OT - Alright, fess up, who is reading Fifty Shades?

I think the writing is just very, very poor. It was originally published online as a piece of Twilight fan fiction. It received such a positive response that the writer fleshed it out (no pun intended) and turned it into a full-length book.

As far as erotica goes, there are much better choices out there. The options are plentiful and some is extremely well written. I wish the writer all of the success in the world, but I wish the first mainstream erotica to "achieve stardom" was a well-written one.

I read the whole series about 4 - 6 weeks ago. Is the writing bad? Yeah. But I liked Anastasia. And yes, there really are people like that. There are people that make Ana and Christian seem like Donny and Marie.

I agree, the "erotica" was not so much; I was skimming it by the end of the second book. I would have much rather had certain events fleshed out a whole lot more.

If you want to read well written S&M, check out two books by Laura Reese: Topping From Below and Panic Snap.

And someone mentioned Story of O. I read that at 14 and it remains the standard to which all S&M erotica aspires.

I just read all three books of the Fifty Shades series this last week or so. Not too bad, but not great. I have to agree with you all that the Hunger Games series was much more interesting. I think the appeal to many women is perhaps it is the first time they've read a book about taboo sex. Many of the people I've seen gushing over the book have never read anything about BDSM or kinky sex lol. I really think it's much more about curiousity and sexual intrigue than anything else. The male character is a very wealthy, extremely handsome man and the female is a young, awkward virgin who falls in love and captures his heart. I think that appeals to some of the soap opera fantasy types who enjoy watching soaps and reading love stories.

I think it appeals to different people for different reasons. I really didn't think the writing was bad at all, but not worthy of all of the hype. Like I said, I really think that the taboo nature of the book is appealing to some women who have never read about BDSM and are fascinated by it. And, I've noticed some of the huge fans are those who love soap operas and romance novels and are wrapped up in the sheer fantasy of it all. The rest of the people who like the series a lot---I have no idea why they like it! I truly believe it is different strokes for different folks! Some people love a book with intensity while others hate it with an intensity!  Who knows why one book works for some and does not work for others. Tastes vary. Kind of like how some people absolutely adored Oprah on television, and I was never a fan at all. Different strokes!