“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.”

I really loved this book, which is a surprise because when this book first came out I wasn’t really drawn to the book cover. I know, how vain of me. I really wasn’t sure if I’d be interested. However, I’ve only heard great reviews of the book and when one of the Goodreads groups decided to have it as a group read, I decided to give it a try.

This book was really up my alley. One of the things that gets me real riled up to the core is race discrimination/superiority. This certainly plays a big part in the book and it’s one of the things that got me hooked to the story. Another thing that I found fascinating was the relationships between the black maids and the white children they raised. I found it saddening that they bonded like mother and daughter but that ultimately, a lot of times, that bond breaks and the white child grows up to conform to the white society’s standards.

Aibileen’s relationship with her seventeenth white child was very heart-wrenching. I really felt for Aibileen towards the end because as I read along, she was a better mom to this child than the white mom. She raised her and tried to teach her tolerance, with the hope that this white child will grow up to be different and better than her white elders.

I liked the three main characters of Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny. I loved that Skeeter was of a different mind than her childhood friends. Doing what she was going with the black maids, in secret, in the 60’s, in Mississippi, I admired her moxie to be different. Although it wasn’t easy to slowly lose her intolerant friends and start to see her society for what it was, she gradually gained the confidence in herself that she didn’t have initially. And I’m glad she was strong enough to refuse getting married to her boyfriend. I didn’t have a good feeling about him anyway from the get go. He seemed like a nice enough guy but he didn’t have the type of balls to be with someone like Skeeter.

Minny was interesting as well. She was a strong woman in her own right, but what baffled me was why she stayed with her abusive husband and cowered to him. That didn’t make sense to me.

Although there were certainly white characters in this book that I wanted to hurt quite badly, I’m glad there were also some that were redeeming.

Overall, I thought this was a great book that looked at relationships between black and white that I never really focused on before. It was heart-wrenching, funny, and infuriating, but it all worked together in this book.

I think the rights were just bought to make this into a movie. If it happens, I’d definitely go and see it.

Rating:

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

“When, years later, she’d look back at this moment of change, look at it clinically (‘Milk the history! Exactly when and exactly how did it start? Onset is everything! In the anamnesis is the diagnosis!’ as her professor would say), she would see that her transformation actually took place over many months. However, it was only as she was falling out of the sky over the Bab al-Mandab that she understood that change had come.”

- Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

“Some would say it was a miracle that she ever owned that book at all. Its journey began on the way home, the night of the fire.”

- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

“In the few minutes of privacy we’ve had, with me walking him back to town, I gather that the rumblings of an uprising in 12 have been subdued by Thread’s crackdown. He knows I’m not going to run.”

- Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

“Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school…again. And that’s the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy’s Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he’s angered a few of them. Zeus’s master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.

Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus’s stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.” – back cover

I read this in anticipation of the film adaptation which stars Kevin McKidd and Sean Bean as Poseidon and Zeus, respectively. Yes, I know, superficial reasons but if you’ve seen both actors, I know you’d understand Plus, I’d rather read a book first before I see its film version.

Percy is a demigod; his mom is human and his dad is, well, one of the big gods. He has ADD but it turns out that he’s really not; it’s just a consequence of his being a demigod. He finds out all of this when he goes to the demigod summer camp, where he meets other kids like him. At the camp, he finds out the identity of his father and is put on a quest – to get back Zeus’ lightning bolt. He goes on this quest with Annabeth, a daughter of Athena, and Grover, a satyr. They need to finish the quest and get to the bottom of it all to prevent a big battle between the gods.

This was a quick read and quite interesting. I especially liked that to get to Mount Olympus, you have to take the elevator to the 600th floor of the Empire State Building. The movie comes out this Friday and if I can get out of my snowed in house, I’m definitely going to see the movie

Rating:

“From the beloved author of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and The Sunday Philosophy Club comes this new novel about the denizens of 44 Scotland Street, home to some of Edinburgh’s most colorful characters. There’s Pat, a twenty-year-old who has recently moved into a flat with Bruce, an athletic young man with a keen awareness of his own appearance. Their neighbor, Domenica, is an eccentric and insightful widow. In the flat below are Irene and her appealing son Bertie, who is the victim of his mother’s desire for him to learn the saxophone and Italian – all at the tender age of five.

