to you' yet?? Hmmm... think of enjoyed 50 more. Quite enjoying Deborah Harkness at mo... have you read her stuff. I think you might like. Lots of love xxx

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  3. I agree that 50 Shades will never go down in the history books as 'written with the finesse of Shakespeare and the passion of Byron' but good lord I had fun reading them. Of course the girl irritated me with her limited vocabulary but heck I was way too fixated on Christian to really care! :P I'm with Debbie, I had to go google some of the stuff they did...but enjoyed being ripped from my 'vanilla, strawberries and cream' little world.

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