Lulu: My reading

Looks like we're all of the same mind here; I read The Help several months ago and loved it. The movie was really well-done, too. Recently I've read:

The Thirteenth Tale (Diane Setterfield) - I adored this book and didn't want to read anything else afterwards, because it was just too good. I recommended The Help to Liz and she recommended The Thirteenth Tale to me; we enjoyed several occasions of quiet, intent, tandem reading while I was at her house through the month of August.

Peace Like A River (Leif Enger) - Recommended to me by Abby and Aunt Beccy a couple of years ago, this was the book I read after The Thirteenth Tale. It was so beautiful! So I passed it on to Liz.

These Is My Words (Nancy E. Turner) - Recommended by Abby and Aunt Beccy, also a couple of years ago, I finally got around to reading it and I'm sad I'm done.

The Book Thief (Marcus Zusak) - I got 48 pages into this addictive book before it was lost in my floating-around-space suitcase that Delta still can't find. Very annoyed about that. I've requested it from our teeny-tiny branch library, so I'm just waiting. But I might end up buying it.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis) - I can't believe it took me so long to read this! I was really missing out. I read it to the kids out loud, after we had finished The Mysterious Benedict Society and were taking a break before diving into the second one. They loved it, Reed especially. I was so happy to read him something that is so richly symbolic of Christ, and written by someone who was a follower of Christ. Aslan makes me cry happy tears. Lucy and Susan make me think of my sisters. I'm really excited to read the first one (I hadn't realized that LWW was the second in the series) and the third! At the moment, we're finishing the Overlander series (Suzanne Collins); we're in the last book. And eventually we'll do the second Benedict book. It's nice to have a long queue of interesting books for their night-time reading. Makes me look forward to bedtime.

Reed is reading the first Harry Potter book! I am so pleased I could cry. While his vocal reading fluency isn't a strength YET, his comprehension is wonderful, and he gets zeroed in on Harry with intense interest when he's reading it to himself.

I'm also perusing several books on the art of writing, both the technical elements and the creative side of it.

In the process of moving and putting all my books on the shelves, I am re-realizing how many books I own that I haven't yet read. Furthermore, a lot of classics and "necessary" reads that I haven't touched....like....(oh, it shames me to admit this!)....To Kill A Mockingbird. Never read it. And too many others that I know I ought to read. I'm happy to have finally read These Is My Words and Peace Like A River, as those were on my shelves for a couple of years before I opened them. But I know, too, that it would be great if I'd read more of my own books!

Q- The Help

Have any of you read The Help by Kathryn Stockett? If not, you're so missing out!!! I LOVED it.
I love books full of such real characters, people you feel like you've either known or would love to know.
I also really enjoyed the subject matter; this woman Skeeter is told to write about what bothers her, and the same things would bother me! At the same time, I feel like I understand better...
The book centers on Jackson, Mississippi in the 60s, when many (MANY) black women were maids for white families. I've always hoped I would never treat a black person unkindly, and while I still have the same hope, I think I'm humbled to the point that I can admit if I had lived at that time, I would have been very affected by society and rather ignorant about my White ways.
(Of course, I still feel sure I wouldn't be despicable like some women in the book).

So! I LOVED this book. So much. As always, there's no way the movie will be as good (you just can't fit all of that in, and the book goes into the women's minds the way a movie can't). But I'm really excited to see it some time!

love, Q