The Page by Page book club will meet at 7 p.m. Monday at George House to discuss "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. If you've read the book, or even if you haven't, please come and join us!
"The Help" is set in Mississippi in the 1960s and deals with the racial tensions of the time. I found it an interesting read, although difficult in places -- some of the characters are so blatantly racist that it took my breath away. But I was touched by the friendship that forms between a white woman and the black women working with her on a project to document what it's really like to be "The Help" of the title -- the black maids working in white families' homes, who witness the secrets of their employers' lives but are treated as inferior.
I know "The Help" has been a popular book club choice, and if anyone from another book club who has discussed it would like to come join us on Monday, you would be more than welcome. We'll also be previewing the March-April selection, "Cleopatra: A Life" by Stacy Schiff.
So, we'll be going from 1960s Mississippi to ancient Egypt. But we've got more in store as well. Other books the book club will read in 2011 include:
May-June: "Freedom" by Jonathan Franzen
July-August: "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy" by Eric Metaxas
September-October: "Roughing It" by Mark Twain
November-December: "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Jamie Ford
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