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.

I waited until after I finished reading Under the Dome (almost 1,100 pages in less than a week!) to read anything about it. This review from Aol.com pretty much falls into line with my opinion: By now with Stephen King, it's easy to think this is all kind of ridiculous. An invisible dome descending upon a small town in Maine? People trapped inside, trying to figure out what on Earth is going on and — as always in a Stephen King story — dying in droves? Good Lord. Is the King of Really Heavy Books — the author who is a one-man argument for the hernia-preventing benefits of e-books — running out of viable plot devices? This is, after all, the guy who wrote entire volumes about cell phones turning fellow citizens into ravenous zombies, about possessed and murderous 1958 Plymouths and about evil, immortal clowns who live in the sewers and prey upon children. Really, now. How much gimmickry can one writer expect us to stomach? Those statements are all completely fair and true. Trouble ...

Though not as clever as his usual fare, Burroughs shares several amusing vignettes about his experiences with Christmas and the holiday season. Some are pretty funny - like how he confuses Jesus and Santa Claus as a child and some are rather bleak - like his crappy relationship with a boyfriend with AIDS who refuses to acknowledge their relationship to his family. My personal favorite was the last chapter, which is an actually quite touching piece about understanding the true spirit of Christmas and love. Overall, a speedy read, but if you're aiming for some seasonal laughs, stick to David Sedaris' Holidays on Ice instead.

When this classic novel starts, Wang Lung is a poor farmer in Pre-Revolutionary China trying to get by on his meager harvests. The one thing he knows and depends on time and time again is the importance of owning his own land. Gradually, Wang Lung's lot in life starts to improve - he takes a wife, the faithful O-Lan who gives him several sons, and slowly starts to acquire more land and status in his world. Obviously things can't go right 100% of the time and Wang Lung is frequently threatened by starvation, poor harvest weather, and potential robberies. I know this is classic, but the major problem I had with this book was the absolutely awful depictions of women. Coming from a female writer, I was surprised that not one female character was portrayed in a positive light - then again, I bet the men of that era were probably not as open minded.

Andrea (Andy) is a freshly minted graduate of Brown University and dying to break into the world of journalism. The only problem is the sheer amount of competition in New York City. So when she gets hired to act as a personal assistant to the EIC of Runway magazine, a staple in the fashion world, she thinks it will be a perfect springboard into her dream career. The problem is is that her boss, Miranda Priestly, is the titular devil and proceeds to make Andy's life hell on earth. The woman really is demanding - calling her at all hours of the day, issuing half assed instructions and expects mountains to move for her. As a result, Andy's relationships with her friends, family and boyfriend start to fail. Can she pull it together? I think this was one of those very rare times where the film adaptation was better than the original book. I'm a sucker for anything with Meryl Streep and I much preferred Anne Hathaway's goody-two shoes portrayal of Andy instead of the sarcasti...

This book serves as a companion piece to Atwood's 2003 novel Oryx and Crake , in which the world has changed irrevocably due to political and biotechnological uprisings. In this book, a horrific pandemic plague has killed off virtually everyone, leaving Toby and Ren alone in their hideouts (a luxury spa and a sex club respectively). Atwood spends a lot of time describing the womens' pasts- they were both members of an agrarian compound group/cult called God's Gardeners, and there is a fair amount of sociological, Biblical and cultural commentary. This is Atwood's third novel that deals with dystopic societies - as usual, she delivers a critical and thoughtful book.

Sequel to the fabulous Life as We Knew It , Pfeffer explores the same scenario (an asteroid hits the moon and changes its orbit, resulting in catastophic climactic changes on Earth) through the eyes of young Alex Morales, a teen living in New York City with his parents and two younger sisters. When the moon gets hit, both of Alex's parents are away from home, thus leaving the children to act as orphans (you never find out what happens to them) to fend for themselves. Alex is extremely mature and intelligent - making sure they ration their meals long before there is a dire need to, and he is forced to do any and everything he can to make sure his family survives. This unfortunately includes scavenging through dead people's things for items to sell on the black market. As can be expected, the book is very somber and bleak. The Morales family is extremely religious, so there is a lot of talk about God and divine help, a concept which was absent from the first book. You may also ar...