Is there a certain topic that- no matter how well written a book- just gets under your skin and leaves you a little unhappy?

Last week, I finished a book- The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom- that had been pretty popular a few months back.  I had a strange feeling as I read this book, one I couldn’t put my finger on.  I wasn’t enjoying reading it.  Was it written well?  Yes, it was.  Were the characters feel developed?  Yes.  Was it somewhat historically accurate?  Yes it was.   Why didn’t I like it?

Then I realized it wasn’t the book itself, but the topic of slavery.  Don’t get me wrong- I can read about awful things and still really enjoy a book.   I have read some books with tough topics-the Holocaust, sexual abuse, etc- that I though were amazing.  So it’s not that.  I do not need books to leave me with a shiny happy feeling.  It is something about THIS topic that just gets under my skin.   I read two other books over the past year- The Wedding Gift by  and The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd- that were about slavery.  They both bothered me.  I really enjoyed The Invention of Wings– loved it actually, but I was still left uneasy by it.  When I realized this pattern, it made me stop and think a little.  What are some topics that bother other readers?

I don’t mean things you don’t like- easy romances, bad erotica, science fiction, etc.  I mean a topic that can actually make you not enjoy a book even though it is actually a good book.  After reading The Kitchen House, I realized that, while it was well written and had great characters, the whole history of slavery in this nation made it almost impossible for me to actually enjoy a book written about it accurately, which these books were!  An author would literally have to change history for that to happen,  The only book I actually like about slavery- Gone With the Wind- isn’t really about slavery at all.  It’s actually a love story- loosely set on and around a southern plantation.  Come to think about it, more than half of the book takes place away from Tara.

So, tell me- what really bothers you enough to prevent you from enjoying a book?

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke & the Bookish. It’s awesome. Every Tuesday, the lovely ladies over there give us book bloggers wonderful and fun topics to create our lists! Check out what others have posted by going over there!

http://brokeandbookish.blogspot.com

This week’s topic is-

Book Covers I would Hang on My Wall as Art

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke & the Bookish. It’s awesome. Every Tuesday, the lovely ladies over there give us book bloggers wonderful and fun topics to create our lists! Check out what others have posted by going over there!

http://brokeandbookish.blogspot.com

This week’s topic is-

Top Ten Characters that X- you pick!

I picked my top ten characters that I didn’t want to die, but did anyway.

1., 2. & 3.

Albus Dumbledore, Sirius, and Fred Weasly from Harry Potter.

Enough said

4.Beth March from Little Women

Contracts scarlet fever after nursing a sick family back to heath.

5.  John Coffey from The Green Mile

God’s vessel condemned to die for a crime he did not commit.

6.  Ned Stark from A Game of Thrones

The first in a long line of great characters George R.R. Martin has killed off.

7. & 8.  Mama & Papa Meminger from The Book Thief

I knew from early on that Rudy probably died, but to take these two also just seemed cruel.

9.  Primrose Everdeen from Mockinjay

Honestly did not see that one coming at all.

10.  Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web

Broke my 8 year old heart.

Bookish & Not So Bookish Thoughts

is a weekly meme hosted by Christine over at Bookishly Boisterous, where we post things that are on our minds.  Head over there and check it out!

1.  I finally (after three days laid low with a migraine) headed out for a run this morning.  I run in a park that just happens to be right next to the library.  Strangely enough, my car (all on it’s own) turned into the library before I got to the park.  Three books and three miles later, I am a happy lady.

2.  Tomorrow is Good Friday, and is our family’s tradition, we will be coloring eggs.  Every year the kids fight more and more over who got to color the most freakin eggs.  So this year, I hard boiled 60 eggs.  Ha.  Let’s see them fight now.

(These will be my eggs for the egg hunt.)

3.  It was 80 degrees a few days ago.  Then it SNOWED on Tuesday.  My daffodils were little frozen balls of yellow.  If we thought winter was a bitch, it looks like it’s big sister Spring is going to be just as bad.

4.  I saw the trailer for Gone Girl and got the chills.  I can’t wait.  You can see it on Book Riot.

5.  I went to see Cabaret with Alan Cumming last week and I can honestly say it was the best thing I have seen on a stage, and I was a theater major.  Although Wicked is a very close 2nd, this was amazing.  If any of you are planning to come to NYC for the BEA this year, these two shows are the best you can possibly do.

6.  I don’t know how you read this and don’t laugh out loud.  Poor bastard.  Seriously, burst right out laughing.  I’m most likely going to hell.  Must have sucked waking up and realizing you were still alive.  And his roomates said they hadn’t been doing strong enough drugs to explain why he did it.

7.  I am off to continue this Glee marathon my daughter and I have been on- it is seriously cutting into my reading time, but how many times do you get to bond with your 14 year old daughter???

Wishing everyone a good holiday!

The Green Mile

by Stephen King

published by Signet

1996

Summary

Set in the 1930s at the Cold Mountain Penitentiary’s death-row facility, The Green Mile is the riveting and tragic story of John Coffey, a giant, preternaturally gentle inmate condemned to death for the rape and murder of twin nine-year-old girls. It is a story narrated years later by Paul Edgecomb, the ward superintendent compelled to help every prisoner spend his last days peacefully and every man walk the green mile to execution with his humanity intact.

