The Help

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Bridge Clubs

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. (www.kathrynstockett.com)

This book takes place in a very tumultuous time in our country's history: the time right before integration and the civil rights movement. It is a time period that I, sadly, am not too familiar with, but I want to get to know it better especially after having read Kathryn Stockett's The Help. Stockett inserts moments in history as if they were just blips on the radar for the characters, and I like that. It makes it seem more realistic and not as overdone if these historical days seem more like a casual everyday thing. For example, characters mention Martin Luther King, Jr. and the rallies every once in awhile as if it was just another day, but we know now how great an impact King had on the civil rights movement.

The humor in Stockett's novel is poignant and witty. I liked that it didn't take itself too seriously and yet there were some serious undertones throughout the whole thing. Miss Skeeter is a likable character. Aibileen's chapters were a little harder to get through because of the slang, but you get used to it pretty quick and then you find yourself talking like her.

(Warning: Next part contains what could be interpreted as spoilers.)

I was also trying to see symbolism in this book and I was not disappointed. I found it mostly in the characters themselves. The one I noticed the most was Celia Foote, the "hussy" who hires Minny to help her around the house and refuses to tell her husband. She was such an interesting character because she seemed to be blind to color and societal boundaries. In Celia we find an attitude that is later adopted. She is a forward-thinking, modern woman who is played out to be the idiot in the book because she befriends Minny and she doesn't notice that Hilly and her racist friends don't want anything to do with her. It is the beautiful moment of clarity when she realizes that Hilly, who represents superior racism and entitlement, is not all she's cracked up to be that we see Celia's innocence is lost. I was disturbed by the scene in which a naked man tries to attack Minny and Celia, and I couldn't figure out why it was in the book until Celia saves Minny. That, for me, was when Celia became the savior of the novel and the true heroine.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I am dying to see it. I can already tell, just from the previews, that they have changed a lot of it. All in all this is a fantastic story. The writing is excellent, the themes in it are superb, and the characters are unforgettable. I gave it 4.5 out of 5 Bridge Clubs.

These Things Hidden

Rating: 4 out of 5 Soccer Trophies

I'm just going to dive right in on this one. Something I can admire in an author's style is being sparse. The reason I can admire it is because I know how difficult it is to maintain that and to not get carried away in details, details, details. I am constantly stripping down my own writing and trying to convey the same message with less words. Gudenkauf has mastered this. While I was reading I couldn't help but notice how swiftly I, as the reader, was taken from moment to moment in these effortless little nuances. I felt like I was given just enough, yet I still wanted more. I devoured this novel because I felt I could learn something from Gudenkauf.

The storyline was emotionally intense. I was not particularly a fan of the premise. However, if I'd known what it was about from the jacket premise, I would not have picked it up and I would have missed out on this gifted writer's talent. That being said, if you read this, do not put it down because it has a "baby killer" in it. The themes in this story are prevalent to anyone who reads it.

I loved the voices in this book. Allison was surprisingly sympathetic. Brynn was quite antagonistic, and I was amazed because I thought it would be the other way around. Charm and Claire are strong female voices, but I felt distanced from them, probably because their side was told from a third person narrative. Gudenkauf did that for a reason, and that was, in my humble opinion, to show how it feels to be on the outside looking in on this boy's life. I truly felt how Allison must have felt to see Joshua being raised by Claire. Well, I at least got an inkling of it.

There were some elements I wasn't too fond of. There was a flip-flop in tenses and I wasn't sure how to respond to them. By the time I realized it was just Gudenkauf's style, I was already 75% of the way through the novel. It was disarming enough to be distracting for me.

The other not-so-fond moment, for me, was the climax. It seemed to just come and go. I felt like there could have been a little more lead-in to make me believe that Brynn was really off-kilter. She seemed fine-ish (even though she always comes off as a little whacked), but then she has a weird meltdown. I just wasn't sure what triggered it, so the ending of her story was a little more nonchalant than I had wanted it to be.

Other than that, excellent book. I gave it four out of five soccer trophies.

Rockin' the Mo'

Hey, kids, so back in June-ish/end of May-ish I went to my friend Kym with an odd request. She has been cutting my hair for a couple years now. Lately I've been doing a lot more wild and crazy things with my hair. This time I requested to get a European mohawk which is a faux hawk, essentially, that extends to the back of the head/top of the neck. I did a more reserved version of it and got some interesting reactions especially at work.

Well, this time around I have done it again only a little more drastic. Complete with a little bit of caramel-colored blonde on the top just to add some spice to the already-spicy look. Personally, I love it. Kym said she's always excited to see what I will come up with because I'm a little more adventurous. Tessa, a coworker friend of mine, said today: You always look different every time I see you. I don't know if she meant that as a compliment, but I will take it as one.

