Hey Y'All! I read two books!

I am a person with a widely varied and seemingly unending array of annoying qualities: I eat way too fast (I blame my mother for this), I finish other people’s sentences, I let clean laundry remain unfolded for days on end, I repeat myself, I’m moody (if you don’t believe me read the last three posts), I repeat myself, I procrastinate, I’m great at starting things but not finishing them, etc.

I also repeat myself.

Normally I am an avid reader. However, over the last few months I bet I’ve started 10 different books that I’ve never finished. It’s not that the books haven’t been wonderful. It’s not that the books haven’t been compelling. It’s just that lately I have the attention span of a four year-old who’s been hooked up to an IV of sugar and caffeine, so if I don’t HUNKER DOWN with a book and physically move myself away from all possible distractions, I’ll read 20 or 25 pages, set the book down to go fix a drink, and before I know it I’ve cleaned out half of a cabinet in the kitchen and started boiling water for some something that I was planning to cook but completely forgot about because I decided that it was of the utmost importance to sort through my junk mail, before rearranging the knick-knacks in the livingroom and then succumbing to an overwhelming desire to snack on Cheese-Its. Part of the problem is that when I do really want to read a book…I want to do it to the exclusion of all else. Unfortunately that doesn’t look very well when I’m tyring to you know…work a full-time job and take care of a family.

Well.

A few weeks ago I found myself in possession of a $25 Amazon Gift card that enabled me to buy a book that had been recommended to me by my co-worker/friend D.J. I actually bought two books and some movies because I bought them used from the marketplace. I don’t pay retail unless I absolutely have to. The first one was the new Debbie Macomber Christmas book that they are turning into a sappy Hallmark Christmas movie “Call Me Mrs. Miracle.” If you know me you know that I live for the sappy Hallmark Christmas movies every year. Both my mother and I enjoy reading Debbie Macomber and so I thought this would make an excellent Christmas present for my mom…and yes I admit it. I will often buy a book to give as a gift and then read it before I give it to the intended recipient. Classy…I know!

The other book, recommended by my friend, was called The Help, and I read an excerpt on Amazon. I was immediately hooked. The book takes place in Mississippi, another completely crazy Southern state, and it’s set in the early 60s, a time period that’s always fascinated me. I was born in the 60s. However, if you’ve been lurking around here awhile you know that my interest in a work of fiction set in the early 60s is pretty uncharacteristic because, as I’ve mentioned several before, I'm not particularly fond of the South in the Spring/Summer/Autumn especially in the past… because the lack of air conditioning stresses me out. I don’t like to think about people being really hot. It makes me nervous. I can read all the day long about people in the past in say England because they have all that rain and cooler temperatures. But the south makes me empathy sweat.

Feel free to add those last few sentences to my list of annoying qualities.

Anyway, despite the fact that the book takes place during a time when I knew that people were going to be BURNING SLAP UP, I still wanted to read it. And over the last few days, that is exactly what I’ve done.

I finished it yesterday on my lunch break. And I cried like a baby. I wish I could buy a copy for all my friends.

The language in the book is a little more colorful than I expected (though I can hardly blame the characters since they were in fact BURNING SLAP UP), and there were a couple of scenes where people said such hateful things that it made me squirm a little bit. But the characters in this novel got so far up under my skin that when I wasn’t reading, I missed them. I LONG for a sequel to this book because I want to check in on them and see how they’re doing. I want to make sure they’re okay.

And you know what else? As a girl who has spent the past 13 years in the South, I am a STICKLER for accurate Southern dialect. I cannot stand it when an author’s interpretation of Southern is “Well, mah word, dahlin’ – I think I’ve got a case of the vapahs.” A real Southern accent is just as much about the rhythm of the speech as it is the pronunciation of the words. So I was tickled to find that the dialect in The Help is DEAD ON. It’s wonderful, really. I laughed out loud more times than I can tell you because the voices in this novel are so distinct and real – they sound just like my current environment. And in the past 13 years I’ve met some pretty interesting completely loveable but also completely SOUTHERN people.

So. That’s what’s been going on around here the last few days. I’VE BEEN READING. TWO WHOLE BOOKS! And it was delightful.

What about y’all? You read anything good lately? Anything great? I’d love to see your suggestions. Dane has been pestering me for a Christmas list…so help a sister out will ya?

I’ve just started the Hunger Games and I’m already hooked…hooked I tell you! I guess you could say I’m on a bit of a reading roll lately.