Kindle Reads

Early one morning this week (at about 2 a.m.), I finished reading my first book on my new Kindle, the electronic reading device from Amazon.com. I received the Kindle as a gift on Mother’s Day, and have been in love with it ever since.

My first download for the Kindle was “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett. The book explores the lives and relationships between Southern black domestic maids and their Southern white female employers. The book was totally engrossing and completely immersed me in the lives of the story’s three narrators, maids Aibileen and Minny, and aspiring journalist, “Skeeter.”

I found the book, which examined the racial tension during the 1960s Civil Rights era and the difficulties women, especially Southern black women, faced during that period, one of the best novels I’ve read in a long time. Stockett, who grew up in the South, reveals in her book and in interviews that much of the background in her fiction was drawn from her own experience.

I am totally thrilled that the movie adaption of the book will be in theaters this month.

My next read on my Kindle will most likely be “Girl in Translation” by Jean Kwok. The novel shares the life of a girl, Kimberly Chang, and her mother, who emigrate to Brooklyn, N.Y., from Hong Kong. The book details the double life the girl faces as she strives to excel in American schools while working in a sweatshop at night.

But, if I don’t read Kwok’s book, next, I could read bestseller “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen. I have also downloaded that book to my Kindle. The novel tells the story of a man who runs off to be in the circus after a tragic circumstance in his life. I don’t know too much about the novel, but the book’s movie adaptation was out in theaters earlier this year.

So, it’s a toss up. Readers: Have any suggestions on a good read?