Heresy

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Stuffy English Accents

Giordano Bruno was a monk, poet, scientist, and magician on the run from the Roman Inquisition on charges of heresy for his belief that the Earth orbits the sun and that the universe is infinite. This alone could have got him burned at the stake, but he was also a student of occult philosophies and magic.

In S. J. Parris's gripping novel, Bruno's pursuit of this rare knowledge brings him to London, where he is unexpectedly recruited by Queen Elizabeth I and is sent undercover to Oxford University on the pretext of a royal visitation. Officially Bruno is to take part in a debate on the Copernican theory of the universe; unofficially, he is to find out whatever he can about a Catholic plot to overthrow the queen.

His mission is dramatically thrown off course by a series of grisly murders and a spirited and beautiful young woman. As Bruno begins to discover a pattern in these killings, he realizes that no one at Oxford is who he seems to be. Bruno must attempt to outwit a killer who appears obsessed with the boundary between truth and heresy. (From Goodreads)

I actually read Prophecy before I read this one which is unusual for me. However, with these books, I'm glad I read the second one first. Parris' first Giordano Bruno book is not quite as good as the second one. I thoroughly enjoyed the intrigue and everything in the second book. Heresy is filled with the same intrigue and wit as the second book, but there was something about it that made it harder for me to get through.

First of all, the story is told in past tense in this book where Parris switches to the present tense in the second book which gives the story more immediacy and urgency that adds to the poignancy and the urge to keep reading. I really hope that, in the third installment, Parris continues with the present tense because I enjoyed that a lot more with this type of story.

I can see a big pattern with Parris' writing. While it works, I hope that she mixes up the plot procedure a little more with the next book. Both books start out with a dinner with a cast of characters who become Bruno's list of suspects for the murders that are about to ensue. Both books have far too many characters to recall who is whom so she is constantly reminding the reader, or you are constantly trying to remind yourself or you give up altogether, by adding little hints. The hints, however, don't seem to be enough. She goes into a lengthy description of their looks at first which is nice, but those little tags are not picked up later in order for the reader to really get these suspects clear in my mind. I had the problem with both books, so I know it isn't just a one-time thing. Here's hoping she gives a little more in the next installment.

That being said, something I noticed that kind of made me laugh, was that Giordano Bruno, as these books are written in the first-person narrative, seems homosexual at times. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that it is a woman writing his voice. He notices the beauty of a man more than he notices the beauty of a woman. In this book, Bruno is constantly referring to Norris as a perfect, handsome, angelic man. When he speaks of Sophia, who is supposed to be alluring, young, and beautiful, it comes off as something just in passing. Again, I noticed it more in Heresy so maybe Parris has been made aware of this, but it was an issue that kept coming up in my mind as I read.

It took me a whole month to read this book. Granted, I only read late at night and at the breakfast table which is not like me. I usually take time to read sporadically when I'm a little more alert. The next book I read I'm going to go back to my old routine, make sure I set aside time to read.

There were some redeeming factors to the book. I loved the historical context about Oxford that I did not know about. Giordano Bruno is a great character to see Elizabethan England through. Also, the idea about martyrdom and what people are willing to sacrifice themselves for is a noble and reliable theme. All in all, I would recommend this book only so you can get to Prophecy which is, in my opinion, the better of the two installments. I will continue to read the saga of Bruno in hopes that the books will only get better and better. I gave it 2.5 out of 5 Stuffy English Accents.

Cast a Wide Net

I've been thinking a lot lately about dreams, goals, and aspirations. I have a ton of them! All of these things that I want to accomplish in my lifetime that seem to get pushed back to the wayside. However, lately, I've been thinking that now is the time to make my dreams come true and that I cannot sit back and wait for them to happen. It just won't happen if I do that.

1. Be a published author. One of my goals is to get my book published and subsequent books published. I have wanted this for so many years that I cannot even remember when I didn't want it. Time to just get it done, kids. I'm working on the revisions. I think I am just going to get the first two chapters beautiful and polished and start sending out feelers to agents and publishers. Don't know until I try, right?

2. Go back to school. I have been avoiding this inevitability for awhile now, but I keep going back to it. Ever since I went into English as an undergraduate I knew that this was what I would want to/have to do. Eventually I want to get my PhD (hold your gasps), but for now I will stick with getting an Master's. I've been looking at schools and programs. Turns out most of the ones I want to go to also require a GRE. Yay. A test. Go me.

I'm looking at schools in Utah (UofU), California (UC-Davis), Missouri (St. Louis University), and Colorado (Regis in Denver). I'm still wide open as to where I will actually go, but those are the primary options at the moment. It also depends a lot on who will take me.

3. Get a new job. Even if I don't go to school in the next few months (seeing how I have to study for a GRE) I do need/want to get a new job. Regardless of going back to school, I can also get an education by living in a different culture for awhile. My heart will always be in Idaho, but I need to spread my wings and fly. I just applied to a dozen (literally) jobs through Wells Fargo just to cast a wide net and see who will bite. Wells Fargo is a good company to work for with lots of opportunity for growth. They also would be a good means to an end to get me out of here.

