iReview

After watching the movie, I decided to head to the nearest book store and buy a copy of the book by Kathryn Stockett. I like the movie and would love to check out more details in the book as written by the author.

Here is the book description taken from amazon.com:

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women—mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends—view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t.

I have finished reading the last book in the Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer. I don’t know what makes me decide to jump into the bandwagon of this Twihard..damn!! I’ve heard of the books many, many years ago but was never bothered to buy one, after all who would want to read story about a vampire first love with a human girl and a werewolf as the third person.

Oh, now I remember it must be the remaindered book sale a few months ago where they sell Twilight, New Moon and Breaking Dawn at such lower price that I thought why not give it a try..and then after reading a few chapters I was hooked..huhu!

I have watched the first and second movie but honestly they didn’t motivate me to read the books. If you are a reader, then you might consider reading them to understand what all these hype of worldwide Twilight phenomenon. Trust me the books are much better for you to understand each character (Bella, Edward, Jacob etc). You get more satisfaction and feel when you read each of the books rather than spending those 2 hours on each movie. Since the books are initially meant for young adult, it is not hard to digest each word, it’s not like reading English literature or classic.

It took me a few days to finish reading 754 pages of Breaking Dawn. Give it a try, and tell me if it converts you to be one of the Twihard..haha!

This is the third book by Lisa See that I bought. The first time I read her book – Snow Flower and The Secret Fan, I decided to read her next one, Peony In Love. I have always been amazed with Asian cultural theme fiction like Japanese and then this one on Chinese.

I am currently reading the first half of the book and so far I just can’t wait to find quiet time to finish reading it. Here is the synopsis of the book taken from the author’s official website.

In 1937, Shanghai is the Paris of Asia, full of great wealth and glamour, home to millionaires and beggars, gangsters and gamblers, patriots and revolutionaries, artists and warlords. Twenty-one-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister May are having the time of their lives, thanks to the financial security and material comforts provided by their father’s prosperous rickshaw business.

Though both wave off authority and traditions, they couldn’t be more different. Pearl is a Dragon sign, strong and stubborn, while May is a true Sheep, adorable and placid. Both are beautiful, modern, and living the carefree life … until the day their father tells them that he has gambled away their wealth, and that in order to repay his debts he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from Los Angeles to find Chinese brides.

As Japanese bombs fall on their beloved city, Pearl and May set out on the journey of a lifetime, one that will take them through the villages of south China, in and out of the clutch of brutal soldiers, and across the Pacific to the foreign shores of America.

In Los Angeles, they begin a fresh chapter, trying to find love with their stranger husbands, brushing against the seduction of Hollywood, and striving to embrace American life, even as they fight against discrimination, brave Communist witch hunts, and find themselves hemmed in by Chinatown’s old ways and rules.

At its heart, Shanghai Girls is a story of sisters: Pearl and May are inseparable best friends, who share hopes, dreams, and a deep connection. But like sisters everywhere, they also harbor petty jealousies and rivalries. They love each other but they also know exactly where to drive the knife to hurt the other sister the most. Along the way there are terrible sacrifices, impossible choices and one devastating, life-changing secret, but through it all the two heroines of this astounding new novel by Lisa See hold fast to who they are – Shanghai girls.