It’s been a while since I read a book. I mean, I buy books and crack the spines with the intent to read them all the way through, but I’ve got evidence of six or seven half-assed attempts at literacy hanging around our apartment right now. Yeah, some of those are abandoned because I’m always diddling around on the stupid iPhone, the greatest time waster there ever was, but some of it is that I just haven’t found anything compelling to keep me interested.
But, now I have. And I’m telling you that I’m absolutely filled with resentment that I’m at work right and not at home finishing The Help. It’s good. Really good. Between that and Season 3 of Mad Men, well, if the Dork Lord hadn’t intervened this weekend and insist we leave the house for stuff like grocery shopping and Mother’s Day, I’d still be having a dress rehearsal for shut-in cat lady.
Did I mention there are brownie bites at home? THERE ARE BROWNIE BITES AT HOME, for pete’s sake!
I’m also experiencing crazy levels of work frustration right now, so on a resentment scale of one to teenager, well, I don’t think we have to guess how badly I want to slam a few doors and yell about how I wish I was never born. Anyone good at forging doctors’ notes?
Good thing I’m already reading The Help or I would have to leave work right now to buy it. It is great so far!
I set a personal record in Time Taken to Plow Through 400+ pages when I devoured The Help. When I finished (in 2.5 days) I seriously considered just starting it over again from the beginning. Holy jesus, that book was amazing.
I am a huge reader, I read everything, reading is my favorite. The Help was such a great book, I remember reading it bed one night and trying to stifle tears because my boyfriend was over and I didn’t want to have to explain to him that I was crying over a group over fictitious women who were being totally mistreated by their rotten, bigoted white employers. Now I want to read it again…
On the topic of your dress rehearsal for being a shut-in cat lady… how is your cat doing? I hope his and your pain have subsided!
He is awesome. This morning, he was playing fetch and complaining that he’s tired of canned food. All good signs. He can’t wait to be back on real food and I can’t wait for it either. Return to low maintenance-ness!
I share your feelin’ today! Yesterday was my birthday and I celebrated quite nicely, thank you. Obviously, the last thing I wanted to do is wake up on a Monday and head into work, when I was suppose to have had the day off. I’m doing that “favor” thing for a fellow co-worker, who is somewhere in Rome right now taking in the sights and gorging herself on some amazing Italian food, while I sit here with stomach cramps and lower back pain, wishing I was HOME not only with a heating pad but, with a copy of this book you seem to be so fond of.
Thanks for the referral! I’m also happy to hear that Sir Hal is returning to his ol’self again. 
Awesome!
I remember when you recommended the “Outlander” series a few years ago. I seriously couldn’t put those books down! It was the perfect combination of fantasy/action/romance/history. I don’t think that I’ve become as immersed in any book since then.
I thought The Help was a fantastic, thought-provoking book, but it didn’t capture me in the same way that the Outlander series did. I honestly think that it was a little too realistic and intellectual for my taste…I like more of a mental vacation.
loved most of the book… i’m interested to hear your thoughts when you’re finished. another good recommendation is “the shack” by william p. young. it has some great insights i had never thought about before now.
Eh…. I don’t really get into God stuff so much. Isn’t that what The Shack is about? Some dude meeting god?
Glad to hear the Hal update. Also, the shut-in cat lady lifestyle ROCKS. With or without brownie bites (preferably with).
I ordered this book for my bf’s mom for xmas. Glad to hear I made a great choice!
THIS post is why I’ve been following you for at least two years now. You manage to make daily minutiae hilarious. That last paragraph is comedic brilliance.
The Help is an amazing book. It was one of those where I’m sad to be finished with it because I miss “hanging out with” the characters. My mother-in-law is a literacy specialist for a school district, so she introduces me to lots of young adult fiction. . .hush, they can be great reads even for college-educated grown-ups! Harry Potter! And, uh, Twilight. Which is not great writing, but come on, the plot is pretty dang fun. Anyway. Her latest recommendation to me was The Hunger Games and its sequel, Catching Fire. Have you heard of these? The third in the trilogy is coming out this August, and I haven’t waited for a book with this much anticipation since Harry Potter book 7. The Hunger Games books are pretty dark and totally different from stuff I usually love (stuff like The Help or my favorite brain candy, Philippa Gregory books), but so so so good! Riveting, in fact! You should give them a try.
Loved The Help. Read it last Saturday in one delicious sitting.
ME: “Oh, honey, you just go on to that hockey game. Have fun with the boys!” So I got “good girlfriend” points even as I’m thinking, “GOOD! Plenty of uninterrupted reading time!”
I devoured the “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “The Girl who Played with Fire” before and after The Help. I’m anxiously awaiting the US edition of “The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” to finish the trilogy.
The Help was the first book I bought for my Kindle–and the first one I read. Couldn’t.put.it.down! I’m almost done with Audition– Barbara Walters autobiography. Interesting, but she’s not a fabulous writer, as I expected she would have been.The Kindle has helped me love reading again–weird, and I’m not sure why, but I read so much more now than I have in a few years.I recently met Henry Winkler at a literacy convention and had him sign my Kindle cover.
Happy for the Sir Hal update, too!
Aaah, that book was so good! I feel lost if I’m not reading a book at any given time. My big time waster is Facebook, not sure if I’d ever see the light of day again if I had an Iphone too.
I absolutely love that book!
Ha! I get the same way about books sometimes. In fact, I’ll bring them to work with me anyway and read them during lunch at my desk. The last one that illicited that kind of treatment was Little Bee. Definitely worth reading, but I’ll warn you, it’s heartbreaking.
I’ll have to pick up The Help.
The Help was excellent. So was The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb and South of Broad by Pat Conroy. Hang in there Fish – I hated my job and then had a year and a half of unemployment. First day back today; I think the office drama is universal. But I’m grateful to be employed, and will hopefully make a difference.
Okay, I am reading this book right now and loving it!! Also, I read today that are making it into a ‘major motion picture’ I sound like an advertisement..but really, a movie of this book. yay! (that may be in some of the other comments and I missed it so if it’s news you already know, I apologize for the redundancy).
And. I think you should read books by Jodi Picoult. Her newest is House Rules..2nd newest Handle With Care, and she has several others. GREAT books.