Ocean City Free Public Library Book Blog

The lives of Skeeter, Minny and Aibileen couldn't be more different in Jackson Mississippi - Skeeter is an aspiring writer, Minny is a maid with a major problem of sassing back at her employers, and Aibileen is a maid just trying to instill colorblindness into her young charges. But over the course of Stockett's debut novel, they all have many secrets to share and hide from themselves, their families and the town itself. When Skeeter attempts to write her first book, Minny and Aibileen will come to play pivotal roles in a dangerous situation. I enjoyed this book greatly and I could genuinely see how it's remained so high on the NYT best sellers lists. The story moves along at a nice pace and the language makes it very approachable.

Back when I was a snotty teenager, my mother loaned me her copy of Gone with the Wind , declaring that it was one of her favorite books of all time. I, of course being a brat, pushed the recommendation aside and forgot all about it. Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago when I decided to give Mitchell's novel a chance after all. All I can say is what a difference a few years makes! Set in Georgia before, during, and after the Civil War, Gone with the Wind is an epic of mammoth proportions depicting the evolution of its heroine (or villian, depending on how you look at it), Scarlett O'Hara. As the Southern Confederates bravely fight the Civil War, Scarlett and a cast of dear characters (including Melanie Wilkes, the wife of the man Scarlett is desparetely in love with and Mammy, the black nanny that raised both Scarlett and her mother from infancy) must cope with a complete change in lifestyle, battling hunger, violence, fear and even the threat of death. Talk about a multi-d...