Inspired by William Boot’s column at The Daily Beast, I decided to start my own version of “Should I Read.” If you are unfamiliar with Boot’s column here is a quick explanation, each week Boot tackles a title from the New York Times Bestseller List. He weighs in on the book and let’s readers know if the book is worth the hype. Sometimes the book lives up to the hype and sometimes it doesn’t. I will be calling BookFinds version of Should I Read, “OFF THE LIST.” We will literally be pulling titles right “off the list” and letting you know if they are worth the read.

This week I chose LA CANDY by Lauren Conrad. This book is currently number one on the New York Times list for Children’s Books. LA CANDY is a quick read and an interesting story. Anyone who has ever watched a reality show (especially The Hills, Laguna Beach or The City on MTV) will love reading an insider’s take on what it’s really like to be taped all day, every day. Obviously, it’s not as glamorous as it appears. I went into this book expecting the absolute worst and in a way I think that helped Lauren Conrad’s cause because it wasn’t as awful as I expected. Now I know that doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement, but honestly, the book is a light, fun read and sometimes that is the perfect choice. Sometimes you want to sit back and get lost in a “fluffy” book. It ends on a cliff hanger to ensure that we all run out and buy SWEET LITTLE LIES. I’m not sure I will be picking up the sequel because I think I got all I could from the first book. For example, I never knew that the producers interact with the “cast” via text message during the shooting. Now I will have to pay closer attention to these MTV reality shows and see how many times they check their Blackberry.

So I would say, YES, read this book for the entertainment factor but don’t expect any great literary feat.

Think Twice by Lisa Scottoline

The Opposite of Me by Sarah Pekkanen

I can’t wait for the release of Kelly Corrigan’s newest book, Lift. Her inspiring memoir, The Middle Place, was so honest and beautifully written that I find myself returning to various passages, revisiting her poignant prose.

And to keep spirits high on this Monday morning, I am launching a new contest…and thinking I may make this a weekly thing because I love being the “book fairy!”

We are now giving away one copy of the movie tie-in version of REPO MEN by Eric Garcia. The fantastic thriller features a gorgeous Jude Law on the cover. Garcia is the author of Matchstick Men which was also adapted for film in 2003 and starred Nicolas Cage.

How to enter: Leave a comment…it is really that simple! We will be drawing a winner next Sunday (March 7th) and posting on Monday, March 8th. Good luck everyone!!

And congratulations again to Isabel!

James Frey

Who is James Frey?

Ashley Judd is releasing her memoir in spring 2011 from Ballantine.

Her memoir will recall both painful childhood memories and Judd’s humanitarian work as a global ambassador for PSI (Population Services International)/Youth AIDS. The book’s foreword will be written by the New York Times columnists: Nicholas Kristof, co-author of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.

In a press release, Judd commented: “I hope that this book will be a call to action as well as a memoir. . . By sharing my own story along with those of the beautiful and resilient people I’ve met in the most desperate places, I want to show how the change we seek in the world must start within us.”

As we reported earlier, Judd is also in talks to star in the film version of Adriana Trigiani’s wildly popular Big Stone Gap series. Judd is also working toward a Mid-Career MPA at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. This is certainly one busy (and talented!) woman.

Katherine Heigl is set to star in ‘One for the Money’, the first in Janet Evanovich’s wildly popular Stephanie Plum series. According to Variety, Reese Witherspoon was previously attached.

In honor of February being the month of all things love and romance related, we are giving away three books to one lucky reader! All you have to do is leave a comment and these three books are YOURS! The books we are giving away are all tantalizing romance novels from Avon. We are huge fans of Avon’s romance novels and love their newly designed blog.
Without further ado, here are the titles we are offering in this romance giveaway:

The Hellion and the Highlander by Lynsay Sands
The Marriage Ring by Cathy Maxwell
Secrets of a Scandalous Bride by Sophia Nash

The contest will be ending one week from today, February 28th, and the winners will be posted on March 1st.

So enter and WIN!

UPDATE: We are now including a signed Cathy Maxwell poster!

I just finished Kathryn Stockett’s debut novel, THE HELP (Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam). Before I begin to review it, let me give you the description.

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women–mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends–view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t.

I loved this book! I loved it so much that even when I had a million things to do (errands to run, work to complete) I couldn’t let it out of my grasp. THE HELP is one of those rare books that is both wildly entertaining and extremely thought-provoking. One of the many glowing reviews of this title came from an unlikely source, The Daily Beast’s William Boot, who tackles the bestseller list titles and lets you know if you should read the books that are flying off the bookstore shelves. He, too, loved this book. He made one criticism that I wanted to expand on. Boot wrote,

“Skeeter records the stories, but Stockett never shares them with us, a whopping omission. It is an unusual thing when the book you’re holding doesn’t measure up to the one main character is writing.”

I whole-heartedly disagree with this criticism. The book that Skeeter is writing is, in fact, Stockett’s novel. The maids stories are explored fully in this book as well as Skeeter’s own life as an independent woman trapped in a confining time period, desperately trying to break free. I recommend this book to everyone! I can’t wait to find out what is next for this extraordinary author. I am also very impressed with Amy Einhorn’s ability to spot such a wonderful literary gem!