[UPDATE] Tallahassee - May 10, 2012 - 11:49pm
You can search the shelves and scan the book catalogs, but you won't find a single copy of the erotic 'Fifty Shades of Grey' in any Leon County library.
Cay Hohmeister is the director of libraries in Leon County. She says they chose not to purchase the book. The reason behind that is not because of the steamy S&M love story between a young college girl and a handsome billionaire, but because of its reviews.
"It hasn't received favorable reviews in the review medias we usually use," said Hohmeister.
Some reviews we found on Barnes and Noble's website echo just that. Some write that it's a bad book and that it's poorly written. Others write that it's just plain horrible, but then other people disagree. We spoke to people who describe it as racy and interesting and that they're having a good time learning about that lifestyle.
Even with the plethora of positive opinions floating around and the millions of copies sold, Hohmeister says popularity isn't the same as a good book.
She also says the library has to stick to a budget and right now they feel 'Fifty Shades of Grey' is not an investment they'll see a return on for years to come.
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St. Petersburg, FL (AP) - Public libraries in several states are pulling the racy romance trilogy "Fifty Shades of Grey" from shelves or deciding not to order the best-seller at all.
The libraries are saying it's too erotic or too poorly written.
Deborah Caldwell Stone is the deputy director of the American Library Association's office for intellectual freedom. She says when libraries pull a book, people who can't afford a paperback, Kindle, iPad or other tablet no longer have access to the book.
She says the decision to stock a book should not be made on content alone.
Libraries in Wisconsin, Georgia and Florida have all either declined to order the book or pulled it from shelves. Many libraries across the country are carrying the novel, and demand is high.
