What book are you currently reading?

[Jonanananas]

Yeah I would definitely advise against reading books on a computer screen. A kindle is a different thing though. I have always been reluctant to buy one, but I got it as a present for my birthday, and it's definitely cool. Not a full replacement of books - I still love to have a real physical edition - but it is very comfortable to read and comfortable to get books as well - there are also a lot of offers for free or cheap books. Plus a kindle isn't that expensive really. Depends on how much you read if you consider it worth buying though.

[Bonez899]

Catching Fire, reading it today. Read Hunger Games and saw the movie over the weekend.

[Guest Rob]

.

[Serpent Eye]

I like the feel and smell of paper too much.

 

:unsure:

[Sally]

Currently reading The Unbecoming Of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin. A little confusing in places but all around pretty good, I recommend checking it out :)

[Alg]

Finished "Urinetown" just now. Last book for that English class. Quite funny.

[Serpent Eye]

Reading Nocturnal by Scott Sigler.

 

:thumbup:

[Duff]

Still reading the first book of the Lord of the Rings. I started it winter break and only managed to get 3/4 of the way through it during second semester. :\

[tripsis]

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry.

 

This book... oh my god. I'm hooked. As made evident by the fact that it's 5am and I can't sleep because this book is so amazing that I can't put it down.

[Vezon Dash]

"Passionate Declarations" by Howard Zinn.... Just a huge anti-war / government conspiracy book. I dislike reading stuff like this for school.

[tripsis]

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James......

 

...what the heck is this book? Part of me isn't even sure I want to finish it.

[Assume Nothing]

Question - if I'm going to University next year, should I buy a kindle?

[Guest Rob]

.

[tripsis]

Adding onto what Rob said, you can also just download a free Kindle application on your PC. You don't need a Kindle for university at all. If you do find yourself reading eBooks for school, you can just use the free application.

 

The only appeal of getting a Kindle would be if you read a lot for pleasure and you read "on the go" (like if you travel a lot).

[Serpent Eye]

Reading Nocturnal by Scott Sigler.

 

:thumbup:

This book is making me want to claw my brain out. So much is going on, and I'm at such a loss as to what the hell is happening at any given moment. Good times. :twss:

 

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James......

 

...what the heck is this book? Part of me isn't even sure I want to finish it.

:lol: Have you ever read anything like that before? :P

[tripsis]

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James......

 

...what the heck is this book? Part of me isn't even sure I want to finish it.

:lol: Have you ever read anything like that before? :P

Well I have read erotic books before, but never anything with this level of BDSM. Honestly, what's annoying me most is the controlling behaviour OUTSIDE of the bedroom. I don't know if you've read the book or just know about it, but I'm referring to the stupid stuff like "You HAVE to eat" when she isn't hungry or "Go to sleep now" when she isn't tired. Just.. UGH.

 

But the BDSM stuff is certainly a bit... off-putting as well. I have no problem with it in practice, but I find it pretty disgusting that Anastasia clearly doesn't want to participate in it (or at least not the painful elements) but does it anyway because she wants their relationship for other reasons. Sends a pretty horrible message IMO.

[Lord Paul]

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James......

 

...what the heck is this book? Part of me isn't even sure I want to finish it.

:lol: Have you ever read anything like that before? :P

Well I have read erotic books before, but never anything with this level of BDSM. Honestly, what's annoying me most is the controlling behaviour OUTSIDE of the bedroom. I don't know if you've read the book or just know about it, but I'm referring to the stupid stuff like "You HAVE to eat" when she isn't hungry or "Go to sleep now" when she isn't tired. Just.. UGH.

 

But the BDSM stuff is certainly a bit... off-putting as well. I have no problem with it in practice, but I find it pretty disgusting that Anastasia clearly doesn't want to participate in it (or at least not the painful elements) but does it anyway because she wants their relationship for other reasons. Sends a pretty horrible message IMO.

 

What the [bleep] is this? Sounds interesting, lol.

 

And uh, I'm not reading anything right now.. used to be a voracious reader when I was in highschool (reading 800 pages a day was a great way to spend a day...easy to procrastinate), but then Runescape and the Internet happened. <_<

[Serpent Eye]

Well I have read erotic books before, but never anything with this level of BDSM. Honestly, what's annoying me most is the controlling behaviour OUTSIDE of the bedroom. I don't know if you've read the book or just know about it, but I'm referring to the stupid stuff like "You HAVE to eat" when she isn't hungry or "Go to sleep now" when she isn't tired. Just.. UGH.

