Marvelous ladies bookclub

April 19, 2010

Two hours ago, I just got home from our monthly book club meeting and I'm always amazed at the in depth discussions we have on the books we have chosen to read for that particular month.

The book that we read for this month, April 2010 was "The Help." It was a very interesting story and we had a wonderful discussion. It was about black maids in the south that worked for white women. It was during the 50's and 60's, and for a northern girl like me, a "Yankee" I learned more than I thought I knew about that era.

I grew up in the 50's and 60's; however, being from Davenport, Iowa which is a Northern state, I was somewhat unaware of how the south still felt about integration/segregation and how the black and white people had to put up with these issues. I knew, of course, about Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks not being able to sit on the back of the bus and Brown vs. Board of Education simply from history since I lived in that era. I did go to Jr. High and High school with black kids and I remember an incident with the football players, one being black and the other being white and the fight they had that broke the trophy display case and how they were suspended for a day or two.

This novel was written by Kathryn Stockett who was raised in Jackson, Mississippi.

The novel took place in Jackson, MS. She told the story about 2 black women and 1 white woman. The white woman wanted to interview the black maids as to what it was like to work for a white family. The story has many characters and the author tells the story about what it was like to be in the south during the 60s as she is interviewing the 2 black maids.

It is a wonderful story that tells about what the black women had to go through to work for the white people and about their lives in general.

I recommend this book. It was educational for me as well as entertaining and a good read.

The ladies in my book club are just as entertaining and full of stories of their own and I always learn something when I go.

One of the reasons I started to go to the book club was so that I would pick up a book and read more as it never was a passion of mine. I have thoroughly enjoyed it.

The majority of the ladies are friends from the church I go to. Over the past few years since our group has started, we have added new ladies to our group which makes it very worthwhile.

I always learn something from almost every one of them and come home with knowledge of something I haven't known before. Isn't that what life is about?

We never leave the group without having a little chit chat and laughing about something someone says that strikes all of us as being funny.

We are a Great Group! Now, I am hooked.

I recommend joining a book club if you haven't already. I know you will like it.

Also, pick up the book, "The Help" at your library or you can purchase it at your local bookstore. Happy Reading. Good night.