Thousands on wait-list for erotic best-seller at Hennepin County Library

If you want to check out a copy of the novel Fifty Shades of Grey this summer, get in line. The erotic best-seller is the Hennepin County Library system's most requested book right now.

All 317 copies have been checked out and 2,063 people are waiting for a copy. Another 414 people have placed requests to check out one of the library's 25 copies of the audiobook. There are 98 requests pending for the large print version.

Hennepin County's top ten most-requested books of the moment includes two other books in the Fifty Shades of Grey series. (See the complete list below.)

Some libraries in other states have refused to stock the book. The New York Times spoke to Ken Hall, a library director in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, who "said he would rather spend precious library funds on books that had literary or artistic value."

NYT reporter Julie Bosman writes:

Since the library publicly announced that it would not stock the book, he has been hounded by insults, with some people calling him a useless bureaucrat. But he said he had also received numerous compliments from residents urging him not to back down.

"With this type of book, we will get somebody questioning our decision no matter what decision we make," Mr. Hall said. "We live in an age where people don't like to talk about gray areas. No pun intended."

Here's the top ten list from the Hennepin County Library:

1. Fifty Shades of Grey, by E.L. James: 2,063 requests

2. Mad River, by John Sandford: 1,158 requests

3. Stolen Prey, by John Sandord: 1,109 requests

4. Gone Girl: A Novel, by Gillian Flynn: 1,094 requests

5. Wicked Business: A Lizzy and Diesel Novel, by Janet Evanovich: 743 requests

6. The Innocent, by David Baldacci: 737 requests

7. Fifty Shades Darker, by E. L. James, 694 requests

8. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain: 659 requests

9. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, by Cheryl Strayed: 628 requests

10. Fifty Shades Freed, by E. L. James: 587 requests

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