50 Shades of Grey... or 50 Shades of 'what the heck is all the hype about!!!!!'

NO... I haven't read the book yet, and the amount of women that have asked me if I have or not makes me wonder whether I have 'love of erotica and BDSM' written across my forehead.  I am a fan of erotica amongst other things and that is why I haven't run out with the herds to pick this book up, and in hindsight probably a good thing, because there are no copies available at this minute.  But I can catch it on my local radio station, on breakfast TV, at the lunch room table, in the corridors of my workplace... it really seems that it is everywhere around me.  It has become a MASSIVE topic of conversation EVERYWHERE!!!  I've read the reviews - good, bad and indifferent - but I still can't get my head around what all the hype is about.  There have been books like this around FOREVER, so what is it about this book/series that has made it so popular!!!!!  I mean BDSM is not for the faint hearted but some people I've talked to are falling over themselves and reading parts of the book to their partners... and from what I understand the sales of BD products is also on the rise. "small break".  HA, I thought I would jump over to Goodreads and re check some of the reviews which made me laugh.  It seems you either hate it or love it, there is not much more in between.  I am reserving my opinion until I actually read the book as all good reviewers should, but I am going to have to wait and save this for holidays and hopefully when all the hype is over and I can enjoy it without interruptions.