50 Shades and Charity Shop Trawl

N.B. I have nothing against Fifty Shades - in fact, I admire the trilogy's success.

In preparation for my start at university, I, like all other English students, have a reasonable list of books that need to be purchased and (preferably) read before the start of term. As we all know, books these days ain't so cheap, so I took to trawling the charity shops in my local area (there are 7 of them along one road) in search of cheap books.

Sadly, there was a deficit in the books that I required for my course, but there was an oversupply of copies of E. L. James' 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and the sequels. I confess, I haven't read them, although due to all the hype surrounding the books I am fairly confident in my knowledge of the plot and 'events' in the novel.

In every single charity shop I went into there was at least one copy, usually more, of Fifty - in my local Oxfam they were doing a deal on the whole trilogy for £2 (or something). It made me consider novels such as James', which are undeniably popular, hugely successful and undoubtedly relieve the author of any need to write again (for money's sake, that is), yet are essentially throw away fiction - once read, the owners are willing to disown their copy to free up shelf space for a more 'literary' title or perhaps, the owners of the novel are somewhat embarrassed to have had a copy in the first place, and are therefore eager to chuck it (or at least, this is what I gathered from my charity shop ventures).

I don't know - this is all highly speculative and suggestive - but it did make me consider what it is that makes  a novel rarely show up in a charity shop (by that I mean, people giving away a novel). Yes, once could argue the novel that never sells will never end up in a charity shop; naturally, popular novels, which are more widely read are more likely to find their way to the British Heart Foundation. Although there weren't so many copies of 'A Game of Thrones' or 'Harry Potter'...

If I were to ever write a novel (and I'm not holding my breath on that one) I would like, naturally, to have even the tiniest portion of success that James has had, although at the same time, I would not want my novel to join the ranks of 'throw-away fiction'. (N.B. I am all for giving to charity, just so you know, and I give away regularly.) Yet, perhaps is that what fiction has become - a quick and easy read for the otherwise very busy mind? Do 21st C people seek clutter free lives, so they throw out paper volumes to read i-pad and kindle editions instead?

I never knew that a trip to the charity shop would stimulate such thought! Still, I went home and ordered the books off amazon...and my first package arrived today!