4. Travel. I want to get to a point where I can travel as much as I want. I want to see the world. Get a passport and start filling that sucker up. I get to go to California this year and Hawaii next year, but I've been to both those places (love them!) so I want to see some new places: Boston, Washington DC, Greenville*, Chicago, Denver, Portland (Maine and Oregon), Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, France, Italy, the list goes on.

5. Relationships. No one really wants to be lonely. While I am content being single at the moment, I would be lying if I said I didn't want to find someone.

My biggest thing lately is trying not to let myself get overwhelmed or discouraged. No dream is unattainable or too big anymore. I do not want to look back on my life in twenty years and be filled with regret.

*My wonderful cousin, Kara, if you are reading this: I am still planning on visiting you in NC, but things have been crazy so I have had to postpone. Don't hate me. :)

Prophecy

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Saturn Symbols

It is the year of the Great Conjunction, when the two most powerful planets, Jupiter and Saturn, align—an astrologi­cal phenomenon that occurs once every thousand years and heralds the death of one age and the dawn of another. The streets of London are abuzz with predictions of horrific events to come, possibly even the death of Queen Elizabeth.

When several of the queen’s maids of honor are found dead, rumors of black magic abound. Elizabeth calls upon her personal astrologer, John Dee, and Giordano Bruno to solve the crimes. While Dee turns to a mysterious medium claiming knowledge of the murders, Bruno fears that some­thing far more sinister is at work. But even as the climate of fear at the palace intensifies, the queen refuses to believe that the killer could be someone within her own court.

Bruno must play a dangerous game: can he allow the plot to progress far enough to give the queen the proof she needs without putting her, England, or his own life in danger?

In this utterly gripping and gorgeously written novel, S. J. Parris has proven herself the new master of the historical thriller.

Now that I've read this book I can say that I should have read Heresy first, so, if you are looking into reading this, don't listen to those people who say you can read this one first and be all right. Bruno alludes to things that have happened in the first book and, while there are no spoilers that I can see, there is always that fear that those will appear.

That being said, this is a fantastic read. I loved the history, the intrigue, the suspense, and the writing. Elizabethan London comes alive in a more accessible way. With a plot that is reminiscent of Dan Brown, S.J. Parris takes the reader on a thrilling adventure into the dark underpinings of the politics in that era. Bruno is a likeable and believable hero who, while he seems bull-headed and does some stupid things at times, has the intellect to get through his predicaments. I liked that he was more of an intellectual hero than an action hero, but he could handle himself in a skirmish if he needed to.

The writing is far better than Dan Brown's so that is where the comparison stops. No offense to Dan Brown, but S.J. Parris has more of a knack for capturing beautiful imagery that is lacking in Dan Brown novels. She gives just enough details of a character's looks to let the reader fill in the missing pieces. Sometimes that is nice. It puts a little more trust in the reader that they can think for themselves and allows their minds to conjure up the face with the little tidbit that has been given. That is huge to me simply because this used to bug me. I used to be the kind of reader that liked to be told exactly what a character looked like. Now, I prefer to just have small details, preferably those things that make them stand out.

Speaking of characters, there are a lot of players in this book. At first I got a little confused about who was whom. She probably could have repeated some distinct markings of each character just so that I, as the reader, could get them more firmly wrapped in my brain, but I found that I figured it out well enough so that, by the end, I knew who was whom.

Parris does not get overly descriptive throughout most of the story. She has a nice balance of painting a nice picture for you while letting your imagination work the rest of it. The dialogue seems a little too modern and that might be my only complaint about the book. Sometimes Bruno uses phrases that are pretty modern, but it didn't bug me enough to distract from the overall enjoyment of the book.

The plot is fast-paced enough that I didn't lose interest. She had me from the get-go. Her writing, in the immediate and thrilling present tense, is impeccable. I love how most books are going to the present tense lately to show an immediacy that you lose when you write in the past tense if it used correctly. I was actually left guessing until just maybe a couple pages before she revealed the real culprit behind everything. That, my friends, is a huge compliment to Parris and her ability to divert.

That being said, I think I have gushed on about this book for long enough, I will let you get on with your lives. I would recommend this to anyone who loves literature, history, and/or Dan Brown. I gave it 4.5 out of 5 Saturn Symbols.

Latest Craze

It has been around for 8 years and I'm finally getting hooked on So You Think You Can Dance. I've always been fascinated by the clips I have seen, but have never seen a full episode until last night. It was pretty much amazing and I'm hooked. My favorite dance was Marko and Melanie's statue dance, but they were all pretty fantastic. No wonder that, with the results show the following night, NOBODY got eliminated! Insane!