'Reading' Category
S4L Book Club – The Help
I like to read reviews of books after I’ve read the book. I like to see if I agree or disagree with the review, if that reader noticed things I didn’t or had a different take on them. It’s one of the ways I help myself think more about what I read. It’s like having [...]
S4L Book Club – The Help
Aibileen writes her prayers. I loved that and understood it. It was one way that I related to Aibileen. Recently, on Facebook, a friend shared a note her daughter had left on her bed. The thirteen-year-old girl wanted my friend to consider an important matter, and rather than discuss it, she put her request in [...]
S4L Book Club – The Help
Ziggy has recommended The Hunger Games as our next book. I think it’s a great choice. I read the series some time ago, but would enjoy reading it again, so how about we plan this for June? She also suggested we each talk about whatever books we’re reading in May. I love this idea, too! [...]
May Book?
We don’t have a May book selection. I just finished Chomp, by Carl Hiaasen and thought I might suggest it. It’s a kids’ book and a fast read, so if you can get your hands on it fairly quickly, you’ll have no trouble finishing it in time for a May discussion. The problem is that [...]
S4L Book Club – The Help
The Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH) criticizes The Help, claiming that “Despite efforts to market the book and the film as a progressive story of triumph over racial injustice, The Help distorts, ignores, and trivializes the experiences of black domestic workers. We are specifically concerned about the representations of black life and the lack [...]
S4L Book Club – The Help
Here’s canned question #2 for The Help: What do you think motivated Hilly? On one hand she’s so unpleasant to Aibileen and her own help, as well as to Skeeter once she realizes she can’t control her. But she’s a wonderful mother. Do you think you can be a good mother but at the same [...]
Contest Winner + S4L Book Club – The Help
Contest Winner Ziggy, you’re it! Pick a Funk & Weber pattern, any pattern. Great answers. Kat, you cracked me up! Harriet, awesome poem! Although, I will argue strenuously about the claim that Ukulele Land has the best fish. Although, that depends entirely on the kind of fish we’re talking about. If we’re talking about fish [...]
S4L Book Club – Olive Kittridge
I really liked the story “Security,” where Olive visits Christopher and his new wife, Ann, in New York. I like that the relationship between Chris and Olive is finally exposed. We get hints of it in other stories, and, of course, we’ve gotten to know Olive ourselves, so I wasn’t surprised at what was revealed: [...]
S4L Book Club – Olive Kittridge
In a recent comment, Shelly mentions “Olive’s affair.” I’m guessing it’s a reference to Olive’s feelings for Jim O’Casey, as opposed to her budding feelings for Jack Kennison at the end of the book. Did you consider Olive’s relationship with Jim O’Casey an affair? Though Jim drives Olive and Chris to school daily, and Olive [...]
S4L Book Club – Olive Kittridge
One of the canned questions about this book is as follows: In “A Different Road,” Strout writes about Olive and Henry: “No, they would never get over that night because they had said things that altered how they saw each other” (p. 124). What is it that Olive and Henry say to each other while [...]
