The Help

Remember how a few entries ago I mentioned something about never reading books until they had already come out as movies? Well, with this last novel I came in right at the buzzer. I finished The Help merely days before the movie premiered nationwide.

Wow, what a book! I honestly had no idea what the book was about when I heard the buzz about it last year. It wasn't until I saw a preview for the film that I had any idea. The previews looked fantastic and I vowed I would read the book before heading to the theaters. I bought the book when my besty Lisa and I made one last nostalgic trip to the Borders in our home town during its going out of business sale and knew I had only two weeks to finish it... luckily this self-imposed challenge was incredibly easy to complete. The Help was engaging, powerful, and a feel-good story (my favorite) about a group of black women in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960's and the white women they worked for. Stockett captured the complexity of a time where civil rights were making headlines but not making headway in homes of the south. The book showed that beneath the racial tensions that women are just women-- they face the same struggles, joys, and heartbreaks no matter what their skin color or place in life.

My favorite line in the book (which I highlighted and dog-eared) was apparently Kathryn Stockett's as well. As I read her afterword entitled "Too Little, Too Late", she said, "Washing that the point of the book? For women to realize, We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I'd thought."

This special book is the kind that stays with you after you read it. It was difficult to put back on the shelf.

**I haven't seen the movie yet, so this post will likely be updated once I do

The Hunger Games Series

Oh. My. Gosh. That is really all I can say.

I finished the Hunger Games series over two months ago and I have just been contemplating what to write about them ever since. Nothing I can say could ever accurately represent these novels or how much I loved them. This series was like brain candy. I read all three books in a combined four sittings, and after I finished them I went through a mourning period. I couldn't think of reading another book, I couldn't believe the world Suzanne Collins had created for me was over, and I found myself literally cuddling with the books at night re-reading select chapters to get my fix.


No spoilers here-- the Games are best experienced if you have no idea what to expect. But, let me just say that these novels have something for everyone.

If you can't remember the last time you stayed up all night to finish a book then it is time to pick up the The Hunger Games, Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games), and Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, Book 3).