The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Title:  The Help
Author:  Kathryn Stockett
Published:  February 2009

(If there are many typos, sorry!  My "h" key still isn't working well and I get a bit frustrated with typing sometimes, and then I'm not as careful with my proofing!)

Book Jacket Synopsis:
"Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women:

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss.  She may ave 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 raiing er seventeenth white child.  Someting has shifted insider her after the loss of her own son, who died while is bosses looked the oter way.  She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both teir hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and prehaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi.  She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind er tongtue, so she's lost yet another job.  Minni finally finds a position working for someone too new to town..."

My review:
I really enjoyed this book!  The main characters were very well written and engaging.  The book takes place in 1960's Mississippi (The Jackson area, if I remember correctly) in a time when integration is supposed to be beginning, but the south - Mississippi especially - is resisting.  It was a time when being an integrationist in that area was dangerous.  The author does a great job of giving the reader a look into this intense place and time.  I was constantly engaged in the story.  The structure of the story is such that you jump from character to character - a few chapters from Aibileen's point of view, a few from Skeeter's, a few from Minny, and then back to Aibileen, and so on.  Sometime's this type of structure annoys me, but in this book it did not.  My only complaint is one that I often have of books like this (more intellectual books I guess you could say - typical book club books).  The end did not have quite as much resolution as I would have liked.  I don't really enjoy it when authors leave what happens next to the reader's imagination.  I enjoy a good epilog :)  lol  There wasn't a ton left up in the air, but enough that I wished for a little bit more!

Since I'm trying to do this review without spoiling any of the story for anybody who hasn't read it, that's about all I can say for now!!

My rating:  I give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars
Do I recommend it:  Definitely!  I recommend it for individual reading, but I also think it would be a great book club book.

Love my nook!!

Barnes&Noble Nook and Industriell Easel cover

I've been trying to decide what to review and have settled on one of my current favorite posessions - my NOOK.  If you're not familiar with it, the nook is Barnes&Noble's electronic reading device.  My wonderful husband ordered one for me for Christmas (actually, he had me order it, but he paid for it).  Unfortunately, since they were a new device that came out just before Christmas 2009, they were backordered and I didn't receive mine until the beginning of February.  That looooonnnnggg period of waiting was definitely a chanllenge for me :P 

Let's get to some details!
Name:  NOOK
Made by:  Barnes & Noble
Availability:  Can be ordered at www.barnesandnoble.com and I believe it is now available in some stores.
Cost:  Nook with Wi-Fi only - $149
           Nook with 3G+Wi-Fi - $199

Highlights: 
My favorite thing about my nook is that I have my books at my fingertips.  One of my new author's has a new book out?  All I have to do is pull up the shopping screen, search for the book and download it directly to my nook, no matter where I am.  When I got my nook, only the 3G+Wi-Fi model was available.  When I'm home, I use our network because it's sligtly faster, but when I'm not at home, I simply use the 3G network.  There is no monthly cost for having 3G access.  Another thing I like is the touch navagation screen that changes based on what you need - chose an option from the main screen and go from there.  If you need to search, it turns into a keyboard.  Want to play sudoku?  It will show whatever squares you're solving.  I also love my nook case.  That's not technically a highlight of the device, but I'll include it anyway :)  I have the Industriell Easel cover and I love it!  It sets the nook up like it's on an easel and I can read hands free.  This is great for me because I like to read while I eat lunch and with the nook and the easel cover, I don't have to try to hold onto my book while I eat.  One of the best things is that it feels like I'm reading an actual page of a book.  Computer screens wear out my eyes, but I can read my nook as long as I would read a regular book without my eyes getting tired.

