If you know who I'm talking about, you know who I'm talking about. If you don't - here's the primer.
Christian and Anastasia are the main characters in the ridiculously popular 50 Shades of Grey series. There are three books in the series and I have read the first one. At the risk of alienating people who loved the books, I will NOT be reading the next two books in the series. Why? Because I just really don't care one whit about what happens.
Christian and Anastasia are beautiful, gorgeous, perfect in every physical way but they have no oomph (well, outside the bedroom anyway). They are not real people, they have no real personalities, they are mere shells (albeit pretty ones). I am drawn to books that have memorable characters. Characters that are well-developed, that have depth and breadth. Characters that I can relate to, that I want to be like and that I care what happens to.
When I started writing this blog entry I had to Google the first names of the main characters of 50 Shades of Grey because I had forgotten them already.
Jamie and Claire, now they are another story altogether. I can spend all day talking about those two. They are the main characters in the series called Outlander. A series set in Scotland back in the 1700s, with a few visits to the 1900s just for kicks. A series with characters that grow and develop over time until you feel like they have always been part of your life. A series where people struggle, some to do the right thing, some to just survive, some to figure out who they are. One of the only series I have read more than once and one that I am currently considering reading again.
Why?
Because they just announced that Ron Moore will be adapting the series for Sony Pictures TV.
Omigod!
Diana Gabaldon, the author, announced it on her Facebook page yesterday afternoon and had over 1,200 comments in under ten minutes. There are a lot of vera vera happy people out there right now.
I'm picturing a series that looks kinda like Game of Thrones in terms of its visual richness but with Scottish accents, kilts, and no dragons. Just regular folk trying to survive, falling in love and growing old together.
In 50 Shades of Grey - there is a lot of hot steamy sex. In Outlander, there is also a lot of hot steamy sex.
But it's what happens between the sex scenes that really counts. And Jamie and Claire win that contest hands down.
What?! You prefer a book with plot versus a book with a lot of sex scenes?
ReplyDeleteHahaha. I totally agree with you. I love the Outlander series! I'm going to have to finish reading them! I'm on book 5.
I totally agree with you on the first Fifty Shades of Grey. I found the plot (or whatever there was of one!) very slow moving and evasive in terms of character development. I was dead-set against reading the other two but I did and you actually learn quite a bit about the characters' back-stories and a plot actually develops (slightly). Give them a go! (They would be an entertaining, fluffy summer read at the very least!)
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