Julianne's comments (member since Oct 07, 2008)

Julianne's comments from the You'll love this one...!! A book club & more group.

I read this book this month, and I really enjoyed it! I am not much for 60s segregation reading (I read the Secret Life of Bees, but didn't care for it either way), but what I loved about this book was that it was about women's relationships, and steered clear (or, as clear as I think was capable) of the violence in Mississippi in the 60s.

I really enjoyed the ending. Each white woman trying to come to terms with reading about herself and the things she did to other human beings. And allowing all those maids to voice both the good and the bad of what they were able to do in their career.

The relationships between the various white and black women I think was very appropriate for what it probably was at the time.

I liked that Hilly was a good mother--she is a bigot and a snob, but had a redeeming quality. I think it kind of shows that maybe if she had grown up in a different age (or different place in the country), she would have just been a regular old snobby socialite, which the US has plenty of (I think it made her a more real character).

Unlike Ally, I never grew to like Skeeter's mother. I understood her more at the end, but it didn't make me like her any more. Now, I wish we could have gotten to know Skeeter's dad more--he and Constantine seemed to be driving influences on who Skeeter ultimately became, and she became that despite her mother. But I understand why the male characters weren't showcased based on the themes of the book.

My friend, Laura, let me borrow this book. I saved it for a few months b/c I didn't think I would enjoy it after reading the front cover. But I was very pleasantly surprised, so I thank her again!

Anybody read the #1 Lady's Detective Agency? (I think that's the series). I love mysteries and there's tons of series out there, but I would like recommendations on what's good.

To summarize for those who are jumping on this thread (since I started it), here's the list of the books mentioned thus far, in no particular order:


A Dog Year Twelve Months, Four Dogs, and Me
Dog Days Dispatches from Bedlam Farm
The 101 Dalmatians
The Art of Racing in the Rain
The Starlight Barking
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle A Novel
A Dog Called Perth The True Story of a Beagle
The Bad Dog's Diary A Year in the Life of Blake Lover... Fighter... Dog
Merle's Door Lessons from a Freethinking Dog
The Incredible Journey
Watchers
The Dogs of Babel
The Plague Dogs A Novel
Marley & Me Love and Life with the World's Worst Dog
Along Came Dylan Two's a Crowd When You've Been Top Dog
Because of Winn-Dixie
No More Dead Dogs
Where the Red Fern Grows
The Call of the Wild
White Fang
Old Yeller
Sounder

I just purchased 2 Jon Katz books: Dog Days and A Dog Year. Short reads...I'm looking forward to them.

Thanks guys! Just added to my to-read list!

Light read with plot twists would be the Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz. Odd Thomas is the first book. I guess they'd also be listed as Suspense.

I third The Thirteenth Tale

I don't know about the ghost. I just took for granted that it existed (though I kept trying to find out whose ghost it was).

And, I want her with Zeke--but I think he'll come to her, then when it's time to "settle" they'll head back to Templeton.

So, I really enjoyed this book. I'd probably give it 4.5 out of 5 stars (1/2 star off b/c I think the author's sentence structure was at times terribly confusing. I rarely reread sentences and I found myself having to do that often to arouse meaning).

What I found most intriguing was how Groff was able to effectively tell a story where finding a Loch Ness-type monster in a lake is the back story. I don't think many authors could do this successfully.

Great story about finding yourself in yourself. And I really connected with the story. I agree with everyone about being confused about the family connections and 200+ years of characters, so I thank the author for making the diagrams every once in a while.

I would recommend this to people, definitely.

Stephanie,

Good luck with chemo.

Have you read Water for Elephants yet? I think this one has enough plot movement that it should keep you reading

Also, I have recently found Paulo Coelho. His novels are short, but most read like parables and have great bigger meaning (The Devil and Miss Prym: A Novel of Temptation is my favorite, and it's only ~200 pages long.

The Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz is another one of my favorites (if you like supernatural and/or mysteries). I think he's 4 books into the series.

Wow! I guess I read at face value. It's been a while since I've been in an English class and discussed scenes as being metaphors or commentary on society.

I think I like that idea. It actually makes more sense than that some guy would let a super old man suddenly tag along with the circus.

But, then I feel bad for his family, because they all "forgot" him that day.

BTW, I was hesitant to read this book b/c it was so main stream, but I absolutely loved it! The elephant is awesome!!!

Anybody know if Setterfield has another coming up? I loved the Thirteenth Tale, too. Would love to read something else of hers...

Lisa and Jenny-

Thanks! Added yet another to Mount TBR

Haven't read it, but it's on my TBR list. It might even be on my Christmas wish list. Can't remember.

Heidi-

I agree. My hope would be that they "studied" her later, but I don't know that because they ended the book before telling us that stuff!

I can see why, during the story they didn't, b/c all the people trained to study her are blind and so no one can actually do it!

I am reading A Great and Terrible Beauty, because a friend on GR has convinced me I can't go the rest of my life without reading it (okay, the rest of 2008 without reading it!)

Heather,

Thanks! I'll take a look at it.

I got a 6, but I totally guessed on 2 of the ones I got right!

Jenny,

It looks like it's a pseudo-sequel. 4 years later, but with not much to do with the original Blindness (except that it's the same townsfolk). It sounds like more of a political commentary, but maybe that's just the opinion of the person on GR who posted the summary.

I dunno. I think maybe I'll try another one of Saramago's............but not for a while.

I actually think the way the gov't and society behaved would be very similar to how things would really happen. Imagine--a disease suddenly shows up that renders people just like this. First thing we want to do is stop it from spreading. Our first concern with illness is to stop people from getting it, THEN try to fix it. I saw that as fairly realistic.

I don't know how much time was supposed to have elapsed between when the first man became blind and when the people made it out of the asylum, but I can't believe that no one evolved. No one built a fire, no one cooked meat, no one found a way to sustain themselves? That was sad.

I didn't enjoy this story as much as I had hoped. The rapes and shootings are not what I enjoy in my reading. Grim is right!

I can't see how else you could end the book, but I also felt like the ending wasn't that strong. Actually, I wanted to see what people thought when they finally realized how gross they all are!

Oh, and did anyone else want to know what happened when all the sight came back? It's like everyone now has a clean slate. There's no money, no jobs, no society...just cause people could now see doesn't mean the grocery stores will suddenly be filled. And, if you worked for the electric company or waterworks, would you immediately go back to work so society could start functioning with daily "luxuries"?

Is is just me who immediately thought of these things? An epilogue with this stuff would have filled my interests in this story...what happened when society tried to rebuild?

Just started this one today. I have to get used to the long paragraphs and no quotation marks for conversation.