Fifty Shades of Grey: My Thoughts

Unless you live under a rock, you have heard of the ever popular Fifty Shades of Grey series. I read all three books in the beginning of April, right as they were getting all the media attention here in the US. And it took me all of 4 days to read them. I've NEVER done that with any kind of book before. I have the books on my iPhone so I was able to read at any free moment...and of course get nothing else done! haha

So my thoughts on the books are this: I will be the first to admit that these are not the greatest pieces of literature ever written. BUT I did enjoy the story and it has ignited my love for reading again. I fell in love with the characters of Christian and Ana and found a lot of similarities between Ana and myself. I have read through the series twice and started the first book for the third time while I was over in London, although it am going through it at a much more leisurely pace lol.

There usually isn't a grey area with this book (clever aren't I?!?) when it comes to people's opinions about them. They either have read them and loved them, read them and hated them, OR haven't read them at all and judge those who have. About half of my friends have read them and half of them haven't and most have no desire to. That's TOTALLY fine! Everyone is entitled to read what they want to read.

I wasn't even going to do a post about the books simply because everyone has done one and I didn't feel like I had anything unique to say. But tonight I was chatting with twitter bff Kristy aka @The_Pink_Owl about a blog post someone had written (which I'm not going to link here. If you're that interested shoot me an email) about the readers of these books. In a nutshell the post is BLATANTLY judging those who have read the books, calling them straight porn, and stating that those who have read them need to seriously examine their hearts and basically calling them un-Christian-like.

This INFURIATES me. I 100% understand if you don't like the books or don't read them because the subject matter doesn't appeal to you or the writing isn't the best. But to judge someone on their morals and where their heart is based on a book they have read?!? This is uncalled for. Yes everyone is entitled to their own opinion (after all that's what this whole post is...my opinion), but I think the judging is unnecessary. I know a lot of women who have read this series who I admire and who are Godly women. To tell me that these books are going to lead me to being addicted to porn and that I need to "watch myself"!?!? GIVE ME A BREAK! No one has the right to judge me and what's in my heart based on what I read for leisure.

Bottom line: I enjoyed this series. It has re-invigorated my love for reading I hadn't had since before I started college (seriously. I probably read 1 book my 5 years in college). I'm not sorry that I read these books and I'm not ashamed of them. I don't think they are sending me down a tawdry road of pornographic hell, but simply an entertaining read that show insight into a world that is rarely talked about.

Have you read the books and if so what are your thoughts on them? Are you just as obsessed with them as I am or were they just ok? Have you had someone judge you for your reading material? PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one who feels this way!!

xoxo

Natalie