What's not so great:
In order to have a screen that is comfortable to read, they have to use eInk instead of an LCD screen, so it's impossible to have a backlit screen and you have to use a book light to read at night.  I'll take that tradeoff though because, as I said, I love that the eInk screen is comfortable to read.  My biggest complaint (which, btw, would be the same no matter what ereader I was using) is that not all books are available in ebook format.  Most of the current authors I read are now releasing in ebook format and most classics are available.  Unfortunately, some of what I call "in between authors" are not available.  By "in between" I mean authors that are no longer living or with books that are no longer in production and whoever holds the rights to the books hasn't released the electronic rights.  On a side note, it's hugely disappointing to me that JK Rowling still refuses to release the electronic rights to the Harry Potter books.  From what I've read, she thinks ebooks increase the risk of pirating, but I would think that her refusing fans access to the books in an electronic format would do more to promote pirating.  Somebody will always find a way to get the books out there illegally as long as she keeps refusing to release the electronic rights. That was not really on topic, but oh well!

Things to consider if you are thinking of getting a nook or another brand of ereader:
First, go online and find out if the authors you like to read have books available in ebook format.  With the nook, you can go on the Barnes&Noble website and they have an ebook tab where you can search for specific titles and authors.  There's not much reason to spend the money on an ereader if you're just going to have to continue buying most of your books from the book store.  Second, go to a store where you can try out the ereader you're thinking of buying and see if you can find somebody who owns it and see what they think of it before you buy.

My rating:  I give the nook 4.5 out of 5 stars.  I love it!  Of course there are improvements that could be made, but that's the same with pretty much any electronic device.
Would I recommend the nook to a friend:  Definitely!

"Non-Stop Fun" at the Iowa State Fair

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go to the state fair with the youth group I work with.  I love the Iowa State Fair!  I've gone almost every summer for my entire life.  From what I've read, the Iowa and Texas State Fairs are the top 2 in the nation.  I used to get Family Fun magazine when my daughter was younger, and the Iowa State Fair was listed as a top summer family destination in the midwest.  I have to agree!!  But, as the Iowa fair is the only one I've been to, I don't really have anything to compare it to :)

We arrived at the fair grounds at about 1pm and were there until 8pm.  The group I was walking around with included some people who had never been to the fair, so I was excited to show them the sites, from the butter cow to the"World's Smallest Cow" to the Campion SuperBull (and all the non-cow related things as well)! 

We started the day at the Varied Industries building where we got our free bags, pens, temporary tattoos, and whatever else the businesses/schools/organizations were giving away.  Then, it was time for a late lunch.  I went with my usual choice - the Iowa chop dinner from the Pork Producers of Iowa stand.  YUM!!  After eating, we took a quick trip through the Agriculture Building to see the 2010 Butter Cow and the Green Eggs and Ham butter sculptures.  For those unfamiliar with the Iowa State Fair, there is a full sized butter sculpture of a cow every year (the breed changes each year) and then an additional sculpture that changes every year.  After the Ag building, we headed up to Expo Hill where we watched the very entertaining high dive show - "Sinbad and the Search for the Golden Pineapple."  We were seated in the splash zone (which, by the way, we didn't know until the first big dive!), so we got a bit wet during the show.  We dried off as we walked across the grounds to the animal barns where we checked out the champion SuperBull, Buster, who weighed a MASSIVE 3022 lbs!  Yikes!  In the barn next door, we saw the "World's Smallest Cow" as well.  In the horse barn, we saw a lot of draft horses waiting to be prepped for the show later that day and adorable miniature horses also getting ready for their show.  We got supper yummy caramel apples from Applishus and sat for a while at one of the free stages, were we watched part of a christian rock concert before going through the Animal Learning Center.  In the ALC, we got to see baby pigs, cows, goats, sheep, ducks, chickens, turkeys, and ostriches.  I love that building.  The part that some people don't like is that they show videos of the births on large screens in the building.  Actually, if you happen to time your visit right, you might see a new little animal enter the world, which grosses some people out, but I think it's cool :)  After the ALC, we headed to the Midway, where my trip on the double ferris wheel about did me in...  It took my stomach about 45 minutes to recover.  I won't be doing that again.  lol!  We ended our day back in the Varied Industries Building one more time.  We had a bit of supper and then I got somen Nitro Ice Cream on the way back to the bus...mmmmmm!

