Blog Posts by Tara

I received the Kathryn Stockett's "The Help" as a gift from my future mother in law. I am an avid reader so I was very happy with my gift. I haven't seen the movie but I have seen the previews. From the previews I have seen it looked like a really funny movie. I still haven't seen it yet though.

As for the book, it definitely is not funny. I enjoyed this book immensely however it brought me to tears many, many times. This book gives what I am thinking is an accurate portrayal of what life was like for "The Help" back in the times of segregation in the south. Ms. Stockett does a wonderful job of placing you in the position of both the help and the women who employed them.

While reading this book I felt many emotions and don't get me wrong there were many times I laughed out loud but more often I just wanted to go back in time and ask these people if they were indeed crazy. There are tons of history books and articles that tell us these stories but very rarely do we get an inside peek

I haven't always been inspired by my mom but she has proven in the last seven years that she is truly my inspiration. I was raised in an abusive household and my mom, siblings, and I were always at the end of the wrath, my dad. I can remember being angry at my mom as a child growing up because I could never understood why she stayed with an abusive man and allowed the abuse to trickle down to us as well.

When I was a teenager I got pregnant at fifteen and I moved out and lived with my own abusive man for thirteen years. It was an eye opening experience. My experience, and I all that I dealt with allowed me to understand what happens and how you become imprisoned in the hell you think you can't escape. During my childhood my mom wasn't allowed to work or have friends and she always had to be careful of what she said or did for fear that any little thing might set him "off ". My mom now holds a high supervisory position at a company where she began seven years ago in an entry level

Where shadows fall and darkness roams.
I found a place that I call home.
A place inside that calls to me.
I fear the depths that wait for me.
I cry out loud but no one hears.
The evil things that eat at me.
The fight within, the struggle in me.
Where does it end and what does it mean?
Impending thoughts of what is to come.
I'm not quite sure I'm ready to succumb.
I reel them in, the emotions I feel.
So when the times comes, all will heal.
Inflicting pain is something I cannot do.
Set my emotions free?
No, I seldom do.

The spam is driving me insane!! Ahhhhhhhh.........

I watched the speech Tiger Woods made today and as I was listening I found myself becoming angry. He was apologizing to his fans and his friends and to his supporter's and to the children he sponsors through education. He went on to apologize to his wife, his children, and his wife's family. While I understood the importance of his apolgies to his wife, children, and family I don't understand the need for the others.

I fail to understand why his personal life has to be made a public spectacle or any other athlete for that matter. He is an excellent golfer naturally thus putting him into the limelight and this I understand but only to a point. Daily many other people in our society commit the same indiscretions and they go unnoticed because these people are not "stars", instead they are everyday people like us and their problems are dealt with internally as they should be.

When Tiger spoke of the press harrasssing his wife and children I felt for the first time in his speech that he

I read The Pact by Jodi Picoult last week and as usual I was not disappointed with her work. I enjoy this author's style of writing a great deal because she is not afraid to touch on controversial subjects. In this book she explores teen suicide and does so beautifully.

The book is centralized around two teens who have been inseperable since birth. Their parents become neighbors while their mom's are pregnant and thus beginning a friendship that turns into a teenage relationship. The parents have always assumed their children would fall in love and marry each other in the future and they are happy with the suspected outcome. The parents on either side never consider the possibility that maybe that's not what the teens want or maybe not what one of them wants.

From the outside we see two well adjusted teens with everything going for them. They both receive good grades and they are well behaved and responsible. Chris is very happy with Emily and is also under the assumption

I normally read Anne Rivers Siddons when I need a "feel good read". While "Off Season" is a great book it's not neccessarily a "feel good" read as I like to call them. Instead this is a book about retrospect and finding one's self in a time where we would prefer to bury our head under the covers and sleep for days on end.

It is a book that delves into the lives of a happy family and then it takes you through the pitfalls of the tragedies that befall them. The story's main character Lilly is at the center of the story often telling it from her point of view. It is an interesting story of a young love blossoming into something beautiful yet unattainable. Lilly falls in love with Jon only to lose him to a horrible accident that could have been avoided had Jon's father exercised better parenting skills and not given in to his own grief. This is to be only one of the tragedies I speak of.

Set first in Maine and then on to Washington DC the story unfolds as the family struggles to deal

"Say You're One Of Them", is a book that I can't say I liked but I also can't say that I didn't like it. It is not a book I would have chosen for myself however, I am glad that I read it. I personally do not like short stories. They lack the detail and emotion that I look forward to in a longer story. For this reason I have decided to write a mini review for each story.

"The Ex-mas Feast" was very moving, I literally felt the depths of each individuals turmoil. I shudder just knowing that this story is all too common in the African Region and I see again with new eyes just how cruel the world can be. I found myself getting angry with Jigana for wanting and then actually leaving without going to school as was planned for him. I also understand that he is not to be judged and that although I may not agree with his choice he is ultimately the one who has to live in a world of violence and opression.

When I first started to read "Fattening For Gabon" I thought it was so