The Sunday Salon: The Help Movie Review

I read The Help by Kathryn Stockett when it first came out in 2009 (my review is here)and then discussed it with my book club last year. It was on my list of best books for 2009 and remains a favorite book for me. I saw the movie together with my book club instead of a book club meeting this month. The Help, the movie is based on the best selling book by Kathryn Stockett  in which both look at  the relationships between the white women and the African American maids that work for them in a southern town in Jackson, Mississippi  in the early 1960's.  

I  believe that they did an excellent job adapting the book to the movie. Although it's been awhile since I've read the book, I didn't notice any significant changes.  I felt it stayed true to the heart of the book. I was drawn into the movie from the start and didn't want it to end. The casting was excellent and true to the characters in the book. They were all outstanding in my mind and I hope to see some academy award nominations down the road. The Help is a movie that engages the audience, even if you have not read the book. I heard laughter, tears, cheers and clapping from the movie theater. It touched my heart and I loved it. This is definitely a must see movie, perfect to see with your friends, book club, for mothers & daughters and couples. 

The Sunday Salon: Book Club Mini Reviews:

I mentioned in last weeks Sunday Salon post that I had gotten behind in sharing my book club reviews this past year. I've decided to highlight what we've read and discussed in a mini review format. I haven't done this before so we'll see how it works. I'd appreciate your feedback!

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Rebecca Skloot is a science journalist and has been fascinated by HeLa cells since she first heard about them in her high school biology class.  Ms. Skloot does a fabulous job telling this true-to-life story that reads like a detective novel as she unravels the truth as to where the HeLa cells originated and shares the truth about Henrietta Lacks and  her family. Her research is impeccable and she explains it in a way that a layman can understand. I am a health professional and never heard about HeLa cells in my college courses. I've since asked friends that I know that are nurses and doctors and they said that they may have heard mention of HeLa cells but not the significance of them or the background story. Ms. Skloot fairly looks at the historical process of the HeLa cells and lets the reader know how this has effected our own health care and medical care, research and medical ethics. As a reader, it makes you wonder what happens to those samples that we give so freely without questiong when we are at the doctors office and sign the HIPPA privacy act forms at every doctor visit.  The story that centers around the uncovering of who Henrietta Lacks is, her children and family and interviewing them will touch your heart. Her story deserved to be told and Ms. Skloot has done an honor to her memory and her family in writing this book. This is an excellent book to discuss with a book club as there are many themes to talk about. 

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

This is a wonderful book that weaves the past and present in alternating chapters and voices as it uncovers a mystery that effects grandmother and grandaughter. A little girl is abandoned on a ship headed to Australia in 1913 with only her little white suitcase filled with clothes and a book of fairy tales. She is taken in by a kind man and woman and believed that she was their own until she was told the truth by her father on her 21st birthday. Her life was never the same, her identity as "Nell" was shaken and she was determined to find the truth someday. Over time, Nell is able to uncover some truths but it is her granddaughter Cassandra who learns on Nell's deathbed the story of Nell's life.  Cassandra is determined to unravel the mystery and is drawn into a story that has layers to reveal. The Forgotten Garden is  a story told through fairy tales related to the book that Cassandra finds in the little white suitcase that Nell has kept for so many years. I truly enjoyed this story, the setting and the characters and look forward to reading more novels by Kate Morton. This was an interesting book to discuss as there were varied opinions on the style of the writing and the story itself. Some had issues with the foundation of the novel being based on many stories already told but for me that was not a factor. I highly recommend this novel for your reading pleasure and as a book club discussion. 

