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| Name : | Deborah B. |
My Reviews
A friend recommended "The Help".When you find someone who knows the books you like to read always listen to their recommendations! She wasn’t alone in her enthusiasm. My entire Spring Oaks Book Club gave it their unanimous A+ rating. This is remarkable since these 12 women rarely agree whole-heartedly on any book choice.The help are a group of black women working as maids in Mississippi in 1962. As the book begins, we hear the voice of one main character Aibileen as she describes her latest charge Mae Mobley who was born on a Sunday morning in 1960, "A church baby we like to call it. Taking care a white babies, that’s what I do, along with all the cooking and cleaning. I done raised seventeen kids in my lifetime. I know how to get them babies to sleep, stop crying, and go in the toilet bowl before they mamas even get out a bed in the morning.” Right away the musical rhythm of her speech transports the reader into Aiblileen’s southern world. It is a place filled with fascinating characters and many wrongs and injustices.
Aibileen’s friend Minny is also employed by a white family. Every day she leaves her own children to work for less than minimum wage as a maid. She has a reputation as the best cook in town, but she has a “sassy” mouth and a sense of fairness that gets her into hot water. These women are joined by other maids to secretly tell their stories of prejudice and abuse to twenty-two year old Miss Skeeter who is a recent college grad returning home for the summer - and white.
She is in many ways as trapped as the maids who work in her home and the homes of her friends. When a New York editor challenges her to write about something meaningful she decides to secretly interview the maids and tell their stories.
These three women begin a risky journey together to reveal injustice and improve conditions for the future. As they cross their societal barriers of race and position, they discover the courage and faith they all share. It is an unforgettable book.
More of our book club reviews and current reads are on the blog (booklook-springville.blogspot.com)
The Guernsey Literary etc. is written with warmth and humor by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. The story is set in 1946 London as it emerges from the Second World War. The main character is the witty Juliet Ashton, who wrote a popular newspaper column, “Izzy Bickerstaff Goes to War”. Following its success as a newly published book, she is looking for a fresh writing project. Juliet receives a letter from Dawsey Adams of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands occupied by the Germans during the war. Dawsey introduces Juliet to other members of the book club on Guernsey, by way of correspondence. Her writer’s pen begins to twitch with curiosity. And she is a wee bit interested in the fascinating Mr. Adams as well.
Through the letters we learn that during the war, a group of friends caught out after curfew, spontaneously invented a literary society. Although they had been sharing an illegal pork dinner, they create an alibi to keep them out of jail. The Guernsey Characters, and they are characters, are brave and humorous. Their love of life and literature make us wish they would write letters to us too.
I really enjoyed this heartwarming book. It took some time to get into the rhythm of the letters and to keep the characters straight, but it was worth it. I kind of missed these quirky lit lovers when I finished the book – that’s how you know it was a good read. I am also guessing that a sequel will soon follow. I hope so. More of our book club book reviews at booklook-springville.blogspot.com
When I checked out the latest Lisa Scottoline novel “Look Again” from the library, my fast reading ability came in handy. I confess that I often skipped through pages of mommy/toddler conversation to try and find something more interesting. Sometimes I was quickly successful; sometimes I had to skim a little longer.
The story begins when Ellen, a reporter for a Philadelphia newspaper notices that the boy pictured on a missing child mailer looks like a twin to her adopted son Will. He also has a birth date listed that is close to Will’s. When she discovers that the lawyer who handled her adoption has died, Ellen cannot dismiss all the coincidences. She uses her investigative skills to track down the parents of the missing child in Florida. Timothy Braverman was kidnapped two years ago but his wealthy parents have not given up hope. They continue to search and have offered a million dollar reward for the return of their only child. Could Timothy and Will be the same boy?
Ellen suspects that although her adoption of Will was legal, there is a possibility that he is the missing Timothy Braverman. What should she do? What would any mother do? At first she tries to dismiss the nagging suspicion since confirmation could result in losing her son. Of course her desire to know wins out and we ride along as she discovers the truth. In the weeks of searching she also develops a crush on her attractive editor boss who is similarly attracted. A back-stabbing coworker plays her little part in the drama. We meet her widowed father and a perfect nanny that would make any working mother pay double. The cast of characters is small, but so is the story.
I am a huge fan of Scottoline so I enjoyed this book as a recreational read, but not as much as her past novels. Why? It was a bit too predictable, too unbelievable and too sappy. But I was still interested enough to keep reading and finish the book – reading more quickly than usual. more reviews at booklook-springville.blogspot.com
Young adult fiction can be a pleasant addiction for all ages. The books are often “good-clean-fun” and provide entertainment for readers who are turning thirteen or turning twenty-nine (again). In “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins, her futuristic novel causes the reader to wonder if reality T.V. could get extreme enough for a real battle to the death. Will the television viewers of the future regress to barbaric Roman times with televised teen gladiators?
Mrs. Winkleman’s sixth grade students from Art City are writing the review for this week’s column. I wish there had been room to print all their comments! Their voices will give you a better description of this very popular young adult book.
I asked the students why they obviously liked the story and here are a couple of their interesting answers. “I like this book because the setting is in the future. Will she win the Hunger Games? Will she take home the gold?” (Betsy) “It’s really riveting. This book is a funny action packed book that is hard to predict and the characters are smart.” (Keaton)
“It’s an amazing adventure right here in North America. This is a book that I can’t swim away from.” (Dylan – not sure the difference between walking away and swimming away from a book…) “I enjoy reading the book because it’s intense. You are instantly hooked and you feel emotion when something happens to the characters.” (Leah) “I believe you would like this book just as much as I do because it is action packed.” (Suzanne) “I recommend this book because when I started to read it I couldn’t put it down. This book is filled with romance, action, and drama.” (Scott – and he had book 2 sitting on the corner of his desk so he means what he says. He was the only boy to mention the romance sub-plot so heads up mom and dad.)
What did they think about the main character who is a sixteen year old girl? “The characters in this book are sweet but have to learn how to be tough. If they don’t that could end their life. When Katniss volunteers to go to the Hunger Games in place of her little sister, her life could end. It shows that if people don’t rebel against a bad government everyone has to pay.” (Carmen – if she runs for student council watch out for her Mr. Rowe.) “It’s about a girl named Katniss who is stuck in the hunger games because her sister was drawn to be in them but Katniss said she would take her spot. This tells you that she is a very responsible sister and brave.” (Jason)
Students were warned not to give away the ending although as an obvious lead into book two it was not very satisfying. “Peeta, a boy who is fighting with Katniss goes to the Capital and gets pushed into a habit ring to fight other people to the death. They must know how to survive…will they or will they not?” (Bailey) “If you read this book you will never put it down. I am not going to tell you the ending so you better find out by reading it!” (Samantha)
more book reviews at booklook-springville.blogspot.com
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