Sick....

I've got the sickness. I didn't even go to work today, thats how miserable I am. Those who know me know that I NEVER call off. I slept 15 hours yesterday. Finally I'm starting to feel a bit better today. Z is working afternoons this week, so he has already left for work and I have the house to myself. Sometimes thats so nice and other times the quiet is disturbing. Today its a little disturbing. I've got Pandora going and I think I'm going to try to write a little today to distract myself.

Anyway, books. I have been reading like a crazed person lately. 6 books since my last post. The two I want to focus on in this blog are Rachel's Holiday -Marian Keyes, and Fifty Shades of Grey -E.L. James.

First, the one and only Marian Keyes. Once again, she writes another fantastic novel. This one takes on one of the sisters from the book Watermelon and tells her story. Its a book about addiction. Rachel's story is my favorite out of the Welsh sisters, so far. It was just one of those books where I got all of the characters. It was heartwarming and funny, but also very sobering and serious in places as well. I just really enjoyed reading it.
One of the things that I adore about Marian, yes, I'm going to pretend we are on first name basis because I love her so, is her openness and honesty. She has never tried to hide that she used to be an alcoholic. She has never tried to hide that she deals with depression. And I love her for it. I think that her writing is stronger for it.
Its very scary to be open about things like that, especially when you have a product that you have poured your heart and soul into and you just want people to like it, or like you, so that they will buy it. It makes being yourself hard, I believe. But Marian is just so sweet about it. She arrives on the scene saying, "Here I am take it or leave it." And unfortunately for you if you choose to leave it you are missing out big time. Her books, as I have said before, are some of my favorites. Pick one, any one, and try it, you'll be addicted too!

Now, onto Fifty Shades. Wow. Ok. I wasn't exactly sure what it was all about when I got it. I knew that it was a New York Times Bestseller, and that it was everywhere, I also knew that it was a pretty dirty book. Well, yes, its dirty. And there is a ton of sex. Sex on practically every page. There are orgasms flying around everywhere. To be honest with you, and if my mother ever reads this she would disown me, but to be honest, sometimes those books are exactly what I need. Although normally when you read explicit books they are light and fluffy, everyone falling in love and winning things and perfect lives, which is fine if thats what you need. In Fifty Shades that isn't the case at all. Christian Grey is a messed up man. In more ways then just his sex life.
My honest thoughts, and I never like to knock writers because at least they are writing, where I usually just think about writing, but I thought that this book was poorly written. I felt that there were phrases that were WAY overused, and it was just kind of generic. From a writers standpoint I couldn't understand why it was a bestseller.
However, the story itself is absolutely captivating. I couldn't put it down. I just had to know what happened. As soon as I finished I bought the other two in the series because I couldn't wait to find out what goes on. So, from a readers standpoint, I can see it being a bestseller in this regard.
If you are squeamish or don't like dirty, don't even try this book. While the characters are fantastic and the storyline intriguing, there is no way around the sex. So don't bother. But if you don't mind reading stuff like that give it a try. I really enjoyed it. I'm almost done with the second book now and the writing seems to have improved a bit.

Well, I'm off to finish reading that book and get some writing done. Have a good day everyone.

“A capacity and taste for reading gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others.”

- Abraham Lincoln