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Speak is a riveting novel written with prose that is unique and gripping. Laurie Halse Anderson has an amazing writing style that will grab your attention and won't let you go until you finish the last page. I felt the same way about this authors writing style when I read Wintergirls last year (read my review, here).  In Speak, Melinda is an outcast after she calls the police at an end of summer party but wouldn't tell anyone why or what happened. When high school starts in the fall, nobody wants to speak to Melinda and she has chosen not to speak about it and she becomes sullen and withdrawn.  Her parents know that something is wrong but for me, I couldn't relate to her parents who seemed very selfish and could have done more to help Melinda. An art teacher realizes something is wrong and tries to draw her out through her art assignments. Melinda has become self destructive as she keeps this secret inside and doesn't know how to handle the situation. Melinda is representative of so many young girls and young women who are affected by a traumatic event and don't know what to do. She must make a choice to let the sorrow destroy her or speak and get the help she so desperately deserves. Speak is an excellent book for teens, more likely a high school student who has the maturity to discuss and handle the themes shared in this novel. This would be a novel to read together and  discuss with your teen daughter and son as well as a book club. We had a fascinating book club discussion about Speak and the reality of how this type of situation can occur and does occur more often than we realize. 

Sara's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay 

This is a novel that brings to light the seldom mentioned, little known piece of French history the Vel d'Hiv round ups of the Jewish people in France in 1942. I've read many novels and non-fiction books about the Holocaust and this is one time period and event that I was unfamiliar with. This is a dark period of history when thousands of Jewish families were rounded up and held in the Velodrome d'Hiver and then transported to Auschwitz.This is a fictional account of this time period but reads as it could easily be a true-to-life story. The novel centers around a 10 year old girl Sarah, who is forced out of her home with her mother and father during these round ups and innocently leaves behind her 4 year old brother locked in a secret cupboard thinking that she would be back soon to let him out. The story alternates between Sarah's life starting at this time when she was 10 in 1942 and the life of Julia, an American journalist living in Paris starting and in 2002,  is assigned to cover the 60th anniversary of the Vel d'Hiv round ups. She finds herself fascinated and drawn to this time period and the story of Sarah and the parallels to her own life. She is compelled to uncover Sarah's story in which she finds secrets and truth about her family, about France and herself. This is a riveting and emotional novel that I found hard to read at first as parts of the story are heartbreaking. As I read the book in chunks at first, I then couldn't put the novel down and found myself researching the historical background of the Vel d'Hiv round ups.  This is a part of history that should not be forgotten as with the Holocaust it is a difficult topic to read about but one so important not to every forget. When my book club discussed this book, none of us had heard of the round ups in France and we were drawn into this novel. Some had difficulty getting past the initial part of the book but all but one persevered and read to the end. It is a book that we all agreed had an impact on us. There were parts of the story in the modern day sections with Julia that some felt were unnecessary or questionable and some had difficulty with the alternating chapters between past and present day. Overall, it is an excellent novel and one that I would highly recommend for anyone and is a good novel to discuss with a book club.

This month we will be discussing How To Be An American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway which I read and reviewed last year (read my review here),  it will be another great book to discuss with my book club. In August, we will be going to the movies and plan to see The Help. I am looking forward to this, we discussed this book last year and it was a favorite. We are all excited about seeing this movie. 

Sunday Salon & Weekend Cooking: February Book Club Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Work, Health & Cooking:

Life has been busy and my blog has been a bit quiet lately. Work has been busy as those who work in the schools  know, IEP's (Individualized Education Program) are completed annually on all students who qualify. As I am an  Occupational Therapist working in the schools, the IEP's are coming due fast and furious. Therefore, much of my time has been spent writing up reports at home which takes away from my free time, which includes blogging and reading. I am trying to keep a balance and I have some great reviews and  giveaways coming up. I am doing well on my lifestyle change towards improved health and healthier eating. I've lost 10.5 lbs in 6 weeks following the Weight Watchers Points Plus program online. It's working well for me. This week was a challenge as I hosted book club and there is always wine and appetizers as well as dessert. I planned to make a flourless chocolate cake that I got a recipe from the Sunday Parade magazine a few weeks ago. It was a flop! Oh well, it was supposed to be a souffle like cake but I don't think that the temperature or time were correct in the recipe and it was raw, even after cooking it extra time. I had to go out and buy a prepared chocolate chip coffee cake which I served with raspberries and whipped cream which worked out fine. I did try a new recipe that a friend on the Weight Watchers board shared and it was excellent, it looked similar to this picture:

Chunky Avocado and Feta Cheese Guacamole:

3-4 medium avocados, cut up - NOT mashed!
3-5 roma tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup of red onion, chopped 

2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp oregano
8 oz feta cheese, crumbled into little pieces

Combine it all. If you make it ahead, add the avocado
as late as possible so it doesn't turn brown. Add some
lime juice if you aren't serving it right away.

