Catch Up On Reading

I actually read this book 'Confections of a Closet Master Baker' back in May, but I never did post it because the title could be taken as being a little bit 'naughty'.  To my great delight, this book has been re-named 'My Life from Scratch' and I am much more comfortable posting about it  knowing that the chances of offending anyone has been greatly decreased!  

This book is written by Gesine Bullock-Prado, the sister of Sandra Bullock, and there is nothing even remotely naughty about it, other than the title.  In a nutshell, it is basically about Gesine leaving the Hollywood lifestyle behind (production assistant) and following her love and her dream of becoming a master baker.  I enjoyed her voice as she shared her obvious love of baking and her creativity and I applaud her for following her dream.  She actually has a blog that I have enjoyed peeking into from time to time.

In June I read 'The Help', by Kathryn Stockett.  It is a story set during the turbulent 1960's in the deep South, which centres mainly around the black female servants, and the white women that they served.  It is a story of those that are fearful of change and those that are striving towards it.  It astounds me that at a time when blacks were segregated, and the white's were fearful of their 'black diseases', that it was the blacks that were cleaning the white peoples homes, raising their children, cooking their meals, doing their laundry and serving at their tables.  The characters in this book were full and deep and as it was written in the voices of each character, it gave a well rounded vision of both sides, black and white.

'Any Known Blood' was my first pick in July.  The name of the author is what drew me to it as it sat on the library shelf; Lawrence Hill is the same author that wrote The Book of Negroes and so I was sure that this was going to be a worthwhile read... it was not. 

I decided to go back to Maeve Binchy, the Irish author.  I enjoyed so much 'A Circle of Friends' and her other books.  So I've read 'Whitethorn Woods' and 'Heart and Soul' this month and I could hardly believe how disappointed I was!  Heart and Soul was by far the worst, jumping all over the place and bringing in characters from previous books.  I found it disjointed and kind of predictable.

It is such a pleasure when I come upon a well written and lovely book, I even find that returning to a much loved story and reading it again to be just as enjoyable as the first time.  One book that I am thinking of reading is 'Les Miserables' as the underlying theme of redemption I find utterly compelling.