At my library at the moment we have what I like to call the Waxed Torso Display, which is our display of books for people who liked Fifty Shades of Grey. I have not read Fifty Shades myself, but our library ninjas assure me that if you liked Fifty Shades, you might find the following subject search useful.
I’m sure our library ninjas are right, because we are refilling the Waxed Torso Display every hour, which is the swiftest vulturing*, I’ve seen, even for locals, who really love to vulture.
One question for those of you who do read Waxed Torso Literature, why are there so many Scotsmen and policemen on the covers, and how exactly does one get manscaped in the medieval highlands, before fighting the English? It seems thoroughly impractical to me, although the Spartans did it before Thermopylae, so there’s some precedent.
Ah yes, the Waxed Torso Display. Nothing will move a book quite so quickly off a shelf than a Waxed Torso. Brilliant that you have these covers on display (I read somewhere that artists are paid more for cover work than the author is paid for writing) and themed around Fifty Shades. I haven’t read it either but millions have and they want more! You raise an interesting point regarding manscaping in the medieval highlands. When I was a child (despite being a girl) I was told to “eat your vegetables; they’ll put hairs on your chest!” Maybe they didn’t eat their veggies?
So, your theory is that scurvy is basically related to male, Scottish sexiness? OK, I could kind of buy that, but what about all the policemen?
The policemen I can’t quite figure out. I have noticed that cowboys are currently gracing covers as well, however. Theories anyone?
Ah, well, I think your “lack of veggies” thesis might still work there. Cowboys ate a lot of meat, but I think they didn’t get far into veggies beyond chili powder and beans.
No, sorry, have to rebut the “carnivore = manscaped” theory, at least in regards to Highlanders. The Scots’ main diet was barley and oats, (think porridge and delicious haggis, which, admittedly, has unidentifiable sheep bits in it). When they joined the British Army (allowed to wear their kilts again in exchange for being cannon fodder – what a great deal!) they were appalled at the indigestible allocation of a pound of beef a day to soldiers, and would sell their share to English soldiers.
I don’t get the waxed torso thing – there has been a lot of research over the years which tends to support what you would, intuitively, think – that women find images of men with beards to be more masculine, stronger, aggressive and powerful than the hairless alternatives. If the romance genre is all about Alpha males, then the waxed torsos are counter-intuitive. Especially the waxed torso werewolves. That’s just so wrong….
The Gold Coast Bulletin is carrying a suggestion that 50 Shades might be behind the recent boom in babies delivered at the Gold Coast Hospital.
Maybe we need to do a “If you liked Fifty Shades of Grey About Nine Months Ago, You Might Now Like…” display?