Serve with baked tostito scoops (or any tortilla chip) . 

Book Club & Review:

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

This is a charming, delightful story that is entertaining and filled with deeper themes than I expected. I love a good British novel set in a village with great characters, the setting was superb. Ms. Simonson created a loveable and endearing character in Major Pettigrew and I adored him. The Major is a widow and lives alone in the small village of Edgecombe St. Mary in the English countryside. He has a grown son who lives in London but is on the path of materialism and wealth that is quite different than the values of the Major. He lost his wife a few years prior to the opening of the  novel in which he just heard the news of the sudden death of his brother. He befriends a local shop owner, Jasmina Ali who is also a widow and their friendship develops over cups of tea and conversations about literary books they've read.  Mrs. Ali is Pakistani although born and bred in England. The Major and Jasmina develop a relationship that is not accepted as the couple are of different races. There are many themes throughout this novel that are worthy of great discussion; racial differences and acceptance, parents and their adult children, community and what it means to be a neighbor, social status, honor and loyalty, religion and the value of money and materialism. My book club had a great discussion of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, most of the group liked the book and there were a few that did not care for the book. They felt that the Major was a bit annoying and that the novel was not well layered. We had a great time discussing their views and other perspectives.  I think that having different opinions about a book makes for a more interesting book club discussion. For me, I highly recommend Major Pettigrew's Last Stand as it took me into a village in England full of fascinating characters and a story that had layers and themes that develop into an endearing story. I've heard that the audio book version is also great with an excellent narrator. 

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, go to Beth Fish Reads.

Sunday Salon- Health & Nutrition -Weekend Cooking

We've been fortunate to avoid the big snowstorms so far this month here in Ohio. Although, there is one predicted for this week, we're waiting to hear if the winds will shift and it will head in a different direction. I've had a busy month at work, working part-time feels a lot like full-time as there is just as much to do at home in addition to working.  I work in the schools and fortunately, I can work at home some days when I am writing reports which is a nice benefit. My son had the dreaded URI (Upper respiratory Infection) this week and missed three days of school. He's in middle school so he's going to have a lot of work to catch up on next week. Fortunately, it bypassed my husband and I and we're thankful for that. I was sick enough last fall and I hope that I stay healthy this winter.

I recently had some blood work done and found out that I'm severely Vitamin D deficient(like most of us in the Northeast) , hypothyroid and I have to start on thyroid medication. I also have high cholesterol and my inflammatory markers were high so I've taken on some healthier changes. I've joined Weight Watchers Online (I've already lost 6.5 lbs in 3 weeks!) and I have decided to limit red meat to lean meats occasionally. I'm also taking a prescription mega dose of Vitamin D, multi-vitamin, fish oil to get my Omega 3's and calcium/magnesium supplement. 

I have been researching and reading about healthy eating and have several books on my shelf that I plan to read and adapt changes to my lifestyle. These are a few and I would love to hear from anyone else if they have any other suggestions. 

~Nutritional Books~

• Eat to Live by Joel Furhman
• The China Study  by T. Colin Campbell, Thomas M. Campbell 
• Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Phyllis A. Balch 
• Superfoods Healthstyle by Steven  Pratt
• In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

~Cookbooks~

I have a lot of cookbooks but with the exception  of a few Weight Watcher cookbooks, I don't have anything that focuses on health and nutrition. I'd like to find some good cookbooks that support healthy eating, so please share any suggestions or recommendations.

~Healthy Food Finds~

I have found some wonderful healthy foods that I wanted to share. Blue Diamond Almond Breeze, unsweetened. I use it to make oatmeal, add it to my cereal and to make a fruit smoothie: whirl a cup of almond milk, frozen berries and a banana in a blender~delicious! Please share any healthy food finds or ideas, I would love to hear them.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.

