Fifty Shades of Gray

Ugh.

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I can't finish reading this.  It makes me too angry.

I get why it's so popular, though.  This is the first non-lesbian book that I've ever read in which the woman's sexual pleasure is described in the first-person.   For those who don't read fac-fic or women-centered erotica, this can really be an exciting experience.  Plus, Christian seems really good at pleasuring her.  I think all people want a partner who knows how to make them feel that way.

HOWEVER, I have friends in the BDSM community, and from my impression of what they do, their BDSM activities are mostly focused on sex, not their whole lives.  In fact, I think that people who have more power and responsibility in their public lives tend to like to be submissive, to just let go.  What this book describes is a Slave relationship.  That's very atypical for people in the BDSM community.


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Vincalis: The Agitator

Review from GoodReads:  Vincalis the Agitator by Holly Lisle
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The book started with one-dimensional characters, with the women being one-dimensional AND stereotypical.  One woman's main motivation is love, and the other is portrayed as slutty (and punished for it later with severe domestic violence).  A sub-plot of sadistic pedophilia is totally not necessary.
Based on this, I probably won't read the series.  The story itself was mostly interesting, but it was hard to get through the stereotypes.


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Friday, by Heinlein

My comments while reading this:
"I could do without the extended rape scene, then having no emotional toll to it or to the torture."
"Lots of family drama and polyamory , but where are the thrilling heroics?"

Those are good summations of my views. This seems like a character written by a man about how he imagines an ideal woman to be. All about sex, no real emotional connections (or, none that last).

Additionally, the plot really doesn't go anywhere. There's global assassinations, but they're used merely as a plot device. They aren't actually the plot. The plot is just following this woman around while she has sex with lots and lots of people. In the end, even with her rapist! COME ON. I'm getting angry just remembering. 

I've liked other Heinlein, but now I have to re-think those characters. May be the women were as emotionally shallow and sex-crazed as this one. Although I do remember a plot in some of his books, so...

"Why Does the World Exist?" by Holt

Since I lost a Facebook posting of my and my friends' reviews of Star Trek: Into Darkness, here's a book review. 

My review from GoodReads:

Why Does the World Exist: An Existential Detective Story by Jim Holt
I hate this book. It's a bunch of (White) men pontificating on an obtuse topic that has no practical value. Despite my best efforts, I did finish reading it. But I will be blaming my book club for years to come about the waste of my time.


The only vaguely positive thing that might have come out of reading it is that I now know that people have tried to answer this "Why is there Something rather than Nothing?" question for centuries.  That's it.  I learned it's a tough question.  An impossible question.  And that  people have wasted their time on it for a very long time.   

Ferris Beach

I did not like this book at all.

It had a rambling plot that didn't really go anywhere. The first person writing was way too intellectual for a a young teen. There was a rape that was probably not crucial for the plot. In addition to the rape, it seems like an awful lot of truly horrible things happened to several families in this small town, more than seems likely. Which makes me wonder that these horrible occurrences were mere plot devices, attempts to make the plot move at all. Partially unsuccessful.

In the end, as a coming of age story, it pretty much sucked and had no relevance to experiences of me or most of the people that I know. People who are demographically similar to the characters in this novel.

My review? Pass this one up. I can't figure out why it ever got on my reading list in the first place.