Edgecomb has sent seventy-eight inmates to their death with “old sparky,” but he’s never encountered one like Coffey — a man who wants to die, yet has the power to heal. And in this place of ultimate retribution, Edgecomb discovers the terrible truth about Coffey’s gift, a truth that challenges his most cherished beliefs — and ours.

Originally published in 1996 in six self-contained monthly installments, The Green Mile is an astonishingly rich and complex novel that delivers over and over again.

My Review

After I finished The Stand, I wanted very badly to read another King immediately, and this book was recommended by quite a few people.  Well, THANK YOU!  If you are one of the many readers I have heard from latterly, that have wanted to read King, but aren’t fans of horror-this is the King book for you.

The Green Mile is the amazing story of of Paul Edgcombe, a prison guard in charge of death row in Cold Mountain Penitentiary.  Though set in one of the worse place imaginable, King gives us a story about goodness, kindness, and love.  I had to slow myself down from reading too quickly, so I could enjoy and absorb the story.  I hope I am wrong, but I doubt I will ever find another character like Paul Edgcome.  I actually made my husband PPV the movie the minute I finished reading the book, though in hindsight, maybe not the best idea, as I was exhausted the nest day.  He felt bad for me, since I cried for the last half hour while reading the book!

If you have read tis- please tell me your thoughts

If you haven’t-go get it, read it, then come back and share.

My rating

5 out of 5

Some awesome quotes-

“Time takes it all, whether you want it to or not.”

“Sometimes there is absolutely no difference at all between salvation and damnation.”

“It’s strange how pain marks our faces, and makes us look like family.”

“We have once again succeeded in destroying what we could not create.”

“I’m rightly tired of the pain I hear and feel, boss. I’m tired of bein on the road, lonely as a robin in the rain. Not never havin no buddy to go on with or tell me where we’s comin from or goin to or why. I’m tired of people bein ugly to each other. It feels like pieces of glass in my head. I’m tired of all the times I’ve wanted to help and couldn’t. I’m tired of bein in the dark. Mostly it’s the pain. There’s too much. If I could end it, I would. But I can’t.”

  I was so happy to see that the She Reads April Book Club selection is The Storied Life of A.J Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin!

Head over there to reads some great reviews and keep a look out for my review soon.

In the spirit of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Gabrielle Zevin’s enchanting novel is a love letter to the world of books-and booksellers-that changes our lives by giving us the stories that open our hearts and enlighten our minds. 

On the faded Island Books sign hanging over the porch of the Victorian cottage is the motto “No Man Is an Island; Every Book Is a World.” A. J. Fikry, the irascible owner, is about to discover just what that truly means.

A. J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island-from Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who’s always felt kindly toward Fikry; from Ismay, his sister-in-law who is hell-bent on saving him from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who keeps on taking the ferry over to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.’s bad attitude. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. These days, A.J. can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too rapidly.

And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. It’s a small package, but large in weight. It’s that unexpected arrival that gives A. J. Fikry the opportunity to make his life over, the ability to see everything anew. It doesn’t take long for the locals to notice the change overcoming A.J.; or for that determined sales rep, Amelia, to see her curmudgeonly client in a new light; or for the wisdom of all those books to become again the lifeblood of A.J.’s world; or for everything to twist again into a version of his life that he didn’t see coming. As surprising as it is moving, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry is an unforgettable tale of transformation and second chances, an irresistible affirmation of why we read, and why we love.

Bookish & Not So Bookish Thought

is a weekly meme hosted by Christine over at Bookishly Boisterous, where we post things that are on our minds.

1.  If you haven’t heard about this yet, a lovely well rounded child from the great state I currently call home has actually SUED her parents.  Read about it here.  When I read about this last week, I was amazed.  Thank god the judge, who lives in my town, had the good sense to deny her request for emergency support.  I just read today that she has returned home.  So- what do you think about this case?  I grew up in a strict household, and the #1 rule was simple- this was my parent house and we lived by their rules.  Or left.  It seems this young lady wanted it both ways.  I hope this family can move on from this.

2.  I decided to join up with King’s March that is being hosted by Fourth Street Reviews and Wensend.  I have only read two books by King, so I thought it would be a good idea to tackle The Stand.  Now I am thinking that I might have been a little crazy.  I am up to the chapter that introduces Randall Flagg- about 20% in.  When do the new characters stop coming???  There are SO many?  Actually I am loving it very much, but do find myself putting it down after two chapters or so, to soak it in.

3.  It was almost 60 degrees two days ago.  It is now 14.  The wind chill is -1.  WTF??  I was thinking pedicure, now I am looking for my damn gloves.

4.  I saw this and loved it- I do this all the time.  And then get pissed when I didn’t have a chance to read!

5.  I read something in Book Riot last week that floored me.  An author, Lynn Shepherd wrote an article for the Huffington Post UK version, stating (boldly) that if J.K. Rowling cares about writing, she should stop doing it.

WHAT?

Was she serious?  I almost hope she was doing it to get her name out there, maybe sell some books.  Because otherwise, her reasoning is insane.   How can an author tell another- one she has admitted never even reading- to stop writing, so other have a chance??  Read the Book Riot piece- I totally agree with it.

6.  That’s all I have this week- we are packing to get one more long weekend in for skiing (BRRRR) and then I am hoping things slow down and return to normal.  Though I think I have been saying that since December!