December Book Club & Review: Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West

Title: Mermaids in the Basement

Author: Michael Lee West

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Harper Collins

About (From Harper Collins):

Reeling from the loss of her mother, plagued with a bad case of writer's block (and don't even talk about those extra twenty pounds), Renata DeChavannes feels as though everything is just plain wrong. And that was before the tabloids caught her sweetheart, filmmaker Ferg Lauderdale, sharing an intimate squeeze with Hollywood's hottest young tamale. 

But the granddaughter of the formidable Honora DeChavannes possesses more hell than belle in her backbone—and she's about to reclaim it. Heading south to Honora's home on the Gulf Coast, Renata is determined to stop feeling like a wilted gardenia and emerge as the unstoppable kudzu her beloved grandmother proudly proclaimed she would be. But for that to happen Renata's got to face some not-so-genteel ghosts from her past, discover the truth about the mother she desperately misses, and make peace with the first man who abandoned her and broke her heart: her handsome and distant father.

My Thoughts:

I have fallen in love with Southern Fiction this year and I really wanted to like this book. My book club chose it as our December book club pick as it was a lighter read around the holidays. Much of the story reads like a Hollywood movie or gossip column and there were many subplots to follow. I wish that the author had taken the main character, Renata to a higher level as she learns that her parents aren't what she believed them to be. As Renata retreats to the south at her grandmother Honora's home, she finds a trunk that gives clues to her parents marriage and her mother who died a year previously. I found this part interesting but the story then diverted into many subplots that were often hard to keep straight as the story progressed. I tried to like Renata but she was a rather whiny character. I did adore her grandmother Honora who had more depth to her character. When my book club met to discuss the book, we were split 50/50...2 of us liked it and 2 didn't care for it, I fell in the latter group. One of the things that came up in our discussion is that this book would make a great Hollywood movie. It just wasn't my cup of tea, I expected more and found the book a bit over the top in many parts and predictable.

Source: I borrowed this book from the library. 

January Book Club: I'm excited about our January book club as we'll be discussing The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. I've already listened to this on audio book and was fascinated, enthralled, shocked and I learned a lot about cells, research & medical testing and much more. It is a must read and I canot wait to discuss this book with my book club.

Sunday Salon: November Book Club The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Things have been a bit quiet here at Redlady's Reading Room but I have plans to change that. Life has been busy these past few months with many changes and I've had to blog less. I'm adjusting to my new job and am actually working less hours now which will be wonderful all around. I'll be able to manage working, my home life and reading more. I do enjoy my job, working with kids in the schools is challenging but rewarding as well. My son turned 12 this month and we can't believe that we'll have a teenager in the house next year!

I've missed visiting other blogs and feel out of the loop in the blogging world and among my blogger friends. I plan to stop and visit other blogs more. I've noticed that Blogger continues to make changes and it seems that it's become even less user friendly and I'm seriously considering moving over to Wordpress. 

My book club met this month and we discussed The  Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. Shadow of the Wind is set in Barcelona, Spain the native country of Ruiz Zafón and is a translation which was beautifully done. The book opens in 1945 when Daniel, a 10 year son of a bookseller is taken to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books by his father where he discovers The Shadow of the Wind, by Julián Carax. The novel weaves a fascinating tale that takes Daniel on a search to find out more about the mysterious author Julián Carax. The story takes the reader back in time to pre- World War II Barcelona and into the lives of interesting and unusual characters. The story moves along as Daniel continues to get older and uncover more about Julián Carax. The book is part mystery, romance, Gothic and coming of age story. The writing was beautiful and the story was richly layered and kept my interest throughout the book. I loved the Gothic mystery and darkness that shadowed the story and the richness of the characters. This is definitely a book that one who loves books and literature will enjoy.

My book club unanimously liked the book and we had a great discussion about the book and author. My friend who hosted the book club found the author  Carlos Ruiz Zafón website which features a music soundtrack that the author composed for The Shadow of the Wind that is produced, composed and performed by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. You can download the files to listen to at the website, here. We listened to this music during our book club discussion which was very enjoyable to listen to.