I recently finished reading "The Help." I read this entire thing in four days. At first I was hesitant to start it because I was afraid it was be too sad. And it was, in places, but by the second day, I couldn't put it down. I don't want to ruin it for anyone who wants to read it, but briefly, the book takes place in Mississippi in the early 1960s. "Miss Skeeter," an aspiring journalist, has come home from college and is trying to figure out what happened to her family's maid, Constantine. Constantine disappeared while Skeeter was away at school. Long story short, Skeeter takes a job writing a housekeeping column with the local newspaper, and on the side she interviews 12 local maids about their experiences working for white families, at great risk to both Skeeter and the maids. The chapters are told from the point of view of Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny. One of the strengths of this book, in my opinion, is how easy it was to hear the voices of these women. Skeeter doesn't really set out to be a Civil Rights activist; instead she sort of falls into it. I felt that these three characters developed nicely.
Reading this book made me so grateful for the times we live in now. It may not be perfect, but we have come a long way, even down here in Dothan. I hated the idea that these black maids were only good enough to be in the white family's home to clean it and raise the kids, but I suppose it probably was like that back then. And the scenes of the Junior League president bullying the members at their meetings infuriated me. But, again, the description was probably accurate.
Other books I've read so far this year:
Dead and Gone, one of the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries. I'm usually not a huge fan of mysteries, but I love this series. This one took a slightly darker turn with the gruesome murder of one of the characters. I can't wait to read the next one, which I believe is coming out soon.
Taltos, Lasher, The Witching Hour are three Anne Rice books that I read back in high school but revisited earlier this year. The Witching Hour is one of my all time favorites. It is mostly a family history of the Mayfairs in New Orleans, a family of witches haunted by the spirit of Lasher. The women in the family occasionally give birth to Taltos, a nearly extinct species. Rice goes from modern day San Francisco to New Orleans, to the burning times in Scotland. The Witching Hour ends with Lasher being reborn in the flesh to Rowan Mayfair. Lasher, the sequel, picks up where TWH left off and gives Lasher a chance to tell his story. Lasher and Taltos seem a little more like science fiction to me, I much prefer The Witching Hour.
Girl Power, a great, easy read about women in music and the birth of the "riot grrrl." This was a birthday gift from my brother. I loved revisiting the bands of the 90s and the revival of my riot grrrl spirit. For this reason, I blame my brother for the butterfly tattoo that somehow wound up on my shoulder after i read this book...
Female Chauvinist Pigs, another pretty easy read about pop culture. Questions the idea that girls who take their tops of for "Girls Gone Wild" and participate in other raunch culture activities are really liberated by feminism or still just trying to please men. Good question, and I can see both sides.
Redeeming Love, a birthday gift from my best friend Karrie. This is a pretty different book from any other on this list. Set during the gold rush, it is based on the Biblical book of Hosea. It was beautiful and haunting. Sort of the opposite of raunch culture, as the main character is an unhappy prostitute.
Dracula, The Undead, the sequel to Bram Stoker's Dracula. I had mixed emotions about this book. It was an exciting read and it was nice to spend time with Mina Harker and the gang from the first book, but I don't like what happened to Jonathan Harker. I did enjoy reading about Elizabeth Bathory, who is a main character in this book (I know, that's sick).
Mists of Avalon, one of my all time favorites. I could write a whole post on this book. And I probably will at some point. I re-read this book every winter.
Don't know how often I'm going to update this thing, but I do know that next on my list is Sarah's Key and The Unit. Sarah's Key is about the holocaust and The Unit is about future dystopia. I can't wait.
