The Help, Inception, & Ikea

Three totally different things that I have something to say about. All awesome in their own way.

The Help: I bought it the week before last and finished it by the end of the week. The time I spent not reading it [working, at the gym, sleeping, etc], I spent thinking about reading it. It was GOOD. I hesitate to publicly declare my love for this book because of the controversy that surrounds it, at least in some circles. Controversy about the fact that it's a novel portraying the black experience in Mississippi in the 1960's, but it's written by a white woman. The author writes the voices of three narrators who guide us through the story, two of whom are black women working as maids/nannies in the homes of white women. Their dialogue is written in a very stereotyped southern, black style. How do I know what black women working as maids in Mississippi in the 1960's talked like? Well, I don't. I have to be honest, before I read some of the reviews, I was thinking she did an excellent job writing their dialogue. I was completely entertained the whole way through. But it did not escape my notice [though I didn't dwell on it much] that the white characters didn't talk in stereotypical southern language. If you've been to Mississippi, you know they talk southern! Some people are saying the author exaggerated the black vernacular while not portraying the white southern vernacular at all. I agree. In the end, I simply took the book for what it was: a fictional story written by a white woman who grew up in the south during the 1960's [and who had a black nanny/maid of her own]. Her explanation at the end of the book is excellent and helps the reader to understand the characters and events in the story more fully. An wondeful book that is surprisingly well written considering it's by a first time author. Definitely worth reading!

Inception: intense! Wow, this movie was mind-blowing. A friend and I didn't know what else to see, so we picked it. I had no idea what it was about. But the theatre was packed, and we saw it on a huge screen with the loudest surround sound speakers I have ever experienced. It was almost three hours of action packed suspense. It's nearly impossible to explain; something about a dream within a dream within a dream and planting ideas in peoples' heads while they're sleeping. All I have to say is just see it.

Ikea: I had never been before this weekend. I was looking for bed frames, but I came out with some other stuff too. It was pretty overwhelming but very cool. I have been in complete nesting mode for the last several months as I prepare to move. I have never had a place of my very own to decorate/furnish, and I love to pick stuff out. I have this perfectionistic streak that comes out when I'm decorating a space. Everything has to be just so, and I get really carried away with what I think I "need" for it to look good. This weekend, as I spent time with some other friends who have new apartments, I realized how overboard I tend to go. Honestly, I just enjoy making a space look nice and homey, but I can start to get intense about it and this weekend reminded me to relax; it's no big deal if it doesn't look perfect or if I'm missing a dining room table!! :)