The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

I finished a book!!!  Okay, it's an audiobook but still I am in fact making a blog post about a book*.  And, it's a Simon and Schuster book.  Isabug, have you met Kathleen Grissom?  Can you get us all invited to her house?

I picked up the Kitchen House based on a recommendation that said, "if you liked The Help, you'll like The Kitchen House."  I did, in fact, love The Help and I really liked the The Kitchen House but I have to say the comparison would be that a.  they are both historical novels about "domestic help", b. one of the Kitchen House narrators is a narrator from The Help audiobook.   But, really the comparison for me pretty much ends there.  Very different theme, very different writing style and The Kitchen House isn't remotely funny.  What the Kitchen House does have for it, is a good story line about an indentured servant, Lavinia, living in Virginia at the turn of the 19th century. 

Dancealot and I have both read it and agreed that we liked it a lot but poor Lavinia has really rotten luck.  In fact, I think she might have been quite at home in The Series of Unfortunate Events books.  But, try it...it's on audible, if you know what I mean.






*I read a paperback Jodi Picoult book in February but I'm not sure that counts and I finished another Outlander series book which took me most of January and February.

March (book?) Madness...

I'm actually checking on this one (though I have not officially filled out a bracket, I have still partaken in the voting up till now ;)

What I Want 2 Read Next...

Yum. I think I could handle a book like this. Easy, comfortable, minimal and ohhh sooo good-looking!

The Help (movie!!!!... help?)

Has anyone else seen this?!?!?!

I can't help feeling that the cover design is not how I imagined it (though the color is)...

I mean, I can't help being excited a leeeetle bit excited about this because even though we, book lovers, know that normally no good can come out of a movie based on a fantastic book... I really love that Emma Stone* is going to be "Skeeter." I just hope justice will be done to the characters.

...she does look awfully cute with Skeetersque hair treatment...

Abileen (Viola Davis**) looks a little young and Hilly is not thin at all (BAD), but we will see... we will see...

*I loved Stone in "Easy A" after all, which is a bit more fun that reading "The Scarlet Letter"...

** Davis is also going to be in "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," for which I may make another post like this one. We will see...

Charleston Girl...

Anyone else know about this coming out from under my radar? I saw it in "Kaufland" (buy-country)... what the what?

In other news, I finally got around to listening to "The Help" and am almost done......... so good to have a good book. SO GOOD!!!!!!!
In other other news, I rate "The Alchymist" at lower than Twilight, Hunger Games, Percy Jackson, whatever our current scale is. Not really even interested in listening to the rest of them.

Happy Valentine's Day Lovelies!

A fitting question for today, I think...

What is your favorite love story?

Romeo & Juliet, Sense & Sensibility? Or do you prefer no ampersands, like Bridget Jones's Diary? Or how about Wuthering Heights? (which I still need to read!!) It's actually a quite difficult question, but for today I will give a shout out to Pride and Prejudice. Hello, Mr. Darcy!

Also, do you find it as interesting as I do that Penguin decided to make most of their beautiful cloth bound books, that you can find at Anthropologie among other places, by Jane Austen? They obviously know their readership. And yes, I want all of them.

Dreaming in French

Update on Isabug:

I'm currently reading Dreaming in French and watching Law & Order:SVU and Bones. What does this say about me?

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Dreaming in French by Megan McAndrew review:

I haven't actually finished it yet, but I picked it up because of the title and the cover as I am experiencing some extreme Europe lust. Aka: I need to be there. Alas...
The book is about a teenage girl growing up in Paris in the 70's(her mother and father are both American) and it's starting to confuse me because every book I pick up now focuses on a young girl in Paris. I guess I'm an easy target. It's really much more than just a book about a young girl in Paris but you don't really find that out until half way through. She is the daughter of a wealthy Connecticut man and her mother is a flamboyant and beautiful gal from Kentucky. (Kentucky!) Her mother goes out a lot, paints the house elaborately, etc. etc. and it's all going well until something happens involving Poland. (Poland - 1970s - get it?) I don't want to give everything away.

It's a good read, especially for the subway ride, and because I'm feeling super generous today - YOU'RE ALL GETTING ONE! Well, except Claire. Sorry Badbear.

"McAndrew's novel brings an original sensibility as well as a plot that takes satisfying, unexpected turns." New York Times Book Review