Fifty Shades Of Grey | featured news

"Fifty Shades of Grey" raked in the Valentine's Day dollars, earning an estimated $81.7 million from 3,646 theaters in its first three days, distributor Universal Studios said on Sunday. The chart-topping erotic drama could be on track to earn over $90 million during the four-day holiday weekend.

(AP) — A Pennsylvania school district superintendent says five middle school students were mistakenly handed word search puzzles based on "Fifty Shades of Grey" with such terms as "leather cuffs" and "spanking."

A staff member collected the sheets from the five students once they began sniggering at words like bondage, ''submissive and even more explicit terms.

Here's a list "Fifty Shades of Grey" was destined to make: The books most likely to be removed from school and library shelves. On Monday, E L James' multimillion selling erotic trilogy placed No. 4 on the American Library Association's annual study of "challenged books," works subject to complaints from parents, educators and other members of the public. The objections: Offensive language, and, of course, graphic sexual content.

Has Christian Grey been dethroned as the steamiest Edward Cullen-inspired character? Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren (which is the pen name of writers Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings) is the latest Twilight fan fic-turned-novel (formerly known to more than 2 million online readers as The Office)--but don't expect it to be the same BDSM-filled fantasy. Bookish breaks down what you can expect and what you definitely won't see in Beautiful Bastard--and how it differs from blockbuster bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey.

Readers hoping for more erotic exploits with a certain domineering millionaire and innocent college student will be sorely disappointed. Speaking at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on Monday night, "Fifty Shades of Grey" author E.L. James told the New York Post that her next novel will be, shall we say, tamer than her first.

A Brazilian judge has ordered bookstores to ensure that the erotic trilogy "Fifty Shades of Grey" is out of the reach of minors.

The story of 2012 in publishing was the story of "Fifty Shades of Grey," in more ways than one. E L James' erotic trilogy was easily the year's biggest hit, selling more than 35 million copies in the U.S. alone and topping bestseller lists for months. Rival publishers hurried to sign up similar books and debates started over who should star in the planned film version. Through James' books and how she wrote them, the general public was educated in the worlds of romance/erotica, start-up publishing and "fan fiction."

EL James's best seller Fifty Shades of Grey has been named popular fiction book of the year at the Specsavers National Book Awards in London. The erotic novelist beat competition from Kate Mosse, JoJo Moyes, Victoria Hislop, Bernard Cornwell and Dorothy Koomson to win the accolade. This year's Booker Prize winner, Hilary Mantel, was chosen as the UK author of the year for a second time.

Every day brings news of more and more projects hanging onto Fifty Shades of Grey‘s coattails (or cat o’nine tails). You can’t blame any of the bandwagon-jumpers, though. E L James’ S&M trilogy is quickly joining the likes of Twilight and The Hunger Games in terms of sales, and Amazon UK has reported that the books have become the best-selling books in the website’s 14-year history, overtaking the Harry Potter series in just four months.

Bibles in nightstands are a familiar amenity for hotel guests, but travelers seeking to read their favorite verse at one establishment will be in for a big surprise. The Damson Dene Hotel, which touts itself as the perfect destination for a “peaceful break away from it all” in England’s picturesque Lake District, is making quite a noise for replacing the Bible with “Fifty Shades of Grey” in its 40 guest rooms.