The Help

I'm not gonna lie, I haven't been much of a reader lately.

It's funny too, because I remember laying in my room for hours and hours on end when I was younger reading and rereading books that I loved, books that were boring, books that I didn't understand or books that were way too easy for me--absolutely anything and everything I could get my hands on I read.

I loved the escape into another time or place, the feeling of being in another person's shoes. I loved getting to know the characters and giving my brain a workout. I plain 'ol loved reading.

Nothing has really changed. I get sucked into books and don't really come back to reality until I can finish the story. But lately I just haven't picked up anything that's clicked. And I haven't really tried that hard either.

I started The Island, by Victoria Hislop in Norwegian (Øya). It didn't do much for me. I think the book is actually pretty good, but the combination of having reader's block, the book including lots of terms and names in Greek and of course the entire story being written in Norwegian did not pan out well for me. So I stopped reading it. Yes fellow readers, I quit a book.

And moved on to a book the lit me on fire: The Help, by Kathryn Stockett.

Set in the 1960's in Mississippi, this story explored themes I love reading about: injustice, ignorance, racism, unwritten rules, bravery, cowardice. I absolutely devoured and LOVED this book. I don't even really want to tell you much more about it, but that it's good and it will touch your heart. Read it.

And there. Just like that, reader's block was no longer. Guess The Help really did help.