The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This was another book that after I finished the sample, I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to continue with. I went ahead and kept reading (mostly because it drives me nuts to stop in the middle of a book) and ended up really loving this book.

The book switches around three women's perspectives in Jackson, MI in the 1960s and ostensibly tells the story of black maids working in white homes during this time period.

One of the women is Abileene who in her mid-late 50's has raised 17 white children and had her only natural son die when his white boss wouldn't take him to the hospital after an accident at work. Abileene was the perfect mother figure: caring and wise, smart and loving but she always felt she had to keep her emotions out of her job or it would just be too much. She says after her son dies though, that wall just drops and the anger that she has to keep hidden starts to make her care more than she ever has before.

The second woman is Mimmy - a smart-mouthed maid with five children and an abusive, alcoholic husband. Mimmy is constantly being fired for talking a back and through the "Terrible. Awful." she managed to make an enemy out of the town white she-satan (Hilly). Mimmy is the relief character because she manages to say just what the reader wants to yell and its nice to know that her type exist because she is such an agent of change.

The third is a white woman, Skeeter (real name Eugenia). Skeeter was BFFs with Hilly and Abileene's boss, Elizabeth, growing up but at a time when racial tensions are coming to a head - she begins to see the unequal world around her and really see her friends for who they are.

I liked this book because it was the three women coming to together to tell the stories of these maids and including the good and the bad of all the relationships - they didn't harp on the evils or make it sappy and all alright.

A quote the author (and I) really liked was "Wasn't that the point of the book? For women to realize, We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I'd thought."

The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

A friend at work recommended this book to me. It's the first installment of a three-part series from a best-selling author who was only published posthumously.

The book is a little more mystery than I have been into lately and I wasn't sure how into it I was in the first few chapters but it did quickly grip me and there were a few parts that I had to stay up reading until 2AM because for the life of me, I COULD NOT put it down.

The book is set in Sweden and apparently the Swedish name for the book actually translates into "Men who Hate Women" (though seemingly off, the two titles both work for the book).

The book starts out following financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist who was found guilty of libeling a very crooked business man. Out of the ashes of this court case, Mikael gets a strange request from an old patriarch who is head of a twisted family and a huge, but failing, business empire - Henrik Vanger. Vanger wants Mikael to use his journalist skills to secretly find out who killed his beloved niece 30 odd years ago, under the cover of writing Vanger's autobiography. It's only secret because Vanger suspects a large majority of his family of being the culprit.

The girl with a dragon tattoo is a separate story line for a long time in the book. Lisbeth Salander, though in her mid-20s, is a ward of the state and considered mental. Despite this (and because of it) she is an amazing researcher and was actually the one to do the background work on Mikael when Vanger wanted to hire him.

Lisbeth was a very interesting character - both cagey and crazy all wrapped up into a fascinating package. I feel that the majority of the books I read, I read from a fully sane person's point of view and though I think a lot of Lisbeth's "insanity" is a result of her history and circumstances - how she looks at the world and adapts to it, seems insane to me but made me actually she her logical side--it was a really cool effect.

The book is the first in a three part series so I expected for of a dangle at the end but the case itself got wrapped up, the only dangle was the personal relationship between Mikeal and Lisbeth. I really liked the book but I'm curious if the next three books will just be the same type of mystery story around their frustrating story line (a la Angles and Demons and The Da Vinci Code).

Kleopatra by Karen Essex

This book is fascinating. It covers Kleopatra's early life from age 3 to her early 20's. She was very intelligent with a gift for language and politics. As turbulent as today's political scene is, it cannot begin to compare to the time in which she lived. Not only was it common practice for brother and sister to marry, there was considerable infighting among siblings. You could trust no one! The family trees are incredibly confusing.

The book ends shortly before Kleopatra meets Julius Caesar as she is battling her younger (half)-brother for control of the throne. I'm looking forward to reading Kleopatra II which covers the second half of her life.