01 Dec Welcome to Ladies on Literature
Holy flip…I’m flipping out. This is my first blog post—like ever. I’ve been writing professionally for several years but it was time to get bloggin’. I can wax on with the drippiest of them, but here’s how this blog is going to go:
At the beginning of each month I’ll introduce that month’s book, offering a synopsis and some thoughts on the selection.
From there onward, Mondays will be What’s it all about Mondays in which I discuss the book as it relates to our lives; Wednesdays will be Wordy Wednesdays, in which I write about the book and characters and anything else; Free-For-All-Fridays will include reviews, links to other sites, author interviews, guest bloggers, the fabulous new pair of shoes I bought…and anything else…
I’ll always post following our monthly meeting, held at the home of the LOL member who chose that book. Stay tuned for gossip, recipes, wine recommendations, LOL’s review of the book, news on shoes and sales…
I look forward to you, my readers, interacting with me and chatting about the books as we read them. Please let me know what’s working and never mind what’s not…lol.
Stay tuned for the launch of our latest novel, Monday, December 5th. Meanwhile, I thought I’d let you know what we’ve already read.
The Help: by Kathryn Stockett
http://www.kathrynstockett.com/stockett-synopsis.htm
Who hasn’t read the Help (except the hostess, Karen?) Seriously, KP is one of my dearest friends and I dare you not to love her. But like any good book club, it is obligatory for one member to be a reluctant reader. Because she is my friend and because she loves to eat and drink red wine, KP was a high-heeled shoe in for LOL but she did warn me, “I’m only joining your book club because I don’t have to read the book.” The fact she hadn’t even finished her own selection was, well…a reason to lol.
Side note: As of this blog, she has now completed—and enjoyed—the book.
She was a trooper, however, because she and co-host, Bonnie, spent countless hours at the counter, preparing homemade, phyllo-wrapped, empanadas and the wine was plentiful. KP lives in a lovely heritage house, skipping steps from the lake, in downtown Kelowna. Warm, cozy, oh, so pretty—just like KP herself—she is always the hostess with the mostest. This is a woman who irons (I know) her sheets. But that is the kind of care Karen puts in and it’s exactly why she’s loved and admired. She has a great sense of self-effacing humor and loves to say the wrong thing, rather like myself and anyway, who doesn’t appreciate how the conversation is no longer careful after a carafe or two or three?
Something I found interesting about the Help. From my perspective, having lived in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, for 5 years… it was an expectation that expats would hire domestic help, often from places like India, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. I may be politically incorrect but here’s the truth: five years and five maids later, I know first-hand, there is a sympathetic, other side, of “the help”. Being the employer is not always easy, even if someone else is scrubbing the abode. Being Canadian, I had no idea how to manage my “help”. More often than the other way around, I would make our first employee, Nirmala, tea and insist she sit down. We always treated our maids with respect and paid them well, but it did neither of us any good for me to be “too nice” (read: meek and apologetic, embarrassed even) about what needed to be done for the salary to be legitimately earned. At the end of the day, I was the employer and the maid was the employee and as such, a respectable, fair, and clear, business-like approach was in order. Of course, the situation in the Help is more about injustice and racism…quite a different thing.
Anyway, for fun, here’s a link to one of the columns I wrote about my own experience: “Desperate Housemaids.”
As for the novel, the Help, I personally LOVED this book…fine, fast-paced writing, plenty of humor, great characters, an uplifting and inspiring story. The movie was pretty good too, but as always, never quite the same, nor quite as good, as the book.
Interested in reading LOL’s review? The LOL Cheers! rating system coming soon!
Tomorrow–Friday–I’ll word on with a little more about the Help and a lot more about our second book. Stay tuned.