The Help

I'm joining Sarah at Yes Teacher for Tickle Me Tuesday where we share what is tickling our fancy this week.

I finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett after it sat on my end table for over a year!  I kept hearing about how good it was and the movie is coming out next month, so I decided to read a book before seeing the movie for a change!

The Help takes place in Jackson, Mississippi in the early sixties.  The story is told by three different women.  Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, is fresh out of college and dreaming of being a writer while her mother is dreaming of her getting married.  Aibileen is a maid who is raising her seventeenth white child.  Something inside her changed when her son died at work while his white bosses looked the other way.  Minny is a maid who can cook like no one else but she can't control her tongue.  The three of them join together to work on a project that puts them all at risk.

It is a great book that grabbed me at the beginning.  It is funny, sad, heartwarming and thought provoking.  I recommend it and hope you let me know what you think if you decide to read it.

Blogtoberfest ~ Day Nine ~ Words of Wisdom

From the book, The Little Big Book For Grandmothers, Welcome Books.

This is the best book ever for grandmothers!  But I'm saving it for another post on another day!

If you get a chance, go here and check out this beautiful orange fall treasury by PioneerLoft

She was kind enough to include my fall sign!!.

I hope you have a wonderful Saturday!!!

Pride and Prejudice, A Win and an Award!

One of my top 10 favorite movies is Pride and Prejudice and I have finally read the book.  I have to say, I'm more in love with this story than ever!  After reading the book, I'm not sure how I even understood the movie in the first place!  Next on the Jane Austen reading list is Sense and Sensibility.

I want to thank Lisa at Grandma's Briefs for the books I won in her giveaway.  The Granny Diaries by Adair Lara and Good Granny Bad Granny by Mary McHugh are great reads for Grandmas at any stage!

I also want to thank Lara at Life is What you Make it for the Sunshine Award. 

It's a good feeling to know someone likes and appreciates your blogging efforts.  I'm supposed to pass this award to 12 of my favorite bloggers, but I'm passing this to all my favorite blogs that I read regularly!  You can see the list on the right and if you are among them, please accept this award and pass it on!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!!!

.

Annette

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

* Grab your current read

* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Lost in contemplation of the greenery, he failed to see the main trail fork down to the river, where it led to a zamba, a "bridge" of yak hair rope lashed together and strung across the torrent between two boulders.  For the second time, Mortenson had lost his way.

~p.23  Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his remarkable humanitarian campaign in the Taliban's backyard.

I've just started this book but it is very good.  Kind of makes me wish I was more adventerous!  Actually, a LOT more adventerous!!

Annette

Emma

I was up until 4 a.m. this morning finishing Jane Austen's, Emma.  I loved it!  This was the first book I've read by this author and I wasn't disappointed. 

Emma sets out to match making and fails miserably.  Although her heart is in the right place, she sees what she wants to see and is able to fit it all neatly into her schemes.  The characters in her circle are delightful, snobbish, annoying, eccentric and endearing.  Not unlike the people we find in our own circles today!  In all her scheming and rationalizations, she learns some things about herself and finally realizes she is in love with the man who tells her like it is.

This book was truly a good read and I'm now officially a Jane Austen fan!

Blogtoberfest Day Five: Blogging For Bliss

If you blog and could use tips and advice on everything from choosing a name to good blog manners, then this book is for you.  Blogging For Bliss by Tara Frey is loaded with information on every aspect of blogging.  Whether you are a beginner blogger or have been blogging for years, you will find this book most helpful and very enjoyable.

Here are just a few things you can learn from Tara:  why a name is important, where to go for help, how to set up, how to make a banner, how to use your blog for business,  how to make it beautiful,  and sources for great visuals.  I loved that it was easy to read and even the technical stuff didn't seem technical.  It was very easy to understand even for me and I'm very not techno savvy! 

Tara uses many examples from real blogs including her own.  At the end of each chapter you will meet  bloggers who share  their experiences with blogging.  This was very inspiring.  You'll want to visit each one and include some on your own blog roll!

Treat yourself to this inspiring read...you deserve it!