The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I am the kind of reader who hates a popular book. It's just that I don't like reading something just because everyone else is. For example, I didn't read The Da Vinici Code until about a year after the movie was out, and here I am, just now, reading The Help.

I actually can't say I'm reading The Help , since I'm actually listening to it! See this past weekend was Memorial Day weekend. We had Friday off, so I had a 4 day weekend. It was my friend Nicolette's bridal shower {pictures & crafts to come soon} so I had to drive all the way down to Ft. Lauderdale from Ocala. It's a 4 hour drive each way, so I figured I'd buy an audio book on iTunes. I decided to finally read listen to The Help.

You may know about this book because of the Academy Award winning movie. You may know about this book because it was a New York Times Bestseller. Either way, this book is pretty famous and you probably have heard of it.

Kathryn Stockett's Synopsis:
Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.
Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.
Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.
Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.
In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women–mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends–view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t.

 

Buy the Book

Loved

• This story's message
• Eugenia {Skeeter}'s character
• The unique point of view of the help
• Picturing a life in Mississippi during this time frame

Loathed:

• On Audio book it took me WAY too long to read
• The storyline is slow towards the beginning
• Audiobooks in general!

All in all I truly enjoyed this book. I enjoyed this book so much that {since I was listening on audio} I held my phone up to my ear from Target, to the doctor, and even during teaching so that I could finish reading listening to the book! It's enlightening to read about segregated Mississippi and the few people who realized it needed to change. If you haven't read this book or seen the movie, I definitely recommend you do!

This is going to be a quick post.

If you know me, you know I love my technology. I am an apple product connoisseur & I love nothing more than to pimp out my products! Recently I've been into chevron prints and bold colors. This caused me to need a beautiful preppy/modern iPhone case. My friend Mary Grace got one from Lipstick Shades {home of everything monogrammed... go there, it's amazing}, so naturally I did too. 

Today I was on Shutterfly trying to work on my wedding album and I stumbled upon these.

They are on sale for $29.97, when on Lipstick Shades I paid about $40 and Mary Grace around $60. The cool thing is you can put pictures on these.

If monograms are more your thing, Lipstick Shades has a TON of options. Monogrammed everything: Otterboxes, iPad case, cutting boards, mugs, etc.

Anyway, go shop & be happy!

Falling behind

As the school year dwindles down, I feel as if time goes by faster than I can manage! Like at the eighth grade field trip, it's as if we were racing against the clock. In a matter of school days, we have 9 days left. That means a four day school week this week, a four day school week next week and finally three half days. It's over! My first year of teaching is over! Looking back I think I did great. My students loved me, most didn't even realize I was a newbie, and for all I know they may have done amazing on the FCAT {Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test}

I've noticed that lately I measure my life by events or tasks at hand. When I need to put something off, I say "after Nicolette's wedding", when before it was "after my wedding". Then, when I am stressed, I count how many things I need to do on my "to do list". Which reminds me, one of my major things to do: write!

Here is what I intend to write in the next couple of weeks:

• Eight grade field trip
• Insurgent by Veronica Roth {second book to Divergent!}
• Game of Thrones by R.R. Martin
• Feather pens
• Romance/Contemporary novel standpoint {Julie James, Rachel Gibson, Christie Ridgway}
• My wedding details!
• How to make a stunning album on Shutterfly

I have a long list to work on... but good news is I will do it when summer starts!

The Siren- Kiera Cass

After reading The Selection by Kiera Cass I was left wanting more! So, I went to her website & looked at her other published books. The Siren looked interesting enough.

Here is Kiera's description:
"You must never do anything that might expose our secret. This means that, in general, you cannot form close bonds with humans. You can speak to us, and you can always commune with the Ocean, but you are deadly to humans. You are, essentially, a weapon. A very beautiful weapon. I won't lie to you, it can be a lonely existence, but once you are done, you get to live. All you have to give, for now, is obedience and time..."
The same speech has been given hundreds of times to hundreds of beautiful girls who enter the sisterhood of sirens. Kahlen has lived by these rules for years now, patiently waiting for the life she can call her own. But when Akinli, a human, enters her world, she can't bring herself to live by the rules anymore. Suddenly the life she's been waiting for doesn't seem nearly as important as the one she's living now.

Loved:

• Sirens!
• Little Mermaid unrequited love
• Very descriptive of the lifestyle
• Easy read
• Kept me wanting to know what happened

Loathed{disliked}:

• Dragged on in the beginning
• Strange concept of life

I enjoyed this book, I think my middle schoolers would enjoy this book. It was definitely about something I had never imagined , and sort of made me think of The Little Mermaid and vampires all at the same time. I bought mine on my Kindle app, so go there to get it! Theres a free download on Kiera Cass's website if you want to read the first chapter.

Enjoy!

The Selection- Kiera Cass

I bought {& blogged about}The Selection by Kierra Cass yesterday. I started reading it around 9:30 pm and finished at 1:30 am. Needless to say, I really liked it!

I heard about this book through Read. Breathe. Relax. just two days ago, and just knew I would enjoy it. Like I've mentioned earlier, I feel like dystopian fictions are the new "it" genre. With The Hunger Games leading in the box office and topping the best sellers list, I can see that my students and even my friends enjoy this type of read as much as I do.

My description sans spoilers:
The Selection takes place in a future land called Illeya that is where The United States of America once was. After the 4th World War, China took over after years of us being indebited to them. The United States became The United States of China. Russia invaded, and then the people of what used to be the Americas revolted and became their own again. Not ever wanting the name we once had they named the country after George Illeya, the great leader, turned king, who started the revolt. Illeya is separated into castes or classes by number. One being the highest as royalty and eight being the lowest, poor, hungry, and jobless.

Prince Maxon is turning of age and is to begin The Selection Process. This public process happens when a prince comes of age and he is to begin choosing a wife. Any girl in between the ages on 16 and 20 can submit to be picked. One girl is picked from each area of the country and 36 total ge to move into the palace to comepete for his affections, or crown.

America Singer is a five who already found the love of her life, but sadly he is below her caste. Follow America as she endures The Selection with heart set on one man, while competing for the love of another.

Loved:

• Red-headed protagonist
• Chapters leave you hanging & wanting more
• Young forbidden love
• Caste system by numbers

Loathed {or more like disliked}:

• Hunger Games similarities (game show, selection, love triangle)
• Lack of true introduction of setting in the begininning
• Predictability

In the end I really enjoyed this book. I cannot wait for the next one in this series to come out! I hate this feeling, it's like the season of your favorite TV show. Since then I have picked up Kiera Cass' book called Siren. So far it's different, but it's keeping me interested!

Read on!

Cata

Dystopian is the new it genre

Ever since I read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, I've been really into dystopian books. Dystopian books are always based in a future nightmareish version of our world, where society has a big brother watching you. Think about Katniss, a young girl, having to fight for her life in the Hunger Games while the Capitol enjoys it as if it were the Olympics!

I follow Julie Fagan's blog Peanut Butter Fingers regularly, and yesterday I noticed she had a guest blogger. Her guest was Lisa, the author of Read. Breathe. Relax. {which are probably 3 of my favorite things to do} Her guest entry really caught my attention because she was recommending some books she recently read. Naturally I wandered over to her blog to check out what else she had to say. Her most recent entry is about The Selection by Kierra Cass. Lisa had this description posted:

“For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in the palace and compete for the heart of the gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn’t want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she’s made for herself- and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.”

Immediately I thought, ummm let me get on my Kindle app and see how much this books costs on Amazon! Then I proceeded to do exactly that. It cost me $9.99 and now I can read it on my iPhone, iPad, Mac, and even PC at work.

What really caught my eye:

• The cover {don't judge me, but the cover reminds me of Narnia meets Hunger Games :)}
• Female protagonist
• Castes
• DYSTOPIAN
• There's a prince!
• Oh & did I mention its a trilogy?

I plan on starting this book pretty soon! I am a bit busy at this moment since I am currently reading Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. You may be familair with it because of the HBO series. I'll be sure to give you my insights on it this week!

Cata