Book list: Fifty Shades of Grey Read-a-Likes
House of Holes
by Nicholson Baker
Though this book lacks an arrogant millionaire with an excessive, ah, belt collection, it makes up for it with literary inventiveness and sex positive glee. House of Holes is an invite only surreal retreat where visitors are sexually healed. Each chapter tells how different person found their way to the H of H and what they did once they got there. It can be addictive, both in the book and in real life. I had this book out for so long the library billed me for it. I had to do the walk of the shame – to the circulation desk.
The Story of O
by Pauline Réage
This is the ur-novel of the unexpected joys of submission genre. A talented young photographer learns she wants nothing more than to submit to someone else’s will and be proud of it to boot. Simultaneously better written and more hardcore than Fifty Shades of Grey, it won the Prix des Deux Magots when first published in France in 1954.
Delta of Venus
by Anais Nin
Keeping things French, Nin is best known for chronicling the bohemian milieu of 1930s Paris. How did she pay her bills during that rollicking time? She wrote erotica for a private patron. These stories have a very old world, 19th century feel. Though elegant, Delta of Venus is not staid. The spirit of the day seems to be if you are going to break one taboo why not break them all.
Addicted
by Zane
Before real housewives of Nashville discovered you could download hot library books for free, Zane was the queen of long holds lists at NPL. Somewhat more guilt ridden than Fifty Shades, Addicted tells the story of a mom that gets lured into the world of, you guessed it, sex addiction. If she regrets her actions, she sure does seem to like telling her therapist (and readers) all about it.
Twilight series
by Stephenie Meyer
If you haven’t heard, Fifty Shades started out as Twilight fan fiction. While waiting on Fifty Shades you could pregame by reading the source material. Though definitely lacking in naughty bits, the tension between the characters can get you geared up for what is to come. If you are impatient and on team Jacob, you can jump right to the chase with Glen Duncan’s The Last Werewolf which my coworkers have described to me as “werewolf erotica.”
The Pilgrim’s Progress
by John Bunyan
To paraphrase Chris Rock after a Marilyn Manson performance at the MTV Music Awards: get your butts to church!
BONUS:
The Secretary
What if you just wanted to watch a movie? The Secretary tells the now familiar inner-submissive-finds-perfect-dominant story with admirable amounts of heart and wit without totally crossing the line into Pornland. There is even an arrogant millionaire if that is an element you require for full narrative satisfaction. The real show is Maggie Gyllenhaal in her best role. By the end, we are rooting for her to get her man schmaltzy date movie style. The man in question is James Spader. If the movie has a flaw, it is that one flashback of Spader as the neurotic creeper in Sex, Lies, and Videotape kind of nixes the whole arrogant millionaire deal. Where’s Don Draper when you need him?
- Bryan
Themocracy
Or you could just travel to England where this hotel has replaced The Bible in all its rooms with Fifty Shades…
http://overheadbin.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/07/24/12909862-hotel-replaces-bibles-with-fifty-shades-of-grey