It was a fabulous day!  If you have time, check out my photo album and see some pics of my adventures at the fair!  If you live in Iowa or near us in the midwest, you should definitely consider adding the Iowa State Fair to your summer plans next year.  I give it 5 out of 5 stars! 

The Pittsburgh Project 2010!!

If you have been following my blog, you may have noticed that I haven't posted anything in a while. I kind of feel like I've been going nonstop all summer! Maybe some of you feel the same. Another reason I haven't been doing a lot of typing is that my "h" key is sticking and it's really annoying to type very much when an important letter isn't working correctly. But, I'm excited to do a review of this year's Pittsburgh Project trip, so I will tolerate the sticky "h" key in order to get this post up! :P Maybe one of these days I'll figure out how to fix it... I have a couple other reviews started, so I'll try to finish them soon also.

For the past 25 years, my church (St. Andrew Presbyterian) has sent a group of high school students to The Pittsburgh Project (TPP). For the past 2 years, I have been lucky enough to be a part of this AMAZING mission trip. Eleven straight days with 28 high school students age 14 to 18 might sound a little overwhelming to some, but it's fabulous!

From TPP website:

"The Pittsburgh Project is a nonprofit community development organization with a 25-year track record of developing leaders and serving the city's most vulnerable residents. Our year-round staff of 51 operates a progessive series of afterschool and summer programs for 450 urban young people, deploys over 2800 people annually to perform free home repairs for Pittsburgh's elderly homeowners, and spearheads economic development and job training efforts in our Pittsburgh neighborhood."

Their vision - "That Pittsburgh will be called a City of Truth, where once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets each with cane in hand because of age, and where the city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there (adapted from Zechariah 8:4-5)."

Their purpose - "We develop servant leaders and uphold the dignity of vulnerable homeowners."

Brief trip overview:

Day one (Saturday) is 13 hours of driving followed by sleeping on air mattresses in a church gym. Day 2 (Sunday) is a long one - church, checking in at The Pittsburgh Project, getting our work assignments, meeting our work group, Club, seeing our worksite, and meeting our homeowner. Days 3 through 7 (Mon - Fri) are pretty similar - breakfast, devotional time, skit and morning announcements, LOTS OF WORK at our worksites, dinner, Club, small group time, evening program, evening prayer, and lights out (one of my favorite times of the day lol!). Day 8 (Saturday) we have a final Club meeting, get our tshirts, leave The Project, go to the mall for a bit, do laundry, have dinner, and sleep on air mattresses on the church floor again. Day 9 (Sunday) is church and a drive to Sandusky, OH where we hang out at another church for a couple of days and nights. Day 10 (Monday) is spent at Cedar Point - America's Roller Coast! - and some group time spent discussing our week at The Project. And finally, Day 11 (Tuesday) is an EARLY start and the rest of the drive back to Iowa, at which point we are all exhausted and ready for a long rest!

During our time at TPP, my workgroup (consisting of myself, another leader from New Jersey, 2 girls from my church, 2 girls from New Jersey, and 2 guys from Virginia) worked in the Northside neighborhood, which is where TPP is located. Our projects for our incredible homeowner, Mr. Art, were re-roofing his house and scraping, priming and painting all the windows and trim on the exterior of his home. Toward the end of the week, our small group leader asked us each to give one word that described our week and mine was BLESSING. We were incredibly blessed in our homeowner and his family who welcomed us into their home and really took time to get to know everyone in our group. They had dinner and worshipped with us on Homeowner's Night, which we all enjoyed! By the end of the week, we all felt truly connected with the family and were sad to say goodbye. The project staff was also a blessing this year. I loved seeing them interact with our kids and the kids from all the other churches at TPP the week we were there. Our worship was truly a blessing as well. The music was great and Wayne's messages every evening were challenging, funny, and engaging. The entire week was a blessing that I am so thankful to have been a part of!

This is a really brief review of this amazing organization and my time spent with them last week. There is so much more I could write about our trip, but this post would be far too long if I went into more detail on everything we did! So, if you want to know more about TPP, check out their website (there should be a link toward the beginning of this post). If you work with a jr. high or high school youth group at your church, you should definitely check out their summer service camps and think about bringing your group for a week next summer!

