The Help written by Kathryn Stockett

This book recommended by a good friend, was a joy! The Help is historical fiction that transports the reader to a time not so long ago-not too far away, but as foreign of a life style as a foreign country a century ago, for most of us.

The characters all have a distinctive voice and special in their own way, not all of them are likable though. They tell a story about the South that points out the bigotry still very much alive and rampant in the everyday life of families in the 60's.

It also shows a time when woman were expected to be pretty little housewives and nothing more. College, if you were privileged enough to attend was for the purpose of finding yourself a good husband. That brings us to the main character "Skeeter" she is a lot of fun to read, easily relating to her. She like many of us stuck between our families vision and what our true potential could be if we didn't have a ton of baggage being carried around.

I don't want to give any more away. Be sure to read or download the very enjoyable audio of this book, read by 4 different-very talented ladies.

Happy reading!

Reading books that teach vs reading the easy ones

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
I started this book with lots of zest for the content, but it's a hard book to read, very "text book" style with more facts than my old brain can remember. My first inclination is to pick a different one off the shelf. I'm resisting knowing that once through this text book, the size of a phone book, I will have gained the knowledge I craved when I picked it up.

This lesson holds true for many parts of our lives. We crave something deep or meaningful yet we are not necessarily willing to put the work into it that it requires. Examples: relationships with the opposite sex or with God. (I have to say that a relationship with God is simpler than the opposite sex.) Another example is an education. We want to learn something new, but do we take the steps to enroll in a class or research it, often not.

As our parents or teachers probably told us all: "if it were easy everyone would do/have it."
I'm going to keep plugging away so that I glean all from it I can. Please be patient for it's review.

Tattos on the Heart by: Gregory Boyle

Reading is one of my favorite things to do. The best kind of reading is when the book holds your attention to the point you don't want to put it down yet you don't want the experience to end. Father "G" the author of this book and founder of Homeboy Industries does this with great eloquence and humor. He shares some of his twenty years of stories; each one having great significance. He writes in a way that takes you from laughing to crying to straight up awe of his compassion and depth of love.

One of the chapters is about closing both our eyes and opening the other. I think by this he means that our third eye is either our heart or our view through Jesus' eyes. If I was to assume we could be as lucky to have this view. Imagine if we could...... the good that would come from all of us.

This book is a true joy to read and truly inspirational. I hope that you will pick it up and see if it inspires you. Please share your thoughts.

Movies not worth mentioning

The reason I haven't posted a weekly review is mainly because there was nothing good enough to bother with. I know...I've missed the point of a review if I think they all have to be good!
I'll start with the oldest -
Brooklyn's Finest - This movie shows a really ugly side of law enforcement. Three main characters deal with a major drug operation in 3 different ways and a very burnt out cop (Richard Gere) finds himself in the thick of a big case when he is trying to leave the force quietly.

Overall the movie makes you distrust most law enforcers and question the motive of a person that goes into the service of protecting and enforcing the laws of our state. This is not how I want to envision police officers hired to protect and serve. I can't tell you what else I didn't like about the movie without giving details away, let's just say you won't leave uplifted. 1 star

Green Zone - The military are in Iraq in hot pursuit of WMD, but there are 3 different parties involved in this pursuit and it's clear they do not all have the same agenda. There was a political agenda, a military agenda and then you have the CIA. The movie certainly had a political point it wanted put across. The problem I had with the movie was the over the top herky-jerky camera man. It was impossible to know who was shooting at who or who was getting shot and there was at least one too many battles that make the movie seem to drag on and on.

Matt Damon plays the same guy he played in the Bourne trio, so there's no surprise there. One very interesting point of view that they showed was the large party atmosphere at Sadam Hussein's mansion, some how I had a hard time swallowing this. 1 star

Precious Based on novel "Push"

Precious is a powerful movie with amazing acting. The amount of abuse this girl has taken will sicken you. Fortunately, we see Precious grow greatly in her scholastics and maturity level due to some wonderful people that come into her life as mentors and friends. Both the ladies that were up for Oscar Awards were very worthy! I don't know how Monique could play such a vile role as well as she did; every scene with her has you on the edge of your seat.

The movie points out a sad state of young people in this country and, it is not solely in the African American community either. I recently heard a statistic that stated 1 in 5 children suffer some kind of abuse or neglect. Thank God for teachers and councilors that show true concern for their students.

Make sure you see this movie, I dare to say that it will change you in some way. I personally look at all children with more compassion, even teenagers!

Oscar Nominee - Invictus

Invictus inspires us to work for the good of all. It shows Mandela trying to bring a divided country to a solid force of one country through the Rugby team which represented the countries division for years. I caught myself about welcoming Mandela to his 1st game and the audience cheered the Bucks to wins. Throughout the movie you saw the shift from Us vs. Them to We.

There are some great lines delivered by the great Morgan Freeman about a "Time for forgiveness" and how "leadership comes from example, but a team also needs motivation to be better than they think they are."

This is a must see movie. Five out of five stars.

Weekend Movie: Sherlock Holmes

In my quest to see all the Award Nominated movies this one was on my list. Not to mention I do love Robert Downey Jr. as an actor. He did a great job in Iron Man and The Soloist.

This movie is a period film that had great detail in the set and costume. While the romantic relation between he and Rachel McAdams is very fun as is his relationship with his side kick Watson played by Jude law; I have to say I didn't enjoy this movie. Sherlock Holmes shouldn't be full of witch craft, high technology or unbelievable special effects. It was very slow and I found it hard to understand Roberts English accent. He seemed to be mumbling everything. This story has lost the appeal of the original stories we grew up with.

I can only give it 2 out of 5 stars.