It’s not all about Christian Grey, you know!

Prompted by a friends recommendation,  I’ve started reading the ‘International Phenomenon’ (*rolls eyes*) ‘The Man’. 

What can I say?  Other than it being yet another FSOG clone (yawn).

On a literary level, the typescript is absolutely horrendous - although it reads much better when under the influence of stimulants/prescription drugs,  I must say. 

Please allow me to summarise it for you:

‘Ana Ava is a naive idiot who thinks with her fanny young professional who cannot overcome her attraction to domineering selfish bastard playboy Christian Jesse.’

I know.  Sound familiar?

When I read a book, it’s usually because I either want to learn something or I want to escape normality for a while.  So, when I read a book for recreational purposes, I enjoy it much more if I’m given the opportunity to create my own mental picture of it.  I don’t like it when every single iota of detail is dictated to me.  For instance, in many erotic novels I’ve read, way too much page space is given to tedious minutia that’s completely irrelevant to the storyline/book objective. 

Personally,  I don’t want to know every single decorative detail about the setting/backdrop/characters personal life;  neither do I want to read about everyday mundane occurrences or be painfully subjected to an exchange of banal and pointless dialogue. 

I want the book to set the scene, not to over-analyse it.  I don’t need to know that the lead’s six foot nine inches tall with a square jawline and hazelnut coloured eyes.  I just want to know that he’s fit and I’ll mentally construct the rest, thank you very much.

I want the book to divulge the outline and sketch out a few seductive details. I don’t need the I’s dotting and the T’s crossing.  That’s the job that my reader brain has to do.  I don’t want the neuroticism, materialism, idealism and sometimes downright stupidism that all too often lands itself on the pages of a hell of a lot of erotic novels I’ve recently read. 

I don’t want to be force-fed formulaic Mills and Boon bullshit and I don’t want my lead to be a billionaire, have his own Charlie Tango and be a ridiculous incarnation of the man from the Milk Tray advert.  I want my man to be completely real and completely human.  Flaws, falls, fails and all. 

After all, aren’t the best sexual fantasies the ones that are anchored in reality - involving real life people and real life situations?