"The Help" Loved It!

Now this was my kind of book!  It was sweet, heart-warming, troublesome, thought provoking and based on historical events. 

I usually quote my favorite lines in the books I read, however it was so hard to pick a few!  I would have had to fill this whole post with quotes! It was equally as hard to pick a favorite character, although I would consider myself partial to Aibeleen.  I connected with her nuturing spirit.

I find myself enjoying historical fiction the most of all genres and would put this book in that category.  I love when I learn something from a book, and although this book takes place in the 1960's, just short of when I was born..I know a bit more about that time frame than earlier in the 1900's. 

I would super-highly recommend this book for everyone!!

Next book: Benny and Shrimp.
Started it last night and adore it already!!  I'm so lucky to be easy to please. :)

"The Help" December Book

I moved right on as I always do to my next book which is "The Help".  This book was actually my book club pick for November, but I was trying to get through "Power Of One" so I never got to it.  I knew I wanted to read it so I put my name on the hold list at the library.  I was shocked when the library called 3 days later to tell me they had it for me and to hear that there is a waiting list of 300 people for this book.  So honestly, pick it up...you will love it!

The book is set in the 1960's in the south and is the stories of the black maids and the white families they serve.  Amazing to me me is that not all that long ago, these maids were treated like dirt and that all black people were thought to be diseased, dumb and not worth much.  However,  we live in a world where wars are started for the color of skin, religion and beliefs.  Can't we all just get along?  Our great country was built on the desire to be free and that all men are created equal. 

I am nearly half of the way done and I am loving the way the story is being told by Kathryn Stockett the author.  Will check back in when I'm finished!

"Handle With Care" Busy Girl!

Ehhh...if this blog thing is going to work I need to be better at posting!  You know how it is when life gets in the way and the next thing you know a week, or two has passed. 

So go back with me 3 weeks ago to "Handle With Care".  I was so very excited to get my hands on this book!  Jodi wrote this book very differently~each chapter was written in one of the characters perspectives to the main character, Willow.  I loved it!  We read through all of their eyes.. the same situation is told and retold...as with life.  Just because you had a conversation with a friend and you heard one thing, they might have a different take on what your conversation was.  Fascinating!

I identified with all the characters and although I may not have agreed with them all the time, it was easy to see myself in their shoes.  Wife, Mother, Friend, Daughter, Sister even Husband.  With a heavy heart I read with the Sisters' voice and wanted to save her.  And as  the Mother I felt her struggles in the pit of my stomach.  I have friends who have children with special needs and I have such compassion for them as people knowing a bit about what they go through everyday.  God has a special place in his heart for those women, and families. 

I loved each character for who they were as individuals and was devoted to their story.  Although I will admit, I was a little peeved at the ending.  I'm not necessairily the type of person who likes things all tied up with a bow at the end of a book or movie..but this one just didn't seem fair.  I had to remind myself that life isn't fair...a lesson I don't know if we ever learn no matter how old we are.

"Handle With Care" Switching Gears

I was at the library again yesterday and someone had just returned "Handle With Care" by Jodi Picoult.  It came out earlier this year but was in such high demand from the library that I could never get it.  So I of course grabbed it before they could return it to the shelf and started it last night. 

Jodi is one of my favorite authors.  Her books read very easy yet she conqers subjects that I relate to with depth, meaning, and understanding.  I attended the author event with her given by the Lake Forest Book Store a few years ago where she read from "19 minutes".  It was so cool to hear her reading from her own book!  I even got up the guts to ask her a question about returning characters. 

The first book I read of hers was "The Pact" when Chris, Lisa, Kathy and I were bookclubbing together.  I have been reading her ever since.

I'm not putting down "Pride and Prejudice" completely..just holding it for a later date.

"The Power Of One" Moving Along

I have to shamefully admit that I'm offically moving on from The Power Of One without finishing it!  I never do this...make it 3/4 of the way though the book and not finish.  I just can't seem to get thru it and I feel like I'm spinning my wheels.

I'm happy to have a few weeks off from my regular book club so I can catch up on some other books that I have been wanting to read.  I'm starting "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen.  A classic that I'm sure I will love. 

"The Power Of One" Almost Done!

Wow!  I feel like it's taken me a really long time to read this book!  I am about 3/4 of the way finished and it's been slow going.  It is truely a great story with so much content.. there in lies my issue I think.  I can only read about 5-7 pages at a time and then I need to put it down to process. 

I was concerned that the boxing portion of the book would loose me knowing that I really dislike the sport...people beating each other to a bloody mess.  I quickly caught on to the life lessons that boxing was teaching Peekay. So I have pushed through and found that the boxing matches are actually parts that I love reading! 

I'll check back in in a few days when I've finished.

The Power Of One

Not surprisingly, I have emotionally connected right away with this book. The story begins when the main character is 5 years old. My youngest child is 5. It's tragic what "Peekay" goes through in the first 50 pages and the story has just begun.


I found the first of what I know will be many lines that I will love.


"Sometimes the slightest things change the directions of our lives, the merest breath of a circumstance, a random moment that connects like a meteorite striking the earth. Lives have swiveled and changed directions on the strength of a chance remark."


WOW! I read it over and over again loving the way it sounds and feeling that connection in the pit of my stomach. We can all take a look back and think about that conversation that gave us the strength to do something we have been scared to do. Or running into an old friend in the oddest of places knowing at that moment you missed them more than you ever realized? I have had moments like this in life, haven't you? Call it what you like, fate, destiny or divine intervention. Life is always changing, full of circumstances, random moments and chance remarks. We just have to open up and recognize them.

Today I am starting "The Power of One" by Bryce Courtenay.


Highly recommended by a few of my favorite reading friends, I am really looking forward to it.


Have you read The Power of One?

"The Condition"

Yes! I finished the book last night. Found my favorite sentence...very simple.

"The past is always with us."

Isn't that the truth.

"The Condition"

I'm almost done with this book, about 20 pages left. Book club meets tomorrow so I better finish.
The story is about a New England family and it's dysfunction. The daughter, has Turner's Syndrome which I Googled to find out more about. Although each family member carries their own baggage, I identified with them all in some way. It's classic family drama.

Welcome!

Ok, so I'm finally doing this. I'm taking Mary and Kelly's advice and writing a blog about the books I read and have read.


I have always enjoyed asking friends, "What are you reading?" Being in a book club has widened my exposure to books I never would have known about. I read books of all genre's, though I mostly read fiction. I will admit, that of course I read the Twilight series and liked it. Who hasn't?


As a 30-something year old mom of 3, and wife, I love the journey that books take you on. I am not a writer nor do I consider myself literary in the least, but with each new book I read I find pleasure in finding that one sentence that speaks to me. I always mean to write those down, maybe now I will.


I welcome you to post about books you are reading or have read. Thanks for sharing!