 

But the BDSM stuff is certainly a bit... off-putting as well. I have no problem with it in practice, but I find it pretty disgusting that Anastasia clearly doesn't want to participate in it (or at least not the painful elements) but does it anyway because she wants their relationship for other reasons. Sends a pretty horrible message IMO.

Oh that's horrible. -.- I haven't read the book, but I've heard a lot about it. Sounds more like borderline slavery than BDSM.

 

Isn't it meant to be consensual anyway? But I guess she could still be consenting, despite not wanting to go through the painful bits. :P

 

APPARENTLY IT'S CHANGING MARRIAGES ACROSS THE COUNTRY so perhaps people aren't getting the "horrible" part of the message it sends, lol. :P

 

Edit: @Lord Paul: It's a book series, the first book is called Fifty Shades of Grey. Basically (from what I understand) it started off as a spinoff fanfiction from the Twilight universe, involving two characters that the author (of the fanfic, not Stephanie Meyer) created. It gained such popularity online that she took the fanfics down and turned it into a trilogy of novels. Middle-aged women (and Tripsis :P) across the country are going ape-shit over it.

[tripsis]

Well I have read erotic books before, but never anything with this level of BDSM. Honestly, what's annoying me most is the controlling behaviour OUTSIDE of the bedroom. I don't know if you've read the book or just know about it, but I'm referring to the stupid stuff like "You HAVE to eat" when she isn't hungry or "Go to sleep now" when she isn't tired. Just.. UGH.

 

But the BDSM stuff is certainly a bit... off-putting as well. I have no problem with it in practice, but I find it pretty disgusting that Anastasia clearly doesn't want to participate in it (or at least not the painful elements) but does it anyway because she wants their relationship for other reasons. Sends a pretty horrible message IMO.

Oh that's horrible. -.- I haven't read the book, but I've heard a lot about it. Sounds more like borderline slavery than BDSM.

 

Isn't it meant to be consensual anyway? But I guess she could still be consenting, despite not wanting to go through the painful bits. :P

 

APPARENTLY IT'S CHANGING MARRIAGES ACROSS THE COUNTRY so perhaps people aren't getting the "horrible" part of the message it sends, lol. :P

 

Edit: @Lord Paul: It's a book series, the first book is called Fifty Shades of Grey. Basically (from what I understand) it started off as a spinoff fanfiction from the Twilight universe, involving two characters that the author (of the fanfic, not Stephanie Meyer) created. It gained such popularity online that she took the fanfics down and turned it into a trilogy of novels. Middle-aged women (and Tripsis :P) across the country are going ape-shit over it.

It's basically consensual slavery.. to the point where he has a contract written up that she has to sign that says stuff like:

 

This will be a 3 month period where I will be the dominator and you will be the submitter. During this time you must eat 3 meals a day, you may not snack in between meals, and you can only eat from a list of pre-approved foods. You may only wear clothes that I buy for you and permit you to wear. You must exercise 4 times a week. You may not look at me without permission. You may never touch me. You must be shaven and waxed at all times and attend a beauty salon of my choosing.

 

etc. The entire contract was quoted in the book and it was literally like 6 pages long.

 

The problem is that the guy is basically taking advantage of her emotions to fulfill his sexual fantasies. Maybe he's not doing it on purpose, but that's what's happening. The main character (Ana) starts out really innocent, is a virgin, and doesn't have much self esteem. Then the guy - Christian - comes along and she's attracted to him. He's handsome and mysterious so there's some sexual attraction. And for her, it's the first time she's ever been sexually attracted to a man. She looks at Christian and wants a romantic relationship. She wants to "make love", go on dates, go see movies, and fall in love. Christian isn't into that and he makes it clear from the get go. But Ana still clings onto the possibility. So she consents to basically becoming his sex slave (according to their contract, she actually has to live with him Friday - Sunday and do anything he says - sexually or otherwise). She's slightly open to simple stuff like bondage (won't go into anything else than that, as it'll start getting inappropriate for TIF), but she NEVER wants to be 'punished' or in pain. But she puts up with it (through her tears and cries of pain) because she's still clinging onto the possibility that she'll walk away with a 'real' or 'normal' relationship.

