Oops

Tonight was book club. 8pm. Tonight I made the mistake of giving Son Two his milk in a darkened room a little after 7. He rested his head on my chest for a lovely cuddle and began snoring softly. I woke up about half an hour ago (it's now 11.30...). Sorry for the no-show Nicky x

So anyway - book on the left is the one we just read, and on the right my suggestion for next time. I shall plonk my reviews here, aren't you lucky?! Don't worry, they're short ones because I need to go back to bed ;-)

The Help, Kathryn Stockett

I enjoyed this one, but it took me a while to get in to it. I think the patois stylee writing of the first person in particular (Aibileen) didn't help. Sure it was necessary for the character and all (see what I did there?) but dodgy grammar makes my teeth itch, I can't help it - I blame the redoubtable Froggy Wellbourne for that one.

It's a tale from three main characters, about life and how they're all intertwined - so much of life in that area at that time was based around 'The Help' and their contribution, and yet there was still such segregation. I cannot believe that it was such a short time ago (the novel is set in 1962).

For me my favourite bit was actually the epilogue - the story about the author's own childhood and experience with 'The Help', their family maid Demetrie, the reason behind the story, and the fondness she had for her.

The Five People You Meet In Heaven, Mitch Albom

I love, love, love this book. It was given to me for Christmas 2009 by the very lovely Klaproos, and I drank it in immediately and have read it several times since. It's just such a lovely tale of hope, that one day *everything* that has happened to you will Mean Something.

A story about a man who dies in the very first chapter. But, as one of the cheesiest lines ever written in literature tells us "...all endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time." Eddie then goes on to meet 5 people, all of whom he met at some point in is life, in ways that really didn't seem significant at the time, but as it turns out that changed him in some way and were changed by him. They all have a lesson for him, and between them explain his life and his livelihood. The last one in particular always has me blubbing!

The author himself describes Eddie as feeling meaningless, purposeless, but "This nothing life that he thought he led on earth was actually very significant", and goes on to say that that's true of everybody, it's a message for people who don't think they matter very much, because they really do.