The Help – A Snob’s Book Review

Here’s something you should know about me.  I am a snob.  Not a snob in the traditional sense. I don’t think I’m better than anyone else.  I don’t turn my nose up at anyone.  Lord knows I’m not rich. But I am a snob when it comes to things that are overly popular.  Unless I was reading/listening/watching it first.  Although I am much better than I used to be.  My husband still gives me a hard time though.  Every time a new band comes on Yo Gabba Gabba he says “hey Whit, have many times have you seen these guys in concert?” It started as a kid I think.  My dad never wanted us to go back to school shopping until after the first week. He always said we needed to see what everyone else was wearing first.  That way we’d always be in style.  Even then I threw a fit.  “I don’t want to wear what everyone else is wearing!” In retrospect, it was probably good advice.  I was never the coolest kid.

 

I mentioned last week that I just finished the 4th book in the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series and needed a mental break.  I was in the airport when I finished it.  After milling around in the airport bookstore I decided on “The Help.”  But I was reluctant.  Because I am a snob.  There was so much hype around it that I was reluctant.  In all fairness, even if I weren’t a snob I find that when movies or books are that hyped up they turn out to be a disappointment.  Not bad necessarily, but you get so worked up and excited over it, thinking you are about to witness the most amazing thing ever, you can’t help when things turn out to be just really good, and not the most amazing thing ever.   But I have to tell you, the book is so good.  I couldn’t put it down.  I think you are all probably aware of the storyline, so I won’t bother to explain it. The author Kathryn Stockett is one brave lady for writing this book.  There aren’t many white women that could (or should) write a book about such a troubled time and largely from the perspective of a black woman living through it.  I was a little taken back initially because she’s uses a heavy dialect for the black characters only, but I think it worked. Stockett manages to make all of her characters relatable, even the completely unrelatable ones.  I am pretty sure I know a woman or two that could have been Hilly Hollbrook in a past life.  Pretty awful stuff. If you haven’t read this book yet, I highly recommend it.  And now I will ignore all of the hype about the movie and put it on my Netflix queue immediately.  I already have a girl crush on Emma Stone anyway.

George R. R. Martin might be killing me

I just finished “A Feast For Crows,” the fourth book in George R. R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire Series. I have previously grumbled about this:http://wp.me/pROJ9-kQ  This book was an intense 1000 pages. They are all intense, but this was  a different sort of intense from the first three books.  Martin actually apologizes at the end and explains that after writing thousands of pages, he knew he was going to have to split the book in two.  Instead of writing about the characters chronologically, he wrote about them by location (north and south.) Therefore he only wrote what was happening to half the characters.  And he left out the better half of the characters for the most part.  I’m not saying that the book was bad by any means, just not what I was hoping for.  There were some very satisfying goings on right at the end, but I won’t spoil it. But I definitely I need a breather after this.  You know you’re reading something great when you feel emotionally exhausted by the end of it.  My husband is halfway through the fifth book(A Dance With Dragons.)  I keep looking at those 1300 pages and I’m not ready.  There are still a few more books in the series that have yet to be written, so I don’t see any real rush to get through the next one.  Then I’ll just be waiting around. So I picked up The Help, by Kathryn Stockett (I think you’d have to be living under a rock to not know what this is at this point) in the airport on Friday and it is excellent so far.  I’m zipping right through it though and A Dance with Dragons keeps making eyes at me.

What are you reading?  I would love some recommendations.

Winter Is Coming

No, I’m not complaining about the cold again, I ‘m talking about my current obsession with Game of Thrones.  This series is actually called A Song of Ice and Fire, but people recognize Game of Thrones because it’s on tv.  The books have somewhat taken over my life. My husband and I nerd out talking about them all the time. He has just finished the third book and I’m trailing a few hundred pages behind him. He has been forced into silence until I catch up.  Each book is 1000 + pages so the series is a bit of a commitment.  But I’ve always been committed to being a nerd, so no problem here.  And now that Harry Potter is done I have a replacement.  Sort of.  No, that’s not true, nothing will ever replace Harry Potter, but I digress.

There are so many frustrations I want to voice about the third book (A Storm of Swords) but I don’t to ruin anything for anyone. I had a friend ruin part of this book for me (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE) and I was less than pleased when it turned out to be true. But if you have some time do read this series.  I have not been able to put them down.  I’m so invested in the characters (although that’s not necessarily a good thing.)

