The Help was a fabulous book. It takes place in Mississippi during the Civil Rights movement and tells the story of a white Ole Miss graduate who wants to break into a writing career by revealing the untold stories of black house servants - who are more than a tad leery to tell of their experiences to a white woman. The story is funny, tragic and hopeful all in one. I highly recommend this one.
The sequel to Hunger Games came out recently, and I was convinced it could never measure up to the original, but I'm happy to report that Catching Fire was a great read! Katniss finds herself as the symbol of a rebellion forming against the Capital, so, of course, the Capital has to deal with her threat. I read the whole thing in less than two days - I just couldn't put it down.
Big Stone Gap was constantly interrupted by other reading. It was a fine enough book, but somehow never seemed to captivate me. Set in a small, southern, coal-mining town you follow a 30-something, never married, woman as she struggles to find family, love and success. This the first in a series.
One of my all-time favorite non-fiction books is Reviving Ophelia. It came out in 1994, but I just reread it for book club. I will warn you that this book can read a bit like a text book, it's a lot of sociology mixed together with personal stories - but I found the information utterly fascinating. Mary Pipher is a therapist who focuses on adolescent girls. She examines the impact our of "girl-poisoning" culture and the challenges that young girls face. I think it's helpful as a teacher or a mother, but it also forces a women to reflect on her own experiences.
My boys have been begging me to read Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It's the only book series that my boys have read over and over and over. The main character Greg behaves like a stupid middle-school boy and therein lies the humor that my boys can't get enough of. I'm not really recommending it to any adult, but there were parts that left me laughing out loud -and it's a really fun book for kids.
Next on my list is Life and Death in Shanghai.
4 comments:
Thanks for sharing your list. I am always looking for a good book to read!
I think of the works of Adriana Trigianna a lot like chicken noodle soup on a cold winter day: it warms you up, but doesn't leave you feeling totally full and satisfied. Good for an occasional "meal" but not as hearty as other books.
We're fans of the Diary series. We used several of the examples to help older Thing out with some social situations: as Greg is very much the kid who will push his friends under the bus to save his own hide, ya know?
I'll add the other titles to my never ending list of books to check out. Lately, all my nose has been in has been school books.
My boys LOVE Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. I bought it for them after Weston got beat up and by those bullies, I agree with Martha, it was a great teaching tool.
We are reading "Hunger Games" for our book group in November and I am looking forward to it. We just finished "I Capture The Castle" and I wasn't a huge fan. I don't know what it was about it that bugged me but it did.
I wish I could get my hands on that Catching Fire book. Someday... Meanwhile I have a bunch of good books that my friend lent me.
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