Deathly Hallows trailer review!!!

Movie Title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Release Date: November 19, 2010
SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't read the book and don't want commentary that might spoil parts of the story that will be presented in the movie, you probably shouldn't read past the first paragraph :)

I had intended to do this post last month when this FABULOUS trailer came out, but life got in the way! I'm sure many people can relate to that :) I'm so excited to talk about the Deathly Hallows trailer! Those of you who know my love of all things Harry Potter will understand that keeping this entry a reasonable length will be a tough thing for me to do (I'll try, but no promises)! lol
My first observation is that even though this trailer is for Part 1, it contains a lot of scenes from Part 2 (which will be released in July 2011), as we see in the opening scene of the trailer which is from the "death" scene at the end of the book, followed by a quick shot of a meadow and the trio along the banks of a river, then back to the death scene and one of my fav quotes from the trailer. "Harry Potter. The boy who lived...(long pause)...come to die." Voldemort's snake nose is always a bit freaky to see in those close ups - good, but freaky. Also, I don't like Harry with 5 o'clock shadow. Just an observation. Did you notice that you can see Voldy is using the elder wand??
We got to see glimpses of A LOT of scenes. I tried to count how many different scenes were included. I didn't manage to count them all, but there are 35+ scenes represented in this one trailer. I felt like they managed to show us a lot without making it feel like we've seen the whole movie already, which is tough to accomplish. I hate it when I go see a movie only to find out that I've already seen all the important stuff in the previews.
My fav scenes: Wow...tough to choose, but I'll give it a try! The "death" scene, the seven Potter's, the Hogwart's scene where you can see the defenses burning away, battle preparation scenes, Voldemort sending lightning into the sky (probably from the scene when he steals the elder wand from Dumbledore's grave), the fire in the Room of Requirement, Snape cowering against the window (possibly his death scene??), and the final battle between HP and Voldy in the courtyard.
My concerns: If you've read the series, you will note from my previous list that all but one of the scenes I mentioned are most likely going to be in Part 2. That leads me to wonder - what is Part 1 going to be like? I pretty much assume that Part 2 will be a bigger, more exciting movie because it's the finale of the franchise and has the most action. I sincerely hope though that Part 1 is good as well. I was definitely disappointed that we didn't get more background on the horcruxes in Half Blood Prince. That leads to my second concern - that the lack of backstory established in HBP will make the horcrux storyline awkward in Deathly Hallows. Or, even worse, that they won't feature the horcruxes much in DH, which would be really disappointing because they are such a huge part of the book.
Overall, I LOVED this trailer and I seriously cannot wait to see the movie! I liked the two statements they included - "Finale of the World Wide Phenomenon" and "The Motion Picture Event of a Generation." Maybe they're a little cheesy, I don't know, but I liked them. If you enjoy discussions of Harry Potter related stuff - books, movies, theme park, etc. - you should subscribe to Mugglecast on itunes (if you don't already). It's a great HP podcast and they recently did a trailer discussion that was really good. Also, I may be starting another blog in the near future that will cover the Potter books. I'm thinking I will cover a chapter each day and start with Deathly Hallows so that it's discussion is done before the movie comes out. Then, I'll go back and start at the beginning with Sorcerer's Stone after DH comes out, if I'm having fun with the new blog :)
Hope you are looking forward to DH as much as I am!!! Can't wait until Midnight on Nov. 18th!!!

Let's talk Austen!

Tonight, I feel like discussing one of my all time favorite authors - Jane Austen! I doubt I will be able to be brief on this topic, so it might get a little long. Consider yourself warned! :)

I read my first Austen novel, Northanger Abbey, in an English Honors class my freshman year of college. I feel compelled to admit that it wasn't love at first sight... But, as I read more of the book, and had the opportunity to discuss it in class with the other students and our professor, I'm happy to report that I really started to appreciate her writing and her humor :) So much so, that I decided to read more of her novels.