Also, I just want to throw out that fantasy readers get a bum rap.  They’re all supposed to be fat dudes with greasy hair that spend too much time playing World or Warcraft and not enough time showering.  But what’s wrong with a little magic I say?  I will happily school any of you in Lord of the Rings trivia (and then just as happily take a shower mind you) any day.  So if you have a little time to spare, I highly recommend you pick up these books.  And for now I leave you with this.

Note:  I realize that posting a picture of the author does nothing to help my cause regarding fantasy readers.

 

My beautiful Mommy

I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this.  Is it me, or is our society surpassing ridiculous?

http://www.mybeautifulmommy.com/

We all have our issues with body image.  God knows I have mine. They were passed down from my mother, who got hers from my grandmother.  Looking back, I’m not sure who was worse between the two of them.  To this day my mother will ask if she looks ok 47,000 times before leaving the house and it was inevitable that some of her behaviors would rub off.  But I am not a plastic surgery fan.  I can understand it to a certain extent.  I obviously have no issue with correctional surgeries after accidents, or reconstructive surgery after mastectomies or defects that may be psychologically debilitating.  But surgeries just for the sake of being admired by others is dangerous business.  Most people are looking for a quick fix for emotional issues.  I’m fairly certain therapy is cheaper. Plus, its addicting.  Don’t you people watch tv?  Perhaps I watch too many Real Housewife shows, but it grosses me out.  The plastic faces and huge lips are frightening.  Is that what everyone is going to look like in our future?  Is Joan Rivers the future role model for women?

I’m not judging over here.  To each his own.  And I’m certainly not one to ever make decisions for anyone else.  But I still don’t like it.  “Honey, mommy’s not sick, she just hated her face, so she had to get it fixed.”  If you want to look like this, please be my guest:

Steven Tyler has gone bananas.

I will still be friends with you.  I think.

Mozipedia!!!

Someone buy me this stat!!!

Mozipedia: The Encyclopedia of Morrissey and the Smiths

They might as well have just deducted the money from my bank account and sent this to me already.   Oh, how I love Morrissey.  I swear to God he made every second of my teen angst worth it.  And even now I can listen to any album and still know exactly what he means.  Although I don’t think anyone loves Morrissey quite like Goddard.  This is his second book about the Smiths after all.

The book is a 350,000 word alphabetical index of everything Morrissey  – described by one reviewer as “the undertaking of a maniac” and by another as “the next best thing to Morrissey’s autobiography (when he actually writes it).”  Oh, how I wish he would.  It will never happen.

Kerouac + Kristen = a bad road trip

Is anyone else completely turned off by the thought of this movie?  My apologies to any and all Kerouac fans, but fyi, that book is not mind blowing.  I have never understood the obsession over it.  For those of you who haven’t read it and feel like you may have missed out on something because this book has been given so much praise of cultural importance, you haven’t.  It’s all a tedious rambling of self-counsciousness.  I read the book twice.  I thought maybe I was just missing something the first go around and gave it another shot.  But I still thought it sucked.  It’s not even well written.  And so now we’re going to have a movie.  With sour puss I hate everything Kristen Stewart.  This girl really irritates me and the combination of her and this movie is too much.  Not to mention it co-stars old snaggle tooth Kirsten Dunst.  “I’m a vampire too!  Kirsten and Kristen like totally almost rhyme! Besties!”  Hopefully Kirsten won’t drag Kristen down to rehab with her.  That means she might actually have to look like she’s having fun before she gets there.

I have to remind myself that Kristen is still a kid and I think I was probably a total brat at 19 too.  But every time someone takes her picture she acts like she’s five seconds from being gang raped.  And I’m not just saying that.

She explains the process of leaving somewhere and being bombarded by paparazzi to being this. “What you don’t see are the cameras shoved in my face and the bizarre intrusive questions being asked, or the people falling over themselves, screaming and taunting to get a reaction. All you see is an actor or a celebrity lit up but a flash. It’s so… The photos are so… I feel like I’m looking at someone being raped. A lot of the time I can’t handle it. It’s f**ked. I never expected that this would be my life.”

Another favorite:  I’ve never really gone out with someone who I’ve found attractive… initially. Oh, no?  Didn’t find Eddie attractive at first?  This chick is bonkers.  Hopefully she’ll lighten up with age.  Maybe she’ll smile once in awhile.  But my fear is she starts quoting Kerouac all the time.   “Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.” Can’t you hear it?