Random thoughts on a rainy weekend

So it was a very rainy weekend, the kind that makes you not want to leave your bed and just go read one book after another. But it's the weekend when the last Dark Knight movie of Nolan's trilogy, so it's a given that I had to haul my lazy ass out of bed, get into non-hobo-ish clothes, and see it. Awesome movie, by the way. I'm not a Batman fan, but this movie won me over. People actually clapped during the credits.

Last Friday, I got the 2 newest reissues of Lois Duncan's wonderfully enjoyable YA novels: A Gift of Magic and The Third Eye. I read A Gift of Magic Friday night, and the other on Saturday night. As always, I read each in one sitting. Duncan's novels are now my choice of drug. They're creepy, told in a straightforward fashion, and features characters that you actually root for.

And, I'm making good progress on E L James's Fifty Shades of Grey. Almost at the midpoint now. "Juicy" parts have just started. I'm reading it in line with the book club's read-along, after the James's trilogy of BDSM novels was chosen in a poll. Was hoping for Anna Karenina to win (or any of those Russian heavyweights for that matter). But Fifty Shades it is, and boy oh boy is the discussion turning out to be a very active one. What can I say, people love talking about sex, no? It's a private group, so people can yak all they want about BDSM, safewords, vanilla sex, etc.

We've somehow agreed that it doesn't take good writing to make it to the bestseller lists. So the discussion is taking on a different direction, one that focuses on the story elements rather than the language. People may laugh endlessly on how bad E L James's writing is. But who's having the last laugh really? James probably is, and she's laughing all the way to the bank.

But indulge me, dear reader, as I make one final comment on the writing style in Fifty Shades of Grey. For the life of me, I can't count how many times the phrase "my inner goddess" appears. What's up with that? And, and, I cringe every time I read this remark: "Laters, baby." There, it's out of my system. Bring on the whip!