A new classic

How sad.

Florida County Library Pulls Racy 'Fifty Shades of Grey' From Shelves

Have they looked on their Romance shelves lately? Or some "YA"? There is some seriously hot sex going on in those books. How is this any different? 

From Florida Today:

“It’s quite simple — it doesn’t meet our selection criteria,” said Cathy Schweinsberg, library services director.

“Nobody asked us to take it off the shelves. But we bought some copies before we realized what it was. We looked at it, because it’s been called ‘mommy porn’ and ‘soft porn.’ We don’t collect porn.”

They'd bought 19 copies already, so it met your selection criteria before, or are you in the habit of buying material before you know what it is? Now they won't stock them because some people called it "porn" (who? qualified reviewers? librarians? professional adult material selectors? jackasses who call everything with a sex scene "porn"? your selection committee, perhaps?)  

I haven't read these books, they're not really my thing. But 300+ people on hold for the first one at our library, and  probably more every day. 

They say they have other "porn" titles:

Copies of “The Complete Kama Sutra” are available through the Cocoa Beach, Mims/Scottsmoor, Palm Bay and Titusville branches. Also up for grabs countywide: “Fanny Hill,” “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” “Fear of Flying,” “Tropic of Cancer” and “Lolita.”

So what makes “Fifty Shades of Grey” different?

“I think because those other books were written years ago and became classics because of the quality of the writing,” Schweinsberg said. “This is not a classic.”

You know what makes something a classic? Standing the test of time. Getting a reputation as something everyone should read. You know what all these classics listed here have in common? Sex scenes, and having been banned somewhere.

We might just have a classic here, after all.