The Help

Last week was Thanksgiving and I had a pretty busy week. Monday & Tuesday I had to work. Tuesday night my family went out to dinner for my parents' 50th birthdays. I took the day off Wednesday to make a Turkey for a family my sunday school class decided to help out for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Thursday was Thanksgiving. And I spent Friday, Saturday & Sunday taking care of Michael, who got a cold, putting up the Christmas tree and finishing laundry.

I guess since I had a lot going on I couldn't really get settled enough to start a new book. I was lucky enough to have some time at the beginning of the week to finish The Help. This book was recommended to me and at first I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. I didn't really pay much attention to what the book was about but thought I'd give it a shot. And I am so glad I did. It took me a few pages to get into the book, but once I did, I could not put it down. I was completely drawn into this story of black maids in the 1960's and the white women that employed them. I've seen plenty of movies and heard about racial segregation in the 1960's, but I've never considered

it from this point of view. I can only hope that if I had lived in this time, I would have been brave enough to stand up for what is right. I did not want this book to end. But it did and as I read the last few pages I could not help but notice the tears rolling down my cheeks.

I finally picked up another book to read last night: Last Kiss. Its been on my shelf for a while and I need to get some off to make room for new ones I seem to accumulate pretty quickly.

The Blind Side

I did not grow up watching a lot of football and therefore did not find a great deal of interest in it. As I got older, the interest I did take in it was mostly just because I noticed everyone else around me taking interest. I can vividly remember sitting in sixth grade science, the teacher being a Tennessee football fan, reviewing by way of a game set up to be a lot like the way a football game works: each team had four chances to get the answer right before having to forfeit their turn. And I could just not wrap my head around what a 'down' was. Even after several people in the class, the teacher included, tried to explain it.

Football for me was just something that would allow, every once in a while, a bunch of people to get together and hang out. Even in high school Friday night football was just to go and hang out. I paid attention mostly my junior year when we made it to the state championship, but it was hard not to get caught up in that excitement. I don't think I really started to really pay attention to football until sometime in college and it was an off and on thing.

After I started dating my husband my concept of football really changed. College was really all I watched. And it was really just Tennessee football. Pro football became something I loved to watch because my husband plays fantasy football. I think if I had to choose between college and pro, I'd choose pro.

If you don't like football, this book might be a tough read. It is a great story about a black kid from one of the poorest parts of the country who finds his way into the home of rich, white family and how it changes his life. It will tug at your heart strings. What makes this book interesting (and probably pretty boring to some people) is that it seems to take two entirely different pathways: the first being history and evolution of pro football, the second Michael Oher's (pronounced 'oar') life and shows how, against all odds, they happen to converge into one.

If you can muddle through the history side of it, the story of Michael Oher's life is truly worth reading about. And if muddling through the boring stuff doesn't sound appealing, then definitely check out the movie: The Blind Side.

Picture Perfect

I started reading this book about two weeks ago. It usually doesn't take me this long to read a book, but I had some school things, like finals, to finish up. I love reading this author. She writes on hard subjects but her stories are so captivating, I always get drawn in.

PIcture Perfect is about a woman who finds her the love of her life in the middle of Africa. She is there for work and happens to have the right expertise to consult on a movie set. There she meets her future husband, the star of the movie, and begins her life living out a fairy tale most would be envious of. But things are not as they seem and soon her fairy tale turns nightmarish.

On to finish my next book, The Blind Side. The movie comes out this Friday and I am looking forward to seeing it!