I50 shades of greyf you think 50 shades of gray has to do with paint samples at Home Depot, boy, are you in for a surprise. Take a look at The New York Times digital best seller list annd you'll see 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James at the top, followed by the other two books in the trilogy -- 50 Shades Darker and 50 Shades Freed. They are THE books everyone is talking about and they're coming Stateside in hardback next month. Not that you'd necessarily want to lug around this 528-page X-rated erotic book of porn because, yeah, that might be a little awkward to read on your commute, but still! It's plausible that the novel's cult-like following will inspire women to pick up a copy, forget embarrassment, and embrace the hotness -- the books, I hear, are extremely steamy.

And one of the biggest demographics reading this too hot to trot literature? Moms. Sounds like bedrooms all over the country are getting a little more interesting thanks to the arousing colloquy stylings of Ms. E.L. James.

The books have been called Twilight for adults -- even though there aren't any vampires (as far as I can tell) -- the plot follows a forbidden relationship between a female college student and an older, rich businessman who teaches her all about "dominant-submissive" sexual encounters. Oh, my. Obviously it gets pretty damn pornographic, and fans are eating it up.

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So will 50 Shades of Grey inspire women to get a little more randy behind closed doors? I don't see why it wouldn't. Men and women use porn to, um, get in the mood, all the time. Just because this is a big fat tome with plot twists and turns doesn't mean the end game isn't the same. The purpose of most "adult material" is to (oh god I hate this word) titillate, and 50 Shades of Grey is no different. I can't help but assume that readers react to what they've read, in their own personal way, between the sheets.

This isn't to say that everyone who's read the book has raced home to tie themselves to the bed and wait for their husbands to come home and explore their "sex" (as it's called in the book) -- some critics argue that the novel puts its female protagonist in dangerous, sexually sadist scenarios. That said, this "mommy porn" has been flying off the digital shelves for months. And when mommy's reading pornographic novels in her spare time, I have to think that everyone benefits. Happy wife, happy life, right?

Have you read 50 Shades of Grey? If not, are you considering it?

 

Photo via amazon.com