Recent Reads

Over the past 2-3 weeks I have finished 3 books so figured that I would share with you my thoughts on them.

First I read “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett— it was so good!

I would highly suggest reading it! Of course now I am hesitant to go to see the movie for fear that it will be ruined for me…nonetheless, the story is about a girl Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan who returns to Jackson Mississippi after getting her college degree and is anything but the typical “southern belle”. She watches as the women in her hometown segregate themselves from the black “help” and continues their day to day lives of bridge club and society meetings and knows that she wants more in life.
She loves to write and wants to be a journalist but let’s face it, women don’t have those types of jobs in Jackson they are bank tellers or stay at home mothers. The story follows her as she secretly writes a book from “the help’s” perspective of working for the white families in Jackson. The story is filled with witty back story and is overall a fun yet eye opening story of the south in the 1960’s.

Book #2 --“Freedom” by Jonathan Franzen – this one I have some mixed feelings about.
While the reviews that I read prior to starting the book were great and stated that the work with an American Masterpiece of fiction…it just didn’t astonish me and it was actually a little hard for me to get into reading and I was happy to finish it when I did.
The story follows your “typical” middle-class American family in “today’s” world with a rebellious teenage son who questions adult authority, a wife who was a star while playing basketball in college then gave it all up to be a homemaker, and the husband who works as a lawyer and the Times writes an unflattering story about his which starts gossip among the neighbors and their thoughts of the whole family.
Politics runs throughout the whole book which may be the reason that I was not completely immersed in the book. I’ll admit that I like to read things that create a story that is fun to read or complete fiction and this just rung a little to close to current events and real life for me to fully enjoy. Was it well written yes! Was it something that I can 100% see what it was on the best sellers list for weeks and people rave about it yes! Would I re-read it, probably not, but it’s all your choice to make!

Book #3 –Vampire Diaries the Awakening and the Struggle by L.J. Smith. I started this on Saturday and finished it on Monday night before bed. This is a super easy read and since I love the Vampire Diaries on the CW I figured that this would be a good choice for some easy enjoyable summer reading. I will say though if you have watched the show it is 100% different. Lets start with the fact that Elena is blond and not a brunette…and Caroline isn’t really friends with Elena and there is a character that does not even show up in the TV series named Meredith.
I like the fact that it’s different though because otherwise I would know what’s going to happen next since the series is already into season 2! The story starts with the first day of school and Elena being determined to get Stephan Salvatore to notice here and fall for her and Stephan being amazed that Elena reminds him so much of someone from his distant past….you’ll have to read the book to see how it ends of course, or if you watch the show you have an idea of what happens of course but it’s different at the same time! I would suggest it to anyone who wants to read something that has a good story line and what else do you need to relax from the day to day life and school?