Iowa Hall of Pride netINS, Inc. Butler House on Grand B&B Sam's Barber Shop Douglas T. Bates III, Attorney KMA Radio's ''Chuck & Don Show'' Barack Obama story & coloring book The Monks of New Melleray Abbey RELATED LINKS About Offenburger.com Biographies Want to Reprint? Want Updates? ARCHIVES Chuck Offenburger's columns Christie Vilsack's columns Carla Offenburger's columns Carla's book reviews Jared Strong's columns Guest Columns The Simple Serenity Farm columns Farm Photos, 2006 - 2008 Our Iowa News Digest Along Our Way  What’s the deal with the black & white saddle shoes?  Click here for the story of our farm in Greene County, Iowa. Here's looking at life at Simple Serenity Farm  We Offenburgers spent Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and a weather-enforced extra night at the home of Carla's sister Chris Woods and her family in Des Moines. It was a fun gathering that featured nine-month-old Arianna, the Woods' granddaughter, in the starring role! Click here for larger format Earlier photos in this series 
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What's Carla Reading?
“The Help,” by Kathryn Sockett (2009) For most of 2009, I watched “The Help” climb the New York Times Best Sellers list. It’s been there for the last 43 weeks. Now at the start of 2010, it’s No. 1. Occasionally, I thought I should probably read it. Once, I even turned off a review of it being aired on National Public Radio, “just in case” I decided to read it and review it. (I don’t like to be influenced). So, when I finally thought, “O.K., go for it,” I had no idea what it was actually about. It didn’t take long to figure out that “The Help” referred to the black maids of the 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi. And it didn’t take long before I couldn’t put the book down. “The Help” is Kathryn Stockett’s first novel. Stockett is from Jackson herself, and she is a child of the ’60s – so in a real sense she is writing about her own backyard. It does her well. “The Help” centers on a group of female University of Mississippi grads who are recently married with young children. Their world revolves around Junior League fundraisers, playing bridge, and watching “the help” raise their children. The exception to the rule is Skeeter Phelan, an Ole Miss graduate who is back home living with her mother, unmarried and desperately in search of a career in journalism. Skeeter is portrayed as homely looking with uncontrollable hair and a height that serves as only a disadvantage. And that’s how her mother views her! Skeeter’s old college roommate is “Miss Hilly” – the Junior League president and the young wife who pretty much controls the young Junior League women of Jackson in the 1960s. The white women are all “Miss” Somebody. Anyway, Miss Hilly quickly turns into the character you’ll despise. Skeeter becomes disenchanted with the way her friends are acting – and she becomes equally enchanted with “the help.” When she lands a job at the local newspaper to write an advice column on household chores, she seeks out the help of one of her friends, Miss Leefolt’s maid, Abileen. As you might expect Abileen knows how to do everything. What she does best is raise white children. She describes herself in the first few paragraphs of the book, this way, “Taking care of white babies, that’s what I do, along with all the cooking and the cleaning.” Abileen becomes the most beloved character in the book. Stockett divides the book into many voices, Abileen is one of them, Skeeter Phelan is another, and a second maid Minny becomes another important voice. What happens over the course of 451 pages is that Skeeter Phelan’s journalistic ambition begins to develop into a serious writing career. She is in correspondence with Elaine Stein, the senior editor of Harper & Row in New York City, where she really wants to be working. She has a long way to go to prove herself as a serious writer. She takes very seriously the advice given to her by Stein: “Write about what disturbs you, particularly if it bothers no one else.” What disturbs Skeeter, and clearly no one else in Jackson, is the treatment of blacks, especially black maids in white households. Of course, she has to do her investigation and writing on the sly because if her friends found out, they’d ostracize her. And if they found out she was turning to the help of their black maids, the black maids would be in serious trouble – perhaps even in danger of their lives, but certainly their livelihood. The rest of the story – the one Skeeter unveils in “The Help” – will make you as angry as you can get, it will make you laugh ’til you cry, and it will feel you with compassion and hope. Your respect for the hired help of the 1960s, or the hired help you might know today, will increase tenfold. Honestly, the helpers probably really do know everything! In other words, there’s a lesson for all of us. There are enough twists and turns in this book to keep you guessing – and I’m not giving it away for you here. You’ve really got to read it for yourself. While this book was nothing I expected, it was everything I want in a book – a great storyline, a serious love/hate relationship with its characters, and a real page turner. I’m guessing you’ll feel the same way about it – and that’s why this book is destined to stay on the bestsellers list for many more weeks to come. What a wonderful, warm surprise it was. I look forward to more from Kathryn Stockett. - Carla Offenburger Now reading ”The Persian Pickle Club,” by Sandra Dallas (1995). And the entire Civil War series by James Reasoner (11 books in all). Most recently reviewed “Julie & Julia,” by Julie Powell (2005). I closed the book, returned it to the library, and chalked it up as one of only a few books I’ve chosen not to finish in recent years. But I’d see the movie again in a New York-second. “The Audacity to Win,” by David Plouffe (2009). I’m staying the course with President Obama – and after reading this detailed story of his winning campaign, I’m “fired up and ready to go” again. “Picking Cotton,” by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton with Erin Torneo (2009). Pick it up and be ready for a roller coaster of emotions to appear. “Sabbath,” by Wayne Muller (1999). This book, another reviewer wrote, is one that might save your life. How? Well, Wayne Muller calls us back to the meaning and importance of observing the sabbath – both in a religious sense and also in just making ourselves stop and rest as we try to cope with lives of excessive busyness and stress. “Prayers for Sale,” by Sandra Dallas (2009). Sometimes it’s a title alone that grabs my attention – and then I just have to hope the book lives up to it. “Prayers for Sale” lived up to it in a very big way. Comment from you readers Florence Holle, who neglected to tell us where she’s from: “Although I’ve had Pearl Buck’s book ‘Portrait of a Marriage’ on my shelf for years, I just read it for the first time and enjoyed it thoroughly, as I have several of her other books. The Bartons’ married life was certainly unusual and a surprise that it did endure in spite of their backgrounds and personalities. Buck kept them true to their characters. By the way, the copyright page of my book shows a publication in 1941 and states, ‘This is a special edition published exclusively for members of the Peoples Book Club, P.O. Box 6570-A, Chicago, Illinois. It was originally published by John Day and appeared serially in a shorter form in Redbook under the title ‘A Man’s Daily Bread.’ It has lovely colored paintings on the inside of the front and back covers, and a few others throughout the book, by an artist named Charles Horness. I’m unsure that I’ve got that last name correct, as the letters are hard to read. It is a treasure.” You can write me with comments on my reviews or your own thoughts on books at carla@Offenburger.com.
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