 

That's why, in my opinion, this book sends a horrible, horrible message. Before Ana, Christian had done this with 15 other women and they were all really into BDSM already. I think that's fine. They know what they're getting into and they enjoy that lifestyle. That is real consent. But I see his situation with Ana as him abusing her innocent and inexperienced emotions. This book basically sends the message that it's fine to tolerate horrible pain that makes you cry and want to run away and hide, because maybe one day you'll get a real relationship out of it. And on the plus side, the guy is really rich and will buy you things.

 

:thumbdown:

 

I honestly had a much different impression of this book before I began. I thought it was going to ultimately be a romantic novel with some BDSM tied in. To be fair, I'm only on page 330/514, but so far it's more like a BDSM, abuse, slavery book, with hopes and dreams of romance that ultimately probably won't come. But as it stands now, I'm actually pretty disgusted that people are enjoying this book.

 

I'm at the point where I'm considering calling it quits. I have a billion other books to read that sound fantastic. I just don't know if I can waste my time with this one anymore. If I do decide to finish it, it will be purely out of OCD. I'm more than half way through and don't like leaving things unfinished.

 

This review sums up my thoughts quite nicely: http://novelsounds.net/review/50-shades-of-grey-by-el-james/ I randomly came across that earlier tonight and it resonates well with me. And a few of the bits made me laugh. :P Like:

 

This book made me hate sex. Really, Im done with it. I am currently researching various religions to find out which one hates sex the most/how fast can I sign up.

 

And yeah, Serpent basically nailed the history behind this book. It's only really similar to Twilight in the really overarching sense. Like on the one hand you have a really average, ultimately unremarkable girl. Her self esteem isn't great, she's fairly innocent, not all that into guys, etc. Then she meets a guy who is really controlling and mysterious and for the first time, feels attraction. Then the book is about their relationship and her struggling to work around his controlling behaviour.

 

That's really the only bit that connects the two books. You see a lot of similar things like Ana losing the ability to think whenever she's around Christian because he's "so hot" or whatever. You see a lot of that stuff in Twilight too.

 

But Fifty Shades of Grey is really a contemporary novel. No fantasy, no vampires, no werewolves.

 

When my mom found out I was reading this, she was like "Omg bring it home to me when you're done, so I can read it!" When she said that, I was like "Okay sure" because I was only like 30 pages in. Now that I'm more than half way through, I'd honestly be horrified if my mom read this :/

[Guest Rob]

.

[Serpent Eye]

The only books that I own that I think would compare to Fifty Shades is the Sleeping Beauty trilogy by Anne Rice (writing as A. N. Roquelaure). The books in order are The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, Beauty's Punishment, and Beauty's Release. They're pretty graphic, so like you said, it's probably best to not describe them on TIF. It's the classic story (only not really) of Sleeping Beauty, but rather than kissing her to wake her up, Prince Charming has to do some other things, and then she becomes his sex slave. It's all updownhill from there.

 

If you're into that kind of fiction, you should give it a glance. :P

 

 

I vote that you abandon reading Fifty Shades if you're that disturbed by it. Your OCD will thank you later!

[Bonez899]

Wow, Fifty Shades of Gray seems a little, of the edge...

[Assume Nothing]

I think I'd enjoy it... maybe

[Alg]

Wow, Fifty Shades of Gray seems a little, of the edge...

I think I've seen a Criminal Minds episode with that same premise.

[tripsis]

I vote that you abandon reading Fifty Shades if you're that disturbed by it. Your OCD will thank you later!

I kind of wish I took your advice and stopped reading :P I decided to finish it, only to find out that the worst part was yet to come...

 

[hide=Spoiler Alert & Somewhat Disturbing Alert]He beat her really hard with a belt... luckily she finally that the good sense to leave him after that. It's ridiculous that it took that long though >_<[/hide]

 

You can read my full review here if you want: http://booknook.me/fifty-shades-of-grey-by-e-l-james/ though I guess I don't really say much other than what I've already said in this thread.

 

Now I'm onto a new book called A Prince from the Shadows by J.Curtis Mace. The author was kind enough to provide me with a free copy in exchange for a review on my blog. It's a fantasy book. Sounds kind of cool - hope it's a good read.