Don't flame me as I know I'm ungrateful

[Mamamaiasaura]

But it's my birthday and my very very lovely friend has sent me the Grey books via Amazon gifts ... Currently working out how long I need to keep them, how I can pretend I read them or will I have to? I feel a bit like I've been set some homework o do over the summer that I really don't want to do. I'm not into porn at all and do not find things like nipple twiddling remotely erotic (looks down at 8m dd nursing). :)

So are they worth a read

YANBU.
Tis drivel.
Your friend however IBU.
What was she thinking.

I hate it when people buy or lend me books unsolicited feel obliged to read some right old shite. Last year my neighbour gave me the loose women handbook. I was mortified.

I didn't know giving books was a faux-pas! I thought it was better than a bottle of wine or a photo frame.
Gave someone a book yesterday. Feel nervous now! (wasn't fifty shades tho)

Nor was it the loose woman handbook! What an insult!

Sorry, but anyone who thinks 50 shades is porn..... Maybe they are but they are mild believe me highly mild on the porn stakes!!

I thought only film/ photos were porn, the written word was erotica and everything else a bit of a 'grey area'...

Problem's not the porn bits.
It's badly written.

Don't waste your time!

If I was bought those I would have to tell the giver that they weren't my thing at all. I wouldn't feel right getting rid of them so they would sit gathering dust, embarrassing me when people came over.

Then in about 10 years I would probably charity shop them.

Alurkat I have to say I'm not wild about getting books as a present. There is a presumption that you have to read the blinkin thing and much as I love reading, I'm less keen when the book is not to my taste. A dear friend often buys books for presents and as I like eating and travelling they tend to be set abroad and have tedious chapters describing cooking recipes and how undulent a certain pear on a tree is. I usually get to about chapter two and then forget about it - only to be asked several months later how much I enjoyed it.
Bottles of wine are always a good gift.

I quite enjoyed them, the sex scenes got a bit boring after a while but they were a ncie easy read. The writing is poor but in the context of these sorts of books its really not that important, they will not be used for GCSE/A level english so its not really an issue!

Oh it is most definitely NOT porn, I don't really think they are that bad from that respect and I am not into porn or erotica at all.

I'm really pragmatic about gifts I give - I only want to spend my money on things that will be useful or appreciated. So if I've got it wrong, tell me immediately so I/you can return the gift and get something you'll love instead. Otherwise I might as well have wiped my bum with my money!

Sorry, meant to add - so I think you should say they aren't your thing, and can you return them? Hopefully she'll organise that and you can have Amazon vouchers as a replacement.

Oh gawd, rookiemater, that's the kind of book I got my mate yesterday.

As I handed it over, I said its fifty shades of grey, and she looked like a deer in headlights. When she realised it wasn't that, she looked fairly pleased.

Next time wine. Or a book about wine?

Alurkat you probably have nicer friends than me so I am sure she will enjoy the book - however just to be on the safe side best not to ask her about it ever again, if she enjoyed it I'm sure she will let you know.

Definitely not a book about wine, but wine or expensive chocolates ( Hotel Chocolat rather than Thorntons) are always acceptable.

On the 50shades subject I must have led a sheltered life( and I'm pretty sure I haven't). Perhaps the correct word for it is erotica rather than porn, but I wouldn't think too highly of any friend that got me a book that has explicit sex scenes and is overtly themed around a BDSM relationship. That's not to say I didn't enjoy certain parts of the book, but I would say that my sexual preferences are between myself and my husband and not something I want my friends to get involved in.

Got it - dont ask, dont tell re. Books as gifts.

Agree about 50 shades: it is breaking down barriers that don't need breaking down. I had heard people were reading it on the trains but I was shocked to see it the other day.