Love triangles, a lost painting, intriguing new friends, and an encounter with a famous Scottish crime writer are just a few of the ingredients that add to this delightful and witty portrait of Edinburgh society, which was first published as a serial in The Scotsman newspaper.”

This book was full of interesting characters; some quirky, some annoying, some adorable. I liked that the chapters were only about 2-4 pages long due to it originally being printed in installments in a Scottish newspaper. Maybe it was because of this that I found some of the chapters boring, sort of just fillers.

The character most endearing to me was Bertie, the smart five year old who already can play the tenor saxophone, which if you don’t know, is just as big or bigger than a normal five year old! I fell for this little boy who only wanted to play with trains and be friends with kids his age. Instead he’s being forced by his uptight mother to do all these activities that pretty much alienate him from the other little kids. He decides to act out and rebel in his own little way, but sadly, he’s only five years old and his mother thinks he can be disciplined by going to a psychotherapist, who doesn’t even listen to him but rather just talks with his mother during his sessions.

I think there’s three more books in the series but I’m not really that interested in them except to find out what happens to cute Bertie. This book wasn’t fantastic; I thought it lagged quite a few times. Overall it was an alright read.

Rating:

“The storm was coming…

For the three years Shadow spent in prison, all he wanted was to get back to the loving arms of his wife and stay out of trouble for the rest of his life. But days before his release, he learns that his wife has been killed in an accident, and his world becomes a colder place.

On the plane ride home to the funeral, Shadow meets a man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday, a self-declared grifter, who offers Shadow a job. Shadow, a man with nothing to lose, accepts. But he soon learns that his role in Wednesday’s schemes will be far more dangerous than he could have ever imagined.

American Gods is a dark and kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth and across an America at once eerily familiar and utterly alien. Magnificently told,American Gods is a work of literary magic that will haunt the listener long after it has been heard.” – back cover

This was my first Neil Gaiman book and I was really excited to like it since quite a few people I know really loved it. The beginning chapters were interesting but from there on, I was just basically waiting for something good to happen. I kept waiting for the storm to happen and where all the stories of the gods were leading, but I honestly was just bored. I don’t like abandoning books I’ve already started to read so I forced myself to finish. this. Gaiman’s not a bad writer but I think there was just way too much going on that I didn’t understand how it related to everything else. The stories of the many gods, well, I didn’t think some were necessary to the whole scheme of things.

I didn’t relate to any of the characters and I certainly didn’t feel the bond that Shadow and his deceased wife was supposed to have.

I wish I had liked it but sorry guys, I just didn’t. Some of the god stories were interesting, I’ll give the book that much, but overall I was just disappointed. This doesn’t mean though that I won’t be reading anymore of Neil Gaiman’s work. I just didn’t connect with this particular one.

Rating:

“In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before – and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.” – from book jacket

I really quite enjoyed this book and can now understand why so many people are gaga over this series. This is considered young adult but the many people I was just talking about are actually a lot of adults. I think the reason for this is that even though kids and teens are the major characters, The Hunger Games is pretty much an extreme form of Survivor. The Hunger Games produces alliances, sneaky attacks and tactics, and ultimately, a fight to the death for your life.

In the nation of Panem, there are 12 districts and like the summary above says, one boy and one girl from each district get chosen to go to the Hunger Games each year. When Katniss’ sister, Prim, is chosen, she volunteers to take her sister’s place. The boy who gets chosen from the district is Peeta Mellark, a baker’s son who took pity on Katniss many many years before by giving her some bread.

There is the beginning of a love triangle in this book, with the third party being Gale, a friend of Katniss’ who befriended her while illegally hunting in the forests over the years. When Katniss and Peeta are brought to the Capitol for the Games, a strategy and slant that their district coaches decide to go with is the star-crossed lovers slant. During the Games, there are sponsors who give some essential  materials to the contestants they favor. The coaches think that the District 12 contenders would get the audience and sponsors by pretending to be doomed lovers, because really, how dramatic is it to be in love and accept the fate that ultimately you might have to kill the other.