Sadly, the novels of Jane Austen are few in number. They include: Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, and Lady Susan. Another novel, Sandition, was unfinished at the time of Austen's death. It was later finished by another English author under the pseudonym "Another Lady." A nod to the fact that Austen's name did not appear on her books when they were originally published? They said simply, "By A Lady." There are a few other works, either unfinished, or short works from her early years that are available for Austen fans as well.

My favorite Jane Austen novels:

Pride and Prejudice and Emma (I also love the BBC movie adaptations of these novels) I like all her stories, but these two are my favorites. Why? Who knows! I just love them! P&P is probably the most widely read Austen novel. I don't know this for certain, but that's my guess. Emma, like Northanger Abbey, is a story that I wasn't sure I really liked at first, primarily because the heroine is a brat. I ended up liking her though and the story succeeded in securing it's place as one of my favorites :)

Austen inspired works that I like:

The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James - This book is a great read for Jane fans. It's written as a manuscript from a person who finds Austen's memoirs. It's wonderfully written and it was hard for me to remember that I what I was reading was fiction, not actual memoirs. I definitely recommend it.

The movie, "Finding Jane" - This is a movie about Jane Austen's life. Very little is known about her, but this is a good presentation of what is known/believed about her life.

Austen inspired works that I DON'T like:

The Independence of Miss Mary Bennett by Colleen McCullough - I was really disappointed in this sequel to P&P written by an author whose books I usually like. I had two main complaints. First, there were too many things happening throughout the book and too many plot lines to follow. It definitely neeed some simplification, in my opinion. Second, McCullough did not stay true to the characters that Austen originally created so long ago. In this sequel, most characters became very unlikable and I just didn't enjoy reading about what these characters had become in this novel.

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler - Supposedly, each section/character of this book is supposed to mimic an Austen story line/character. I felt it was unsuccessful and didn't feel like it was in the style of Jane Austen at all. Obviously, my opinion is not shared by all, since it was a successful book and was also made into a movie (which I did watch and didn't like - big surprise right? lol).

So, if you love Jane like me, I hope you enjoyed this little review. If you haven't ready any Jane, I hope you're now inspired to pick up a book and give her a try! Happy reading!!

So let's review...Champions!!!

When spring rolled around this year and it was time for Shelby to sign up for softball again, I decided I would take a year off from coaching. I enjoyed the past 2 years of coaching her teams, but I thought I wanted a year off - primarily because she decided to play in a different league, which meant a 25 minute drive to the fields for me and no control over who I would be coaching with. So, I showed up to the first game excited to sit back and watch her team play, only to find out that I am NOT a good softball spectator...lol Apparently, I need to be in the middle of things, telling the players what to do (or what not to do) haha :) Well, during the second game I was at, the head coach asked if I was interested in taking over for him. So, I started coaching and had a great season with the girls on the team.


The season definitely started shakily. On the positive side though, there was no place to go but up, right? I'm glad to report that the team consistantly improved throughout the season. They didn't win a lot of games, but they played better every game and most of the games were close. Going into tournaments, we were ranked 5th out of the 6 teams in the leage and had a 3-8 record. The tournament lasts one week and you stay in until you lose 2 games. I have to admit, I didn't figure we would be staying in the tournament that long. I'm happy to report that I was wrong! Although I'm guessing that the title of this entry gave that away :) My team played awesome! They were ready to play and determined to hit the ball and make their defensive plays. We beat the Blizzards on Monday and the Avalanche on Tuesday. On Thursday we met the Twisters and it was quite intense, but we kept the lead and won the game! That meant a Friday evening championship game. Which would be great, except that 5 of our players had tickets to the Justin Bieber concer that night. The girls were so excited to be playing for the championship though, that they all decided to sell their tickets and play the softball game instead of going to the concert. I was so proud of them!! So, Friday rolled around and we met the Twisters again. The second time around was a much tougher (and longer!) game, but we held on and beat them again! The game was followed by trophy presentations and lots of pictures.



Congrats Team Force!! You guys are awesome and I had a blast coaching you this season!!