Happy Monday!

Monday Recommendation List

Random list of 10 books Monday! I have read and enjoyed each of these enough to flag for a potential personal library purchase.

Be bold and just choose randomly, stick to your normal genre...or step outside of your normal reading zone and try something you usually wouldn’t. You can look up the descriptions at Amazon.com, or search my blog for old posts by entering the title in the little search box in the top left-hand corner and clicking the magnifying glass.

This week-- 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

1. Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
2. Don’t Know Much About the Bible by Kenneth Davis
3. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
4. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
5. Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
6. The Hathaway Series (Starts with Mine Til Midnight) by Lisa Kleypas
7. Forbidden by Elizabeth Lowell
8. A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer
9. The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
10. On Dublin Street by Samantha Young

Monday Recommendations

Monday Recommendation List

Random list of 10 books Monday! I have read and enjoyed each of these enough to flag for a potential personal library purchase.

Be bold and just choose randomly, stick to your normal genre...or step outside of your normal zone and try something you usually wouldn’t. You can look up the descriptions at Amazon.com, or search my blog for old posts by entering the title in the little search box in the top left-hand corner and clicking the magnifying glass.

This week-- 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

1. Rainshadow Road by Lisa Kleypas
2. Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life by Karen Armstrong
3. The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
4. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
5. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
6. Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner
7. What I Did For Love by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
8. The Intellectual Devotional by David Kidder
9. Start Something That Matters by Blake Mycoskie
10. Captive Queen by Alison Weir

Monday Rocommendation List

Monday Recommendation List

Random list of 10 books Monday! I have read and enjoyed each of these enough to flag for a potential personal library purchase.

Be bold and just choose randomly, stick to your normal genre...or step outside of your normal reading zone and try something you usually wouldn’t. You can look up the descriptions at Amazon.com, or search my blog for old posts by entering the title in the little search box in the top left-hand corner and clicking the magnifying glass.


This weeks 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

1. Curious Religious Reader: Don’t Know Much About the Bible by Kenneth Davis
2. Though Provoking: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
3. New Classic: The Help by Kathryn Stockett
4. Police suspense series with a female lead: Naked in Death (first in series) by J.D. Robb
5. Spiritual parenting: The Seven Spiritual Laws for Parents by Deepak Chopra
6. Hmong Memoir: The Latehomecomer by Kao Kalia Yang
7. Romance: Rememberance by Jude Deveraux
8. Financial Savvy: The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
9. Classic Coming of Age:  The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
10. A Mother’s love: For Laci by Sharon Rocha

The Help

I read “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett before it was made into a movie. I have not seen the movie, but absolutely loved the book.

Amazing fact--this is Stockett’s first novel and it was supposedly rejected over 50 times before being published! Aspiring writers take heart, and keep your hope alive.

Her writing is moving and creates an intense intimacy with the characters. Set in the 1960’s in Mississippi it is laced with racial tension. Told from multiple POV, you can really feel the emotions of that time in history.

I felt closest to the Aibileen character, put upon, oppressed, but never broken. The relationships she shared were heart-warming and true. She was raising the child of her employer with love and compassion, and while she was good enough to take care of their children, she could not even use an indoor bathroom in their home. I had tears in my eyes thinking of this strong woman, being reduced in such a manner. The character of Skeeter was also inspirational, as she went outside of her comfort zone to do the right thing. There are few people in life who stand up against the crowd for what is right, when they are on the "right" side already. I appreciated that Stockett added a character who did just that.

I definitely recommend this book.