Katniss must decide who she trusts during the Games and survive it all, even though in the beginning she accepts her volunteering as suicide. What happens in the end is a surprise and something new for the Hunger Games.

I really enjoyed reading this and I can’t wait to get to the second book, Catching Fire.

Rating:

“Barcelona, 1945 – Just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes one day to find that he can no longer remember his mother’s face. To console his only child, Daniel’s widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona’s guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world, waiting for someone who will care about them again. Daniel’s father coaxes him to choose a book from the spiraling labyrinth of shelves, one that, it is said, will have a special meaning for him. And Daniel so loves the book he selects, a novel called The Shadow of the Wind by one Julian Carax, that he sets out to find the rest of Carax’s work. To his shock, he discovers that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book this author has written. In fact, he may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Before Daniel knows it, his seemingly innocent quest has opened a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets, an epic story of murder, magic, madness, and doomed love, and before long he realizes that if he doesn’t find out the truth about Julian Carax, he and those closest to him will suffer horribly.” – Goodreads

Last year it seemed like everyone on Goodreads was reading this book and loving it. I bought it last June but didn’t get around to reading it until a couple of weeks ago. What took me so long?! I wish I had read it sooner! This book was so good and to me, it lived up to its hype.

If you know me, you know that I love the 1940s/WW2 era. Though the setting of the book is in that time, I was unsure I’d like it because it takes place in Spain, specifically Barcelona. Nothing against Spain or anything, I just didn’t know too much of Spanish history of that time, except for the little I remember about Francisco Franco from a report I did back in elementary school a long time ago. But it turned out to be a great setting for the overall mood of the book. I thought the setting of Barcelona enhanced the overall secretive, mysterious, and eerie vibe. The book definitely had that ’shadowy’ noir feeling.

The plot itself was very interesting, with quite a bit of twists and turns. I liked that The Shadow of the Wind in the book was the catalyst for the events in Daniel’s life, which at some point somewhat mirrored the true tale of Julian Carax’s life. So much so that once I even thought perhaps Daniel was Julian’s illegitimate son. I was wrong about that, but some of my hunches were correct. Still, there were surprises left for me to read even when I figured out some of the secrets. This is a book that you can’t say from the beginning that you’ve figured out the whole plot. Some books practically give away how the rest of the book will go right from the beginning chapters, but this piece keeps you reading for more. You really feel the need to know what happens next to Daniel or what happened in Julian’s past that was so horrible that so many people are involved in keeping the secrets related to him.

My favorite characters were Julian Carax and Fermin Romero de Torres. I enjoyed the whole book but I have to admit I was more interested with Julian’s story. It was fascinating  to follow him from an innocent child to a reckless, idealistic, hopeful teenager, and finally to an empty, angry, heartbroken man who can’t let go of the past. In contrast is Fermin, a very loquacious character, who knows a lot about a lot, and adds some comic relief when things get a little bit too serious. He too has suffered some injustices in the past, specifically under the violent hands of Inspector Fumero, who has ties to both Julian and Daniel’s stories. However, Fermin takes life as it comes and is lighthearted, in order to not succumb to the darkness and violence of his past. I think I’m going to have to also add the character of Miquel on that favorite characters list as well because I was just so touched by his loyalty and dedication to his childhood friend, Julian. It was amazing the lengths he went to help out Julian.

Overall, I thought this book had it all. It had a plot that was interesting enough to keep the reader wanting more, romance, doomed love, murder, mystery, and even some laughs. It had great characters, great settings, and a style of writing that was very easy to follow without losing its sophistication. I absolutely loved this book and it’s safe to say this is now one of my favorite books ever!

Rating:

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

Last week I ordered and received the following:

• Catching Fire – Suzanne Collins
• The Serpent’s Tale - Ariana Franklin
• The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane - Katherine Howe
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Books 1 -3) Volume Set – Rick Riordan

I will have to refrain myself from buying more books until the weekend of February 27th. That weekend I’ll be in Pennsylvania and there’s a huge discount bookstore in Wyomissing that I visited last year. Since I’ll be in that area again